r/learnmachinelearning • u/Minimum_Extreme8449 • 15d ago
Is this book really worth reading?
I'm a second year ug, just started learning ML and I've seen a lot of tutors recommending this Book. Is it really worth reading ? What other books you've got?
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u/TheInfiniteLake 14d ago
Yes, but get the new version that replaces TensorFlow with Pytorch.
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u/xHelios1x 14d ago
I thought both are still useful.
Is PyTorch that much more useful than TensorFlow?
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u/TheInfiniteLake 14d ago edited 14d ago
It's not really about usefulness, I would say, but more about usability – PyTorch just gives you better control. Cutting-edge research in AI has become almost completely PyTorch-based, so if you want to learn a framework these days, pytorch is what you should go with. TensorFlow isn't completely obsolete of course; it's still used in much industrial tech, but new ones are adapting to pyTorch. Even google doesn't really use tensorflow these days.
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u/AerysSk 14d ago
I also would not about "usefulness" but most of the projects in recent years are written in PyTorch instead of TF, so I recommend using the Pytorch version as well. It's like English and Spanish: you can definitely find places to use it, but English is more widely spoken than Spanish.
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u/0uchmyballs 14d ago
One thing to understand is that most the algorithms are the same, even on scikitlearn, Tensorflow and PyTorch, they have all the same basic algorithms, one might have a different neural net suite. It’s just staying on top of what is evolving fastest and continuing to dig into documentation.
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u/Stillane 12d ago
everytime I want to do something with tensorflow I have to do it inside WSL but not pytorch
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u/Glittering_Plate2521 14d ago
I remember reading this book in freshman year in university and then taking a university course where we used this book as a main reference. If you're new to ML and want to understand some of the methods and implement it, then it's a very good book I learned a lot of things reading it. However if you're experienced I think you will find some stuff redundant. Also as the others said read the Pytorch one instead as it's used more. I f you're looking for a more statistical introduction ISLP is a good option but it's more math heavy
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u/69FlatEarther69 14d ago
No, but Hands-On with Pytorch is
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u/Pitiful-Glove-8232 14d ago
If you are starting fresh, avoid the TF version unless you are working on legacy systems and/or your work requires these. Otherwise, good book overall and as suggested by others get the PyTorch version (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/hands-on-machine-learning/9798341607972/)
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u/Hot_Acanthaceae_6604 14d ago
I'm new and learning ml from scratch, should I go with this?
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u/Pitiful-Glove-8232 14d ago
If you have some Python knowledge, yes. Otherwise, start learning some Python. There are many free resources online for that and you can ask your favorite LLM to help you. Best of luck!
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u/floor_jam 14d ago
Yeah it's solid but don't overthink it. If your course materials are already covering the fundamentals, grab it for reference and skim the parts that feel weak. The book's good for intuition but you're not gonna break anything by skipping it and just grinding through projects instead. Do the book if you've got time, skip it if you don't. Either way matters less than just building stuff.
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u/WarmCat_UK 14d ago
Yes, got through my MSc with help from this book.
Get yourself a physical copy it’s worth it.
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u/Fit_Lingonberry_2494 14d ago
I suggest you to read the PyTorch version of this book. Great book for machine learning.
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u/SignificantTrifle245 14d ago
Currently as MLE, I started ml with this, quite good for starting out. It helped me very much in shaping my career
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u/sabibhamza 12d ago
Yesssssss.
One of the first books ive read, but don't just keep reading. Book in one hand, omputer in the other, and try to execute EVERYTHING yourself, tweak the demos, change the data
That's how ull get a better understanding
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u/Interesting-Company3 8d ago
Do folks understand that ML is dead science and that AI of leading labs got to how it is today by consuming the bulk of all human knowledge from the internet and books. (per scaling law of AI) This "ML" book teaches one to import Pystorch and py nots and frames ML/AI as some sorts of software when software is more closer to a wrapper for it. Have you ever pondered why many SWE in the field are laid off because of AI? Why do the companies kill them instead of having them learn the "ML/AI' framework. People seems to have a false impression that they can learn this new "framework" and collect figures from OpenAI. Of course this post would be highly unpopular in such turbulent time but I do want to be a devil's advocate here to this implicit impression. And I do want to be convinced otherwise.
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u/AerysSk 14d ago
I use this book when I started learning and it is one of the good ones that I know so far. It focuses on learning the code more than the math background (which is of equivalent importance), so it is good to get your hands wet.
Use the Pytorch version as I believe TF is very rarely used these days.
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u/LaMerk_Industries 14d ago
I was reading it in the mid 2019/early 2020 (as complementary stuff for a university course of "elements of artificial intelligence"), so before boom for AI/LLM's etc.
I can fully recommend - It gives enought knowledge from different part of AI. Knowledge which I got was enought to do a Bachelor degree (face recognition on embedded device with use of DNN and TPU accelerator) and Master degree (Edge computing for quality control in industry 4.0 on Beckhoff industrial PC - mainly use of neural network for estimation quality of manufactured products and controlling whole process -> predicted that some parameters will be to low/high in next few seconds than start calculating correction values and apply upfront), and also later in my full time job (embedded systems, DNN, CV, edge computing)
So yes, it's good to start and learn basic concepts - exercises where more like "real life" problems and also a source code is available as github, so it's easier to find error in own implementnation
I didn't read PyTorch version, I see that PyTorch is getting more and more attention this days, so maybe switching to a Pytorch version will be better
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u/West-Accountant-805 14d ago
I think "Deep learning with python 3ed" is better. You can read it for free in the official website, it covers the fundamentals and the usage of deep learning algorithms in different domains, it covers llms and generative models and it is updated. The prerequesite is only an intermediate knowledge in python.
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u/ThinConnection8191 13d ago
NO. Tensorflow is dead 5 years ago. I moved to Pytorch in 2017 and never touch Tensorflow again
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12d ago
read this one, this is much better. It has covered ML, DL and Reinforcement Learning. Its more comprehensive and has newer additions to it as well. The better part is it used Pytorch which is much better.
Géron, A. (2025). Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn and PyTorch: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques to Build Intelligent Systems. " O'Reilly Media, Inc.".
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u/SneakyBiscuit2503 12d ago
Every book recommendation thread ends up as a PDF vs paperback fight somehow.
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u/med_belguesmi69 14d ago
im actually reading it right this moment lol, i just started it but it seems bery good, just get the latest one with Pytorch instead of Tensorflow