Ebook Download | Vladimir Vapnik, "The Nature of Statistical Learning Theory" | This book is meant to be a popularization, of sorts, of the material covered in the considerably more formal and detailed treatment, "Statistical Learning Theory." Some of the other reviewers have commented on how Vapnik's subjective perspective is not as evenhanded as they would like. However, I would not have it any other way. I really enjoyed the fact that he has an organic understanding of the field and he expresses his opinions about it in a relatively unvarnished way; it is undeniable that he played a central role in it. Most readers of this kind of thing should be mature enough to deal with the subjectivity that an author must have in talking about the relevance of their own life's work. He is a bit dismissive of work that he believes is either competitive or is derivative/overlapping with his own (as other reviewers pointed out, this includes nearly all of the American work in the 1980's and 90's).
The benefits of such subjectivity is a framing of the problems of machine learning in the context of the grand scheme of mathematics/statistics. The book has many insights that would usually be reserved only for lectures. Since it is subjective, it is not PC and he gives his (rather valuable) opinions and insights. I really appreciated that. The connections to philosophical work in induction (Kant, Popper) and the formalization of this into a study of statistical induction was a brilliant section, though it was clear that the argument was more a interpretation for the risk formulation than an encoding of the philosophical texts. You either find that sort of thing interesting or you don't.
In summary, a unique portal into understanding Vapnik's extremely insightful point of view on the subject. He has obviously thought very deeply about topics that he's writing about, and it came through.
The benefits of such subjectivity is a framing of the problems of machine learning in the context of the grand scheme of mathematics/statistics. The book has many insights that would usually be reserved only for lectures. Since it is subjective, it is not PC and he gives his (rather valuable) opinions and insights. I really appreciated that. The connections to philosophical work in induction (Kant, Popper) and the formalization of this into a study of statistical induction was a brilliant section, though it was clear that the argument was more a interpretation for the risk formulation than an encoding of the philosophical texts. You either find that sort of thing interesting or you don't.
In summary, a unique portal into understanding Vapnik's extremely insightful point of view on the subject. He has obviously thought very deeply about topics that he's writing about, and it came through.
