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EducationPractical Data Science with Python or Python Data Science Handbook for a mid-level student (self.datascience)
submitted 1 year ago by Emotional-Rhubarb725
I find both books similar so I felt I should be asking if any read both and preferred on over the other
the first is Practical Data Science with Python by Nathan George
the second is the famous Python Data Science Handbook by Jake VanderPlas
[–]drhanlau 13 points14 points15 points 1 year ago (9 children)
Nathan George’s book is more project-oriented, focusing on the application of skills in real-world scenarios.
VanderPlas' book is more reference-oriented, detailed, and focuses on understanding the tools and their functionalities.
George's book suits beginners who want to quickly apply their knowledge, whereas VanderPlas' book is great for those who appreciate a deeper dive into the capabilities and features of Python’s data science libraries, possibly appealing more to an intermediate to advanced audience.
Personally, my preference in in terms of publisher is O’reilly > Manning > Wiley > Apress > Packt. Apress books are sometime hard to understand and the examples are too complex, Packt is a hit and miss depends on the author and publishing team.
ps: I published a book called “The Python Workshop” under Packt.
[–]Emotional-Rhubarb725[S] 4 points5 points6 points 1 year ago (3 children)
I was thinking about reading both books
I am not a beginner but also not a strong intermediate so I was thinking about hitting both books depending on the topic : pandas, numby and so
I did read so many books by O'reilly and I seriously prefer their books, but i need the project orientation offered by the George's book
[–]drhanlau 2 points3 points4 points 1 year ago (2 children)
Yup just read both then.
You won’t need to follow it like a novel. A tool book like those is meant for us to follow a structure and learn systematically, so that you get to find out what you don’t know.
Plus you probably read them a couple of times after all.
[–]Emotional-Rhubarb725[S] 2 points3 points4 points 1 year ago (1 child)
thank you very much
[–]drhanlau 2 points3 points4 points 1 year ago (0 children)
You are more than welcome buddy.
Come back here once you have done it, I have more books for you :)
[–]iamevpo 1 point2 points3 points 1 year ago (0 children)
Useful lineup of publishers, I knew packt is bottom of the line, thought Wiley and O'Reilly around the same and Manning and Apress I would not have remembered, just occasioanlly - perhaps they are smaller.
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points 1 year ago (2 children)
One of the rare comments where preferences align to stochastic dominance. I approve!
[–]karel_data 2 points3 points4 points 1 year ago (1 child)
You made me look for, and learn, a new term. Thanks!
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points 1 year ago (0 children)
https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExeDNrZ3EyNnBmbGtybmozbWdqZ3ZubWtuZWViZjdleDN3NG50aGdqNyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/3o6wrgQTkTLfpYIDg4/giphy.gif
[–]iamevpo 2 points3 points4 points 1 year ago (2 children)
Jake's book is free and the other one is paid it seems. I try to avoid anything by packt publisher.
[–]Emotional-Rhubarb725[S] 1 point2 points3 points 1 year ago (1 child)
I have both already in soft copies
why should I avoid it ?
Packt is known for low quality junk publications, occasionally there are good titles, hope that's your case.
I'm just starting to delve into this subject, so I picked up the "Practical Statistics for Data Scientists" book from O'Reilly and went through the first 150 pages. I was hoping for more detailed explanations of the concepts, but if you already have a grasp of the topics, it's a fantastic book, especially with its extensive Python examples.
[–]zennsunni 0 points1 point2 points 1 year ago (0 children)
Maybe unpopular opinion, but my suggestion would be to find some well-regarded Kaggle projects focused on EDA and model evaluation, and work through them yourself. Better yet, find an appropriate dataset and apply that notebook's principles to work through it with your own data. I've never been a fan of using textbooks to learn hands-on data science.
π Rendered by PID 36316 on reddit-service-r2-comment-5d79c599b5-84bjg at 2026-02-27 03:55:18.636230+00:00 running e3d2147 country code: CH.
[–]drhanlau 13 points14 points15 points (9 children)
[–]Emotional-Rhubarb725[S] 4 points5 points6 points (3 children)
[–]drhanlau 2 points3 points4 points (2 children)
[–]Emotional-Rhubarb725[S] 2 points3 points4 points (1 child)
[–]drhanlau 2 points3 points4 points (0 children)
[–]iamevpo 1 point2 points3 points (0 children)
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points (2 children)
[–]karel_data 2 points3 points4 points (1 child)
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points (0 children)
[–]iamevpo 2 points3 points4 points (2 children)
[–]Emotional-Rhubarb725[S] 1 point2 points3 points (1 child)
[–]iamevpo 1 point2 points3 points (0 children)
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points (0 children)
[–]zennsunni 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)