Book excerpt: Data is collected everywhere these days, in massive quantities. But data alone does not do you much good. That is why data analysis -- making sense of the data -- has become a must-have skill in the fields of business, science, and social science. But it is a tough skill to acquire. The concepts are challenging, and too many books and online tutorials treat only parts of the total skillset needed. Now, though, this book draws all the essential skills together and presents them in a clear and example-packed way. So you will soon be applying your programming skills to complex data analysis problems, more easily than you ever thought possible. In terms of content, this book gets you started the right way by using Pandas for data analysis and Seaborn for data visualisation, with JupyterLab as your IDE. Then, it helps you master descriptive analysis by teaching you how to get, clean, prepare, and analyse data, including time-series data. Next, it gets you started with predictive analysis by showing you how to use linear regression models to predict unknown and future values. And to tie everything together, it gives you 4 real-world case studies that show you how to apply your new skills to political, environmental, social, and sports analysis. At the end, you will have a solid set of the professional skills that can lead to all sorts of new career opportunities. Sound too good to be true? Download a sample chapter for free from the Murach website and see for yourself how this book can turn you into the data analyst that companies are looking for.