# The Elements of Statistical Learning by Hastie, Tibshirani and Friedman

3 Hacker News commenters recommended The Elements of Statistical Learning by Hastie, Tibshirani and Friedman and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as the machine learning bible, a well-known reference first published in 2001.

## Why people recommend it

- Called the machine learning bible (1 comments): "the machine learning bible, Elements of Statistical Learning (2001)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48673799))
- Admired by a self-described fan (1 comments): "as someone who's a big fan of Hastie et al's Elements" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47902145))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Statistical Rethinking by Richard McElreath](https://hackerapproved.com/p/statistical-rethinking.md): 10 recommend
- [Think Bayes by Allen Downey](https://hackerapproved.com/p/think-bayes.md): 4 recommend
- [Probability Theory: The Logic of Science by Jaynes](https://hackerapproved.com/p/probability-theory-the-logic-of-science.md): 3 recommend
- [Introduction to Probability by Blitzstein and Hwang](https://hackerapproved.com/p/introduction-to-probability.md): 3 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0387848843?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780387848846) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Elements of Statistical Learning by Hastie, Tibshirani and Friedman", https://hackerapproved.com/p/elements-of-statistical-learning/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).