Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Bayesian Data Analysis, Third Edition (Chapman & Hall/CRC Texts in Statistical Science)

Top positive review

26 people found this helpful

Great reference, but not for introduction

ByHyokun Yunon June 18, 2015

My impression from people around me was that this book is the canonical textbook for those who want to get into Bayesian statistics. After having read this book from cover to cover, however, I do not think it is a good idea to start learning Bayesian statistics with this book, as it covers very wide range of topics and therefore does not get into much technical depth for most of them. I think this book is ideal for someone like me who has very basic understanding of Bayesian statistics but would like to get some exposure to variety of existing tools in the literature so that when some of them become needed at certain point of my career, I can reopen this book and follow its references to learn enough to actually use them.

The stance of this book is very practical, and it is great to get a glimpse of how these grand-master Statisticians approach data analysis. First few chapters regarding the underlying philosophy of Bayesian statistics is also brilliantly written, a must-read for any Statistician.

I was somewhat disappointed with changes in the third edition though. The addition of Gaussian Processes and other advanced topics is greatly advertised, but I found these new chapters to be relatively poorly written compared to those in the previous edition; notations are not consistent with previous chapters, and clarity of writing is disappeared. It was a stupid idea to buy the new edition while having the second edition.

Top critical review

See all 3 critical reviews›

6 people found this helpful

Too Many Words

ByYing-Ting Linon September 17, 2016

The text in this book seems overtly redundant/irrelevant; many details (words, sentences, even paragraphs) can be dropped without affecting the content. Future references and historical notes are tangled with the examples that deliver the major concepts, while some equations are left underived. This make each examples that are meant to convey simple concept into a gigantic mess that one has to work through. This is a text book, not a paper, what's the point of enforcing accuracy in details and suppress derivation of equations. As a reader who wish to learn instead of to judge the content, such writing style only induces unnecessary headache. Might as well read the papers.

This is at least the impression I get from the introduction and the first chapter. The process was already slow and tedious, and in the end there were only a handful of points that are noteworthy. Seeing that the style doesn't seem to barge for the rest of the chapters, even ones that describe the algorithms, I don't think I will regret dropping the book.

Sort by:

Filter by:

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Showing 21-27 of 27 reviews(Verified Purchases). See all 36 reviews

Good text book

ByLazarus Mrambaon March 8, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Very good textbook to help understand Bayesian Stats and its applications. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in applied research.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Five Stars

ByHugo Biscegliaon June 20, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

All very well, I received the books without problems and very son too

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Great experience.

ByJohn Dalbyon May 1, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A+. Great experience.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

good book but too confusing

ByGarret Voon March 3, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

It is a good comprehensive of bayesian data analysis. The book is too verbose to follow. It is better to use with other textbooks in Bayesian

0Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Five Stars

ByV. Reinhardton March 11, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Order placed for others no complaints

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Not what I expected….

ByJoeTon December 27, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

When I saw the advertisement for this book, I noticed that it said "R programs".
Since I'm not a mathematician but an end-user, this appealed to me.
Then I got the book.
This book is more the academic version of Bayesian Data Analysis, with very little on R.
Namely, it's not what I expected.
The text (at least the chapters that I read) were good, but again, not for an end user.

When will mathematicians learn that not every math book is just for mathematicians?