Data Preparation for Data Mining addresses an issue unfortunately ignored by most authorities on data mining: data preparation. Thanks largely to its perceived difficulty, data preparation has traditionally taken a backseat to the more alluring question of how best to extract meaningful knowledge. But without adequate preparation of your data, the return on the resources invested in mining is certain to be disappointing.
Dorian Pyle corrects this imbalance. A twenty-five-year veteran of what has become the data mining industry, Pyle shares his own successful data preparation methodology, offering both a conceptual overview for managers and complete technical details for IT professionals. Apply his techniques and watch your mining efforts pay off-in the form of improved performance, reduced distortion, and more valuable results.
On the enclosed CD-ROM, you'll find a suite of programs as C source code and compiled into a command-line-driven toolkit. This code illustrates how the author's techniques can be applied to arrive at an automated preparation solution that works for you. Also included are demonstration versions of three commercial products that help with data preparation, along with sample data with which you can practice and experiment.
* Offers in-depth coverage of an essential but largely ignored subject.
* Goes far beyond theory, leading you-step by step-through the author's own data preparation techniques.
* Provides practical illustrations of the author's methodology using realistic sample data sets.
* Includes algorithms you can apply directly to your own project, along with instructions for understanding when automation is possible and when greater intervention is required.
* Explains how to identify and correct data problems that may be present in your application.
* Prepares miners, helping them head into preparation with a better understanding of data sets and their limitations. |
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28 of 30 found the following review helpful:
 A must have...Apr 27, 1999
By Greg James (gjames@netguild.com)
I've had the pleasure of listening to Dorian speak at seminars and even sharing a few brief words with him in person. When he mentioned to me last year that he was working on this book I had no idea how thorough and complete it would be. In fact, I remember wondering to myself how anyone could get their hands around this difficult, yet important aspect of data mining. I'm in awe! Anyone in the trenches will immediately understand the value of this book. Those just getting started in data mining will probably have no idea how much simpler their job just became. My only criticism of this book is that its title obscures that fact that there is a wealth of general data mining information contained within it - practical well beyond the data preparation phase. To understand why and how certain data preparation techniques work is to go a long way towards appreciating subtleties throughout the rest of the data mining process. Thanks Dorian!
18 of 20 found the following review helpful:
The true data miner toolkitMay 21, 1999
This book is simply great, it provides the best practices about the essence of data mining : data preparationAny analyst knows that 80% of data mining time is spent in data preparation, nevertheless most authors focus on the remaining 20% : techniques and tools, where the value is more "visible" The truth is that this value is unavaillable, unless you get data prepared, and that's the difficult job Dorian book's allows you to understand this obscure process through a great analytical process. Strongly recommended
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Great book about data and Data MiningOct 22, 2003
By Wojtek Matuszczak
The book "Data Preparation for Data Mining" is not a common Data Mining book. Nowdays a classical Data Mining book contains a metodology how to solve class of standard problems. This means more a set of prescriptions and receipts for elaborating various solutions to customer loyality, retention etc.
The book by Dorian Pyle is different.It is not a Data Mining book, because as the authors claims, Data Mining is only a part of wider subject, which he calls Data Exploration. He shows us wider spectrum of various subjects considering data than you can find in other books. He gives us a good background that helps to recognize the source of problems with data. Some subjects are not to find in other sources. They come directly from author's reach experience. To summarise - the autor of the book managed to describe the whole subject area considering data, that is not to find in other books on this topics. To achive that knowledge we should read many other publications from different areas.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
A must have bookDec 26, 2002
By David B Fiery
Anyone who practices data mining lives the issues discussed in this book. The book dissects and explains important data challenges. Dorian communicates far more than knowledge about the nomenclature of the problems. His focus is instead on the trade-offs one makes while wrestling with data issues. He provides sage counsel on how the practioner can address data for the specific types of analytical problems one faces. I own about 15 data mining books, this is the one that I use the most.
8 of 9 found the following review helpful:
This book saved me when all else had failed.Sep 10, 2001
By Megan Squire
I was in the market for some information on how to scale data before using it with a neural network. After trying to wade through material that was somewhat inaccessible to my feeble brain, this book saved me. I was able to implement a simple scaling system in less than 2 hours. I later asked one of the econometricians at my company if I had done the scaling properly, and he said I did! This book is simple to understand, and best of all, it was correct!!
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