This is an interesting and approachable book on the uses, advantages and dangers of Big Data. Enormous amounts of data is generated every minute which due to todays computing power can be accessed, stored, used and re-used quite cheaply. This can lead to great advances in efficiency and cost savings for councils, healthcare and the consumer. However, the amount of personal data collected also brings dangers and has the potential to make East Germany's surveillance state look as cute as a kindergarden nativity play. The authors ponder philosophical angles and predict how societies will have to change once we shift fully into the big data mindset. It is a fascinating and informative read, only the chapter on the possible control and regulation of big data is a bit vague. But nobody really knows what's going to happen once data's full power is unleashed and I really just wanted to be re-assured that everything will be fine and big companies and governments will behave responsibly. Hmm. I shall be switching off my mobile right now.

Should you really worry about how your personal details are being mined and used? Should you really be concerned that your e-reader is remembering just how far through 'War And Peace' you quit reading and gave up, or just how many words in the latest Katie Price novel you didn't understand and had to use the inbuilt dictionary to look up? Your data trail is far larger and being analysed by far more people than you probably ever imagined... If ever there was a time to go into a real bookshop and buy a real book with cold, hard cash, that time is now. Just don't hand over your loyalty card...

*A full executive summary of this book will be available at newbooksinbrief dot com, on or before Monday, March 18, 2013. The main argument: Statistical information, or data, has long been recognized to be a potentially rich and valuable source of knowledge. Until recently, however, our ability to render phenomena and events in a quantified format, store this information, and analyze it has been severely limited. With the rise of the digital age, though, these limitations are quickly being eroded. To begin with, digital devices that record our movements and communications, and digital sensors that record the behavior of inanimate objects and systems have become widespread and are proliferating wildly. What's more, the cost of storing this information on computer servers is getting cheaper and cheaper, thus allowing us to store much more of it than ever before. Finally, increasingly sophisticated computer algorithms are allowing us to analyze this information more deeply than ever, and are revealing interesting (and often counter-intuitive) relationships that would never have been possible previously. The increasing datification of the world, and the insights that this is bringing us, may be thought of as one grand phenomenon, and it has a name: Big Data. The insights that are emerging out of Big Data are spread out over many areas, and are already affecting several aspects of society. To begin with, Big Data is helping established businesses to run more efficiently and safely. For example, Big Data is being used to streamline assembly lines and also to catch quality control problems in the factory. But the benefits of Big Data go well beyond the factory. For example, the courier company UPS has used Big Data to help it map out more efficient trucking routes. The resulting improvements have allowed UPS to shave 30 million miles and 3 million gallons of fuel per year from their routes (loc. 1352). The more efficient trucking routes have also led to less traffic accidents. Meanwhile, car companies are beginning to use data from sensors in automobiles to understand which parts are causing problems, and also to understand where and why accidents are happening, so that they may be lessened. In addition to helping already established businesses, Big Data is also allowing for new business opportunities that were never possible before. For example, the business prodigy Oren Etzioni used Big Data to set up a business called Farecast that predicts the cost of airfare tickets. When his business was bought by Microsoft for $110 million, Etzioni used Big Data again to set up a related business that predicts the cost of all manner of consumer goods. His very profitable business, Decide dot com, saves consumers on average $100 per product (loc. 1867). Outside of the business world, Big Data is also being used by governments to help reduce costs and make society safer. For example, in 2009 Google was able to apply Big Data to search terms to help identify how the H1N1 virus was traveling through communities in real time. This method of tracking disease pandemics holds great promise for allowing public health organizations to know when pandemics are beginning, and also to keep better track of how they are unfolding, in order that they may better contain them. In addition, Big Data is being used to help identify where potentially dangerous infrastructural problems are occurring, and also to identify trouble spots for fire hazards, in order that they may be addressed. Big Data also has significant potential uses in health care. Indeed, our increasing ability to gauge and monitor everything from our vital signs to the health of our systems to our individual genomes promises to inaugurate an age of personalized medicine that will allow doctors to tailor treatments to our individual bodies. While Big Data may already be bringing us impressive benefits, Mayer-Schonberger and Cukier argue that the bulk of the benefits are yet to come. Indeed, for the authors, businesses and governments are only just now waking up to the incredible potential of Big Data. And as they direct more attention to recording and analyzing data streams, the potential uses of the information will only multiply. On the negative side, while Big Data may have enormous potential benefits, it also carries substantial potential dangers. Most notably, as more and more information about us is recorded, kept and used, our privacy is increasingly threatened. For the authors, a good deal of oversight will be needed in order to ensure that the potential abuses of Big Data are curbed. The book is well written and represents a fine overview of the present and future of Big Data. Also, the authors do well to raise important big-picture issues related to the phenomena, though the potential impacts (both positive and negative) are occasionally overblown. All in all the book is a good introduction to an important and interesting topic. A full executive summary of the book will be available at newbooksinbrief dot com, on or before Monday, March 18; a podcast discussion of the book will be available shortly thereafter.