Times agone I sat in a dimly lit office  peering at a spreadsheet that  sounded to have no end — over a million rows of retail  sale data. At that moment, I felt like a man trying to clear the ocean with a teaspoon. But after applying a simple clustering algorithm, the" noise" cleared. I discovered the" Eureka!" moment it was not just  computation; it was investigative journalism with  numbers.   This is the heart of Data Mining. It's the art of chancing  the" why" behind the" what." In this post, I want to partake my  particular  gospel and a comprehensive  companion to  learning this craft.  Table of Contents 1. Beyond the Dictionary: What is Data Mining? 2. The Evolution: From Statistics to AI 3. The "Golden Cycle": A Deep Dive into the 5-Step Process 4. Personal Wisdom: 3 Hard-Learned Lessons 5. The Human Element: Why AI Can’t Replace the Miner 1. Defining Data Mining Beyond the Dictionary Definition The textbook...