good books on pattern recognition/machine learning

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I am taking a course on pattern recognition and the textbook we use is by Duda and Hart (pattern classification). The book contains many mathematical proofs, and I just get lost in the math--even though I generally like math. I would like to be able to use the approaches described in the book, but as I said, I keep getting lost with all the math, especially since my instructor follows a similar approach. Can anyone suggest a good book about the subject? One where the authors emphasize problem solving and give specific examples (preferably with sample computer scripts) on how to use the techniques?