Data Mining, not technical books?

[AmenoParallax]

Hi everyone!
I just discovered this new branch of statistics/informatics called "data mining", and I was wondering if anyone could suggest me a nice book about it, maybe some not too technical lecture? Otherwise any academic introductory book? What do you think about this subject?
Thanks!

 

[chiro]

Hey AmenoParallax and welcome to the forums.

Do you want to actually learn about the techniques in a deep way (how they are derived, how they work, and the background of such techniques) or do you just want to learn the techniques in a way that you mostly use them without really understanding them in detail?

 

[AmenoParallax]

Hey AmenoParallax and welcome to the forums.

Do you want to actually learn about the techniques in a deep way (how they are derived, how they work, and the background of such techniques) or do you just want to learn the techniques in a way that you mostly use them without really understanding them in detail?

Hi chiro!
My aim is not actually to learn the techniques, but to acquire the generic framework of the subject. My intention was to find any "divulgative-level" book, something between popular science information and academic level. I understand that given the technicality of the subject there may not be such a book, so I'm open to any suggestions about higher level book, as long as there are not too much deep details. So, to answer your question, I'd like to begin with something that can teach me the basis, where I can learn the techniques with marginal knowledge and without understanding them in details.
Thank you!

 

[chiro]

There is a book written about data mining for a package in R known as Rattle.

Rattle has a lot of different techniques for data mining and is free (and open source).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1441998896/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[AmenoParallax]

Well thank you chiro, I'll consider that book, but I see that it's about a specific programmation language, which I don't know at all. Actually, all I know about programming is some basics of MatLab, so maybe that's not suitable for me... (although I'm going to check it out).
I see now that my request was unclear, and I want to be more specific: I'm looking for something about the mathematics and statistics on which data mining is based, that's what I meant with "generic framework". My fault, sorry...
Besides, I'm not really going to apply the knowledge I'm looking for about data mining, it's more like curiosity. Anyway, if I will find out useful material suitable for the subject of my studies (namely astrophysics) I'll definitely try to get deeper knowledge about data mining techniques.
So that's it, I hope to receive more and more suggestions!

 

[MarneMath]

I would try http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~kumar/dmbook/index.php I used it back in my undergrad days and I found it to be an extremely useful book. Theory based but practical too. The problems were, in my opinion, at level to get you to really think about what you just read.

http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~kumar/dmbook/ch4.pdf

Here is a direct link to a sample chapter.