The Master Algorithm

How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World

By: Pedro Domingos

Narrated by: Mel Foster

Under the aegis of machine learning in our data-driven machine age, computers are programming themselves and learning about - and solving - an extraordinary range of problems, from the mundane to the most daunting. Today it is machine learning programs that enable Amazon and Netflix to predict what users will like, Apple to power Siri's ability to understand voices, and Google to pilot cars. These programs are already helping us fight the war on cancer and predict the movements of the stock market, and they are making great headway with instant language translation and discovering new laws of nature.

But machine learning is incomplete, and its practitioners across the globe are seeking the most powerful algorithm of all. The Master Algorithm will not be limited to solving particular problems but will be able to learn anything and solve any problem, however difficult, and Pedro Domingos, a trailblazing computer scientist, is at the very forefront of the search for it. With the Master Algorithm in hand and data as its fuel, machine learning - essentially the automation of discovery, a kind of scientific method on steroids - will become the most powerful technology humanity has ever devised. And The Master Algorithm will be its bible.

©2015 Pedro Domingos (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

What a good introduction!

This was a good introduction. I am a novice to this field, but it certainly piqued my interest. I particularly liked Domingos’ parsing of learning algorithms into five schools. It really made me want to learn more. I also thought the narration helped—a great experience!

Very good introduction to the subject

Love the overview. Math in this field has always confounded me. But the systematic presentation of concepts with the examples has sparked my interest in the field.

You will not be disappointed!

Excellent book to a familiarization with machine learning. You will get an understanding of the technical components are neural networks. Overall you will learn the basics of AI.

Evolution

Evolution will someday be seen as the big joke that it is. I’m sick of hearing the billions of years crap. But other than that it was a great book!

Complicated

I found it difficult to grasp the various equations presented in the book. I think it would require another listen, and perhaps reviewing the book in written format. I love the concept, just a lot of it went over my head.

this material would be easier to digest on paper

good book, hard to listen to. The author will recount a drawn out mathematical formula verbally from time to time. I can't really keep up with visualizing it as he says it.

good high level overview

I was hoping for a deep dive into machine learning but this was a pretty good high level overview.

Excellent book, well read.

the subject matter was really interesting, and I learned a lot. I'm looking forward to hearing more from this author.

Not much meat to this.

I was hoping for a deeper dive, but it never went there. This never went beyond a summary of a summary. And, the reading was awkward.

Great Machine Learning Book

This book was great. The only thing I didn't like was the narrator. To cheesy.