Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques

I've read and reviewed the 1st, 2nd and now the 4th edition. The authors are genuine experts, at the front of their fields, and by adding new contributors have been able to both update existing topics as well as add authoritative treatments of new ones. I recommend this text to anyone seeking a serious introduction to data mining. The emphasis is practical rather than theoretical, but there are pointers to the theoretical literature for those wanting them. The practical emphasis serves those wanting such, and provides motivation and context for the approach. For those with the necessary mathematical, statistical and computing background there are certainly a plethora of more advanced treatments, but Witten et.al. may well be the best available introduction to the subject for almost everyone.