Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: useable math in the web 2.0 sphere
Comment: This book introduces you to a lot of useful math for web 2.0 or social based applications and brings it all the way down to code you can write and run in Python. I learned about some great python libraries out there like beautiful soup and others which are useful in more ways than just the collective intelligence aspect utilized in the book. There were even a few more elegant ways of doing something in Python that I learned through reading the code in this book. Just about every application I use could make use of the math and algorithms in this book to make using it a bit more pleasant experience. If you're a python programmer you must have this on your bookshelf, if you are a programmer that wants people to like your application you should have this book in a tattered state on your bookshelf.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Intro to Machine Learning for Software Engineers
Comment: Have you ever wondered how:
* Google comes up with its search results
* Amazon recommends you books/movies/music
* spam filters decide good from bad
Well, Toby Segaran not only explains these topics and more in Collective Intelligence, but he does so in a way accessible to software developers that haven't worked on machine-learning problems before. He even provides working Python code for all the algorithms.
Collective Intelligence is a great read. I could not wait to get home and get back to it -- and when I went in to work the next morning, I usually had a new idea or two of how to improve our software. I also have been implementing the most important examples in Groovy to make sure I get them.
Collective Intelligence is accessible to all practicing software engineers, but if you are a Senior Software Engineer or "better," this is a must-read. Proper application of the algorithms in this book are a great way to simplify your system and avoid getting nickel-and-dimed to death with new ways to prioritize/categorize/slice-and-dice your data.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Algorithms By Example
Comment: I've worked in web development for years now. I get excited when I see new web trends and applications come out, and I love the progress we've made with mashups and the like. It's great to see what the web has become.
I picked this book up because all the examples were in Python, and I'm a big fan of python. I also liked the concept of writing mashups in Python. I expected it to be very python-centric. It was, but that wasn't what stuck out to me.
What I found was a book all about algorithms. I've been fascinated with some of the algorithms we see every day on the internet (Amazon's suggestion algorithm has been my favorite). Instead of presenting confusing math equations, or using huge words, Segaran puts examples in front of you. From online dating services, to del.icio.us trends, this book puts forward modern, real world examples of using common collective intelligence algorithms on the internet.
Anyone interested in building a mashup or web development in general should read this book.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good book - might cover too much
Comment: Good book - this is very specialized and might cover information that you need. Suggest going over to B&M store to actually take a look before you buy it. Or if you can browse table of contents first either by book searching at amazon or safari.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommend
Comment: I've always been interested in algorithm development, and was curious to see these creative techniques applied to data mining technologies. The author does a great job presenting complex material in a format that encourages hand-on experimentation in addition to providing an introductory understanding of the subject. The books is divided into chapters which focus on a specific problem, and the author walks you through techniques to solve them, from high level theory to concrete examples, often using data retrieved from online sources. The code samples were easy to follow (even without knowing Python), and numerous instructions and links were provided for libraries, data sources, etc to assist interested readers with creating their own programs or researching topics further. He even includes a summary chapter at the end, reviewing the highlights of each algorithm, along with pros and cons of the method. If you're interested in the subject, this is a good book for your shelf.
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