Product Description

The dramatic growth in practical applications for machine learning over the last ten years has been accompanied by many important developments in the underlying algorithms and techniques. For example, Bayesian methods have grown from a specialist niche to become mainstream, while graphical models have emerged as a general framework for describing and applying probabilistic techniques. The practical applicability of Bayesian methods has been greatly enhanced by the development of a range of approximate inference algorithms such as variational Bayes and expectation propagation, while new models based on kernels have had a significant impact on both algorithms and applications. This completely new textbook reflects these recent developments while providing a comprehensive introduction to the fields of pattern recognition and machine learning. It is aimed at advanced undergraduates or first-year PhD students, as well as researchers and practitioners. No previous knowledge of pattern recognition or machine learning concepts is assumed. Familiarity with multivariate calculus and basic linear algebra is required, and some experience in the use of probabilities would be helpful though not essential as the book includes a self-contained introduction to basic probability theory. The book is suitable for courses on machine learning, statistics, computer science, signal processing, computer vision, data mining, and bioinformatics. Extensive support is provided for course instructors, including more than 400 exercises, graded according to difficulty. Example solutions for a subset of the exercises are available from the book web site, while solutions for the remainder can be obtained by instructors from the publisher. The book is supported by a great deal of additional material, and the reader is encouraged to visit the book web site for the latest information. Coming soon: *For students, worked solutions to a subset of exercises available on a public web site (for exercises marked "www" in the text) *For instructors, worked solutions to remaining exercises from the Springer web site *Lecture slides to accompany each chapter *Data sets available for download

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32125 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 738 pages

Review
"Author aims this text at advanced undergraduates, beginning graduate students, and researchers new to machine learning and pattern recognition. … Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning provides excellent intuitive descriptions and appropriate-level technical details on modern pattern recognition and machine learning. It can be used to teach a course or for self-study, as well as for a reference. … I strongly recommend it for the intended audience and note that Neal (2007) also has given this text a strong review to complement its strong sales record." --Thomas Burr, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 103 (482), June, 2008

"In this book, aimed at senior undergraduates or beginning graduate students, Bishop provides an authoritative presentation of many of the statistical techniques that have come to be considered part of pattern recognition or machine learning . ... This book will serve as an excellent reference. ... With its coherent viewpoint, accurate and extensive coverage, and generally good explanations, Bishop s book is a useful introduction ... and a valuable reference for the principle techniques used in these fields." --Radford M. Neal, Technometrics, Vol. 49 (3), August, 2007

"This beautifully produced book is intended for advanced undergraduates, PhD students, and researchers and practitioners, primarily in the machine learning or allied areas...A strong feature is the use of geometric illustration and intuition...This is an impressive and interesting book that might form the basis of several advanced statistics courses. It would be a good choice for a reading group." --John Maindonald for the Journal of Statistical Software

Customer Reviews

Best book of its kind I have found
Bishop does an excellent job of helping the reader visualize what is going on in the problems and techniques he describes, emphasizing an intuitive grasp of the issues without sacrificing mathematical rigour. The writing is clear and the production is excellent. Strongly recommended both for anyone serious about getting into machine learning and for those already working in it.

Excellent book
As a newbie to pattern recognition I found this book very helpful. It is the clearest book I ever read! Accompanying examples and material are very illuminating. I particularly appreciated the gradual introduction of key concepts, often accompanied with practical examples and stimulating exercises.

Great insights, but a hard read
This new book by Chris Bishop covers most areas of pattern recognition quite exhaustively. The author is an expert, this is evidenced by the excellent insights he gives into the complex math behind the machine learning algorithms. I have worked for quite some time with neural networks and have had coursework in linear algebra, probability and regression analysis, and hence found some of the stuff in the book quite illuminating.

But that said, I must point out that the book is very math heavy. Inspite of my considerable background in the area of neural networks, I still was struggling with the equations. This is certainly not the book that can teach one things from the ground up, and thats why I would give it only 3 stars. I am new to kernels, and I am finding the relevant chapters quite confusing. For those who want to build powerful machine learning solutions to their problems, I am sorry but they will have to look elsewhere. This book cant help you build an application, another serious drawback in my opinion. The intended audience for this book I guess are PhD students/researchers who are working with the math related aspects of machine learning, and not undergraduates or working professionals who want to write machine learning code for their applications/projects.