Top Data Analytics books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Data Analytics books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Data Analytics

Understanding the concepts of Data Analytics starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data

Once considered tedious, the field of statistics is rapidly evolving into a discipline Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, has actually called "sexy." From batting averages and political polls to game shows and medical research, the real-world application of statistics continues to grow by leaps and bounds. How can we catch schools that cheat on standardized tests? How does Netflix know whi…

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Data Engineering Cookbook

Five types of content are in this book: Articles the author wrote, links to his podcast episodes (video & audio), more than 200 links to helpful websites he like, data engineering interview questions and case studies.

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Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

Don't simply show your data—tell a story with it! Storytelling with Data teaches you the fundamentals of data visualization and how to communicate effectively with data. You'll discover the power of storytelling and the way to make data a pivotal point in your story. The lessons in this illuminative text are grounded in theory, but made accessible through numerous real-world examples—ready for…

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The Hundred-page Machine Learning Book

Peter Norvig, Research Director at Google, co-author of AIMA, the most popular AI textbook in the world: "Burkov has undertaken a very useful but impossibly hard task in reducing all of machine learning to 100 pages. He succeeds well in choosing the topics — both theory and practice — that will be useful to practitioners, and for the reader who understands that this is the first 100 (or actual…

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SQL for Data Analytics - Third Edition: Harness the power of SQL to extract insights from data

Every day, businesses operate around the clock, and a huge amount of data is generated at a rapid pace. This book helps you analyze this data and identify key patterns and behaviors that can help you and your business understand your customers at a deep, fundamental level.
SQL for Data Analytics, Third Edition is a great way to get started with data analysis, showing how to effectively sort…

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Doing data science

Now that people are aware that data can make the difference in an election or a business model, data science as an occupation is gaining ground. But how can you get started working in a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary field that's so clouded in hype? This insightful book, based on Columbia University's Introduction to Data Science class, tells you what you need to know.
In many of these cha…

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Additional Data Analytics Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Data Analytics, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Becoming a Data Head: How to Think, Speak, and Understand Data Science, Statistics, and Machine Learning

Turn yourself into a Data Head. You'll become a more valuable employee and make your organization more successful.
Thomas H. Davenport, Research Fellow, Author of Competing on Analytics, Big Data @ Work, and The AI Advantage
You've heard the hype around data?now get the facts.
In Becoming a Data Head: How to Think, Speak, and Understand Data Science, Statistics, and Machine Learning, …

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Data Science for Business: What You Need to Know about Data Mining and Data-Analytic Thinking

Based on an MBA course Provost has taught at New York University over the past ten years, Data Science for Business provides examples of real-world business problems to illustrate these principles. You’ll not only learn how to improve communication between business stakeholders and data scientists, but also how participate intelligently in your company’s data science projects. You’ll also disc…

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Data Analytics, Data Visualization & Communicating Data: 3 books in 1: Learn the Processes of Data Analytics and Data Science, Create Engaging Data ... Present Data Effectively (All Things Data)

Harvard Business Review called data science “the sexiest job of the 21st century,” so it's no surprise that the number of data science jobs has grown 20x in the last three years. With demand outpacing supply, companies are willing to pay top dollar for talented data professionals. However…
To truly excel, it's not enough to throw some data from a database into a spreadsheet—you must transfo…

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Data Analytics, Data Visualization & Communicating Data: 3 books in 1: Learn the Processes of Data Analytics and Data Science, Create Engaging Data Visualizations, and Present Data Effectively

Harvard Business Review called data science “the sexiest job of the 21st century,” so it's no surprise that data science jobs have grown up to 20x in the last 3 years. With demand outpacing supply, companies are willing to pay top dollar for talented data professionals. However…To stand out in one of these positions, having foundational knowledge of interpreting data is essential. You can be a…

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Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are

Blending the informed analysis of The Signal and the Noise with the instructive iconoclasm of Think Like a Freak, a fascinating, illuminating, and witty look at what the vast amounts of information now instantly available to us reveals about ourselves and our world—provided we ask the right questions.

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Python for Data Analysis

Get complete instructions for manipulating, processing, cleaning, and crunching datasets in Python. Updated for Python 3.6, the second edition of this hands-on guide is packed with practical case studies that show you how to solve a broad set of data analysis problems effectively. You'll learn the latest versions of pandas, NumPy, IPython, and Jupyter in the process.
Written by Wes McKinney…

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This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.

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Ever wonder how some websites always seem to top Google searches? That's the art of SEO, and I've been mastering it for over a decade. My journey began with building my own e-commerce site from scratch. It was a crash course in what really works in the ever-shifting landscape of …

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Sunny Zhu refers to herself as the bridge between people and data and as a “statistics geek”. She has been engaged in a broad range of analytical works across diversified industries to empower companies to turn data insights into solid business decisions. Working for a decade in data analytics, she …

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As a mentor with a background in both research and industry, I have a wealth of experience of 10+ years to draw upon when guiding individuals through the field of machine learning. My focus is on helping experienced software engineers transition into ML/DS, as well as assisting machine learning engineers …

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