Weapons of Math Destruction – A Data Scientist's Guide to Disarmament

I've had this book on pre-order since spring and it finally arrived on Friday. I subsequently devoured it over the weekend. The book lays out a clear and compelling case for how data-driven algorithms can become -- in contrast to their promise of amoral objectivism -- efficient means for reproducing and even exacerbating social inequalities and injustices. From predictive policing and recidivism risk models to targeted marketing for predatory loans and for-profit universities, O'Neil explains how to recognize WMDs by 3 distinct features: The taxonomy provides a simple framework for identifying WMDs in the wild. However, importantly for data scientists and other data practitioners, it forms a checklist (or rather an anti-checklist) to keep in mind when developing models that will be deployed into the real world.