Machine learning is a rapidly evolving field that is generating an intense interest from a wide audience. So how can you get started?

For now, I’m going to assume that you already have the basic programming (ie general introduction to programming and experience with matrices) and mathematical skills (calculus and some probability and linear algebra).

These are the best current books on machine learning:

• Murphy. This is a comprehensive introduction to the whole field.
• Learning From Data. This is a brief introduction to a subset of topics.
• Deep Learning. Also check out my previous post.

These are some out of date books that still contain some useful sections (for example, Murphy several times refers you to Bishop or MacKay for more details).

• Bishop. Predecessor to Murphy.
• MacKay. Free pdf!
• Hastie, Tibshirani, and Friedman. Free pdf!

Here is a list of other potential resources:

• Pedro Domingos – Useful Machine Learning Tips
• Coursera – Andrew Ng
• Metacademy