On the Shelf: Data Science Books
One of my favorite things about data nerds is that they’re always eager to learn. (I certainly know the feeling!) No matter how much education they have, no matter how many technical skills they possess, they always want more.
One of the best ways to go about gaining this knowledge is to read, read, read. Read the work of those who came before you, read to stay abreast of current technology, read anything you can get your hands on.
Want to know more about the business, sociology, or nitty—gritty of data science? Here are some great books on the discipline to get you on your way:
About Data Science
- Automate This: How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World — Christopher Steiner, 2012
- Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think — Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier, 2013
- The Human Face of Big Data — Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt, 2012
- Numbersense: How to Use Big Data to Your Advantage — Kaiser Fung, 2013
- Open Data Now: The Secret to Hot Startups, Smart Investing, Savvy Marketing, and Fast Innovation — Joel Gurin, 2013
- Privacy in the Age of Big Data — Theresa M. Payton and Theodore Claypoole, 2014
- Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way to be Smart — Ian Ayres, 2007
Data Science for Businesses
- Big Data at Work: Dispelling the Myths, Uncovering the Opportunities — Thomas H. Davenport, 2014
- Data Science for Business: What You Need to Know About Data Mining and Data-Analytic Thinking — Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett, 2013
- Too Big to Ignore: The Business Case for Big Data — Phil Simon, 2013
Data Science in Popular Culture
- Data, A Love Story: How I Gamed Online Dating to Meet My Match — Amy Webb, 2013
- Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia — Anthony M. Townsend, 2013
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game — Michael Lewis, 2003
Data Visualization
- Beautiful Data: The Stories Behind Elegant Data Solutions — Toby Segaran and Jeff Hammerbacher, 2009
- Cool Infographics: Effective Communication with Data Visualization and Design — Randy Krum, 2013
- The Visual Organization: Data Visualization, Big Data, and the Quest for Better Decisions — Phil Simon, 2014
- Data Points: Visualization That Means Something — Nathan Yau, 2013
- Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics — Nathan Yau, 2011
How To’s & Manuals
- Data Smart: Using Data Science to Transform Information Into Insight — John Foreman, 2013
- Doing Data Science: Straight Talk from the Frontline — Cathy O’Neil and Rachel Schutt, 2013
- Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data — Charles Wheelan, 2013
The Sociology of Data Science
- Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything — Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, 2005
- Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die — Eric Siegel and Thomas H. Davenport, 2013
- The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — But Some Don’t — Nate Silver, 2012
- SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance — Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, 2009
- Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture — Erez Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel, 2013
Have you read any books that you think should be included on this list? Are there areas of the data science field that you think haven’t received enough attention in the popular press? Let us know in the comments!