Sebastopol, CA - If you're an experienced programmer interested in crunching data, Machine Learning for Hackers will get you started with machine learning--a toolkit of algorithms that enables computers to train themselves to automate useful tasks. Authors Drew Conway and John Myles White help you understand machine learning and statistics tools through a series of hands-on case studies, instead of a traditional math-heavy presentation. "We can see how many people are interested in learning about machine learning (ML), but don't have the mathematical background to read traditional treatments of the book," says White (@johnmyleswhite). "We wanted to get people interested in ML in a hands-on fashion in the way that chemistry sets can get children excited about chemistry before they have the scientific background to learn the subject rigorously." White says that he and coauthor Drew Conway (@drewconway) wrote the book to match the tech community's growing interest in ML.