An Introduction to Statistical Learning with Application in R

• Aug 7, 2021

Before starting this book, I read reviews on reddit warning how difficult the book is. I have not taken much advacned statistical courses but I did O'level and A'level where I learned about basic statistical concepts such as sampling, population and hypothesis testing. In my opinion, if you have those basic concepts, this book is not too difficult to follow as the authors introduce topics in a beginner-friendly way. I did have to look up some definitions as my stat course happend about 10 years ago. I also did not know how to use R at all which did not help when I was trying to do assignments. It took extra time and I was sometimes pretty demmotivated by it as I had to frequently stop to look up how wrtie R script to do what I wanted it to do. I would recommend brushing basic statistic concepts and learning at least basic R coding before starting this book but like I said you can learn along as you progress through the book.
This book is widely recommeneded for introduction to the field for a good reason. It provides a thorough overview of the statistical learning with good pratical examples. The exercises at the end really helped me gain deeper understanding of the topics introduced in each chapter. To be really honest, I don't think I am yet to reach the point where all the knowledge in the book becomes second nature to you. I plan to take more coding tutorials and do my own projects to really make this knowledge part of my skillsets.