Glipse into unix essentials. Do one thing well on an example so you'll never forget it again. Doing less requires more care and attention to detail.
* From Frequency to Meaning (2010): https://www.jair.org/media/2934/live-2934-4846-jair.pdf
A nice summary on vector space models along with three basic matrix layouts: term-document, word-context, pair-pattern and the resulting applications and algorithms.
* A Roadmap towards Machine Intelligence (2015): http://arxiv.org/pdf/1511.08130v1.pdf
Emphasis on communication. I liked the fact, that the AI is pictured as a research assistant, since I would love to see a more dialog oriented interaction with machines.
* 50 years of Data Science (2015): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23421017/50YearsDataScie...
Great essay on how the past had a handle on todays data analysis landscape, just without the enormous computing power and data availability, that we have today.