The rise of large language models (LLMs) has reshaped modern artificial intelligence. But how do they really work, and how can we build or fine-tune one ourselves? Andriy Burkov’s Mastering Language Models offers a uniquely approachable and deeply practical guide for anyone eager to understand and apply language modeling—from theory to PyTorch code. A Personal Journey Into Language Modeling The book begins with Burkov’s own journey, from his fascination with meaning in language to the breakthroughs of his PhD thesis, where neural language models outperformed n-grams—an idea once considered unthinkable.…