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Product description Financial Times Business Book of the Year Finalist Illuminating and very timely a fascinating - and sometimes alarming - survey of big datas growing effect on just about everything business government science and medicine privacy and even on the way we think -New York Times It seems like big data is in the news every day as we read the latest examples of how powerful algorithms are teasing out the hidden connections between seemingly unrelated things Whether it is used by the NSA to fight terrorism or by online retailers to predict customers buying patterns big data is a revolution occurring around us in the process of forever changing economics science culture and the very way we think But it also poses new threats from the end of privacy as we know it to the prospect of being penalized for things we havent even done yet based on big datas ability to predict our future behavior What we have already seen is just the tip of the iceberg Big Data is the first major book about this earthshaking subject with two leading experts explaining what big data is how it will change our lives and what we can do to protect ourselves from its hazards An optimistic and practical look at the Big Data revolution - just the thing to get your head around the big changes already underway and the bigger changes to come -Cory Doctorow boingboing com Review "What I’m certain about is that Big Data will be the defining text in the discussion for some time to come." —Forbes.com "The authors make clear that ‘big data’ is much more than a Silicon Valley buzzword. . . No other book offers such an accessible and balanced tour of the many benefits and downsides of our continuing infatuation with data." — Wall Street Journal "Brilliant . . . an elegant and readable primer." — New Scientist "Plenty of books extol the technical marvels of our information society, but this is an original analysis of the information itself—trillions of searches, calls, clicks, queries and purchases....A fascinating, enthusiastic view of the possibilities of vast computer correlations and the entrepreneurs who are taking advantage of them." —STARRED Kirkus Reviews "This book offers important insights and information." — Booklist"‘Big data’ [is] one of the buzzwords of corporate executives, tech-savvy politicians, and worried civil libertarians. If you want to know what they’re all talking about, then BIG DATA is the book for you, a comprehensive and entertaining introduction to a very large topic....Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier offer up some sensible suggestions on how we can have the blessings of big data and our freedoms, too. Just as well; their lively book leaves no doubt that big data’s growth spurt is just beginning." — Boston Globe "Every decade, there are a handful of books that change the way you look at everything. This is one of those books. Society has begun to reckon the change that big data will bring. This book is an incredibly important start." —Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and author of Remix and Free Culture " Big Data breaks new ground in identifying how today’s avalanche of information fundamentally shifts our basic understanding of the world. Argued boldly and written beautifully, the book clearly shows how companies can unlock value, how policymakers need to be on guard, and how everyone’s cognitive models need to change." —Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab " Big Data is a must-read for anyone who wants to stay ahead of one of the key trends defining the future of business." —Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, salesforce.com "An optimistic and practical look at the Big Data revolution — just the thing to get your head around the big changes already underway and the bigger changes to come." —Cory Doctorow, boingboing.com "Just as water is wet in a way that individual water molecules aren’t, big data can reveal information in a way that individual bits of data can’t. The authors show us th