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Comment by andrewnc | Hacker News Reader

I've always wanted to write a book. I have helped write 3 different deeply technical books (and one solutions manual), but I wanted something fun, interesting, and valuable.

So I wrote "Everyday Data Science" which is a collection of stories, tutorials, jokes, math, and code all written to inspire people to analyze their personal data.

In general, I was also inspired by the challenge to "make $100 online" which I have done in the past month since launching. It was daunting, and I felt quite vulnerable, but overall I'm pleased with what I've made.

I wrote up this quick post to give you an idea of the process I followed to write the book, and some of the content.

I'd love to know your thoughts and am open to (nice) feedback :)

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Hey Andrew, it's Matt from our graduate research lab. This is exciting, congrats!

You always did make me thirst for more understanding of ML... guess I'll have to buy this book. Do you make more margins on digital or print copies?

By the way -- HNers -- if your company needs talent in data science, Andrew is easily one of your best candidates. His intuitive understanding and teaching of data and ML inspired me to be a better scientist. Andrew thinks critically and is also a great person to work with.

I have higher margin on digital copies :) Amazon loves to take their share.

Those are kind words coming from maybe the single greatest programmer I know.

Thanks for your support and for the recommendation :D

I've read "Algorithms to live by" and liked it. This looks like a data science variant of that same idea, very cool.

I think books like these can be a great eye opener. We all remember thinking "what am I gonna use this for??" in high school maths, physics etc, and I think this is a fun, approachable and interesting way to see real life impact of maybe otherwise dry and abstract stuff.

Congrats!

This book resonates with me.

This reminds me of the "data science" book was from Data Smart, from the Mailchimp CDO, talking how to keep orange juice tasting the same all year round (using a seasonal fruit) or calculating the likelihood of a consumer being pregnant - all within Excel.

I recommend “Data Smart” to anyone who wants to break into data science.

Is there also a drm-free version available?

EDIT: Nevermind its in the post and I was confused: https://gumroad.com/l/everydaydata

Hi Andrew, thank you for sharing this. I am inspired by the book and the reasons why you wrote it. This will definitely help with not only trying to use your book as some form of self-help, but to remind myself that when you put your mind to something, you can achieve it. This is something I have been struggling with for the last year and for some reason your book and this comment has been a motivating factor. Thank you.

Thank you for your kind words :)

Motivation is such a fickle beast. For whatever reason, I felt good during the entire writing process. Going back and forth with the editor was definitely more challenging.

One thing that helped, actually, was I tweeted an artificial deadline when I started writing. That was immensely motivating for me. I ended up missing the deadline (again because of editing woes) but that was key in helping me push this over the finish line.

Again, I'm glad this was motivating for you and I wish you the best. Feel free to message me on twitter if you ever wanted to chat more about projects you're working on.

Just bought paperback based on this description. You are a good writer! Excited to see if any of your research experience gave any insights into the book. (I don't know since I only read this description)

By any chance is there a non Amazon hard copy store you distribute through as well?

I'm using Kindle Direct Publishing. This service means the books are printed on demand so I don't have to worry about inventory and the like.

So I guess that's a long way of saying no, there isn't another option for now.

Did you make the $100 entirely through book sales?

Yes. I officially launched the book at the end of January. I delayed doing a HN launch until I was sure people enjoyed the book and I knew there would be some interest.

The unfortunate truth is that book writing is a low margin game and you shouldn't do it for the money. Development or actual data science is far more profitable.

But there are many other intangibles :)

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