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jenniferforjoy's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Recommended: YES!
For people who are slightly nervous or wildly terrified by AI, for people who are intrigued by AI, for people who like to laugh and learn at the same time
Thoughts:
Hey, big thanks to Sky for making the bingo prompt that forced me to choose a book in a genre I'd never read, leading me to this Computer Science one. I FRICKIN LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Genuinely, I was not bored or disinterested at any point, and that is shocking to me considering the topic when described as "machine learning" sounds dry AF. But I was cackling while reading so often even in just the first chapter that when my boyfriend asked what was making me laugh and I said this book I just started about machine learning, he was very clearly puzzled. xD I read pretty widely, and I laugh pretty easily, but this one stumped him a little to hear.
The biggest strength of this is the anecdotes and examples used for each scenario. They're silly, but also straightforward to understand. They're then tied into the principle of machine learning that is relevant with the appropriate terminology nicely written in bold to help it stand out. As the book progresses to more advanced topics, the previously established scenarios are referenced with reminders of what was going on in it, and then expanded on to incorporate the newest element with it. Altogether this made a cohesive narrative example that tied all the discrete principles together, and I promise I'm going to remember how they work when my triggering reminders are cockroach factories, bad sandwiches, and possibly giraffes.
I fall into my "recommended for.." category of "people who are slightly nervous about AI" because I absolutely was. I'm already a bit bleak about the world so this just seemed like one more way we could bring about our own doom. Happily that seems pretty far off. Now I have far less fear about unrealistic things like spontaneous sentience of machines, but have more realistic fear about how AI can pick up very real human biases in training and then provide a loophole to incorporate illegal discrimination practices since it's not the humans doing it, it's the obviously impartial computer right? Turns out, nope. Still illegal, and still bad!
This was a completely unexpected delight. I'm now at least basically educated in machine learning principles and also can more easily spot them in the world, as well as ones that may be problematic. I'm so curious about the topic now, and have already started reading through the authors blog AI Weirdness because I really just can't get enough.
For people who are slightly nervous or wildly terrified by AI, for people who are intrigued by AI, for people who like to laugh and learn at the same time
Thoughts:
Hey, big thanks to Sky for making the bingo prompt that forced me to choose a book in a genre I'd never read, leading me to this Computer Science one. I FRICKIN LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Genuinely, I was not bored or disinterested at any point, and that is shocking to me considering the topic when described as "machine learning" sounds dry AF. But I was cackling while reading so often even in just the first chapter that when my boyfriend asked what was making me laugh and I said this book I just started about machine learning, he was very clearly puzzled. xD I read pretty widely, and I laugh pretty easily, but this one stumped him a little to hear.
The biggest strength of this is the anecdotes and examples used for each scenario. They're silly, but also straightforward to understand. They're then tied into the principle of machine learning that is relevant with the appropriate terminology nicely written in bold to help it stand out. As the book progresses to more advanced topics, the previously established scenarios are referenced with reminders of what was going on in it, and then expanded on to incorporate the newest element with it. Altogether this made a cohesive narrative example that tied all the discrete principles together, and I promise I'm going to remember how they work when my triggering reminders are cockroach factories, bad sandwiches, and possibly giraffes.
I fall into my "recommended for.." category of "people who are slightly nervous about AI" because I absolutely was. I'm already a bit bleak about the world so this just seemed like one more way we could bring about our own doom. Happily that seems pretty far off. Now I have far less fear about unrealistic things like spontaneous sentience of machines, but have more realistic fear about how AI can pick up very real human biases in training and then provide a loophole to incorporate illegal discrimination practices since it's not the humans doing it, it's the obviously impartial computer right? Turns out, nope. Still illegal, and still bad!
This was a completely unexpected delight. I'm now at least basically educated in machine learning principles and also can more easily spot them in the world, as well as ones that may be problematic. I'm so curious about the topic now, and have already started reading through the authors blog AI Weirdness because I really just can't get enough.
cmsweeney6's review against another edition
2.5
I had high hopes based on the first chapter, but I didn't really learn much and it didn't keep my interest very well. However, I thought the examples in the book were helpful.
kpesch's review against another edition
3.0
What an enjoyable listen. I also peaked at the Kindle version for some of the doodles I was missing out on. The author explains AI in an incredibly approachable way, where even someone with minimal knowledge on the topic, I was able to follow. She also mixed in just the right amount of humor to keep you focused on the story.
I did get a bit repetitive, and listening to the entire read outs from the AI felt like it was dragging on. Also the narration of the AI parts was painful to listen to.
Final note, it's interesting that this was written in 2019 and in the four years we've made leaps and bounds with AI that I don't think the author thought we'd see in our lifetime while writing this.
I did get a bit repetitive, and listening to the entire read outs from the AI felt like it was dragging on. Also the narration of the AI parts was painful to listen to.
Final note, it's interesting that this was written in 2019 and in the four years we've made leaps and bounds with AI that I don't think the author thought we'd see in our lifetime while writing this.
balrog's review against another edition
3.0
A breezy and enjoyable read that was very clear in its explanations. However, I'm not quite the target audience and wished it covered more that I didn't already know.
It's wild how quickly AI has moved forward in the last five years though, so many things that the author (and almost everyone at the time) believed were decades away have already become quite commonplace.
It's wild how quickly AI has moved forward in the last five years though, so many things that the author (and almost everyone at the time) believed were decades away have already become quite commonplace.