"Steve Baker puts his finger on perhaps the most important cultural trend today: the explosion of data about every aspect of our world and the rise...
read full description
reviews
Oct 31, 2008
Brian
rated it: 
well. i thought this would be the next malcolm gladwell, steven levitt masterpiece, but instead it's a book that has a catchy title/cover and even a great premise, but the author (Stephen Baker) fails to deliver much new information about how 'the world is watching our every move.' could've condensed the entire book to a magazine article.
Aug 02, 2011
Vicky
rated it:
This book is a fascinating insight into what our future is going to be. We have to forget about privacy, keeping secrets or being on our own. We are constantly watched, observed, analyzed and manipulated. Everything about us is part of various databases, accessed by different agencies with different agendas. We supply the data ourselves by using Internet, keeping blogs, being on Social Networks, going to the doctor, library, even the grocery shop. We are profiled, our next step is predicted and
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Oct 24, 2008
Tim
rated it: 
Data is everywhere, from the discount cards at the supermarket to the surveillance cameras on city streets. In charge of collecting and parsing all of this data are those Baker calls The Numerati, the keepers of the data. Baker looks at the amazing amount of information that is being collected in a number of different settings from shopping to national security, dating sites, and medical information. He follows the Numerati as they use this data to profile people, and explains both the pros and
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 08, 2009
Evelyn
rated it: 
I’ve been fascinated by marketing and consumer trends since reading Why We Buy by Paco Underhill several years ago. After reading The Numerati, I’m blown away by what data mining companies are doing everyday with those little bits of information we consumers leave behind every time we use our debit cards, cell phones, computers and other electronic devices.
Baker begins by showing us how much we rely on our computers and Google; even though we know we are being tracked. He tells us, More...
Baker begins by showing us how much we rely on our computers and Google; even though we know we are being tracked. He tells us, More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 03, 2011
Interesting overview of how information is being sorted, used and manipulated in the digital era and the directions that people are going to explore the possibilities. Author is somewhat optimistic about the ends to which this information will be put, while glossing over some of the bigger problems and challenges that are presented with this. Though he does provide a good example of one researcher that has already run into a 'Nobel' issue with his data manipulation technology.
As stated, while More...
As stated, while More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 09, 2009
David
rated it:
This book was right down my line - a fascinating look at information, data, and data manipulation. The author gives the title of "Numerati" to the "entrepreneurial mathematicians" who analyze and interpret the vast quantity of data that is being collected in today's technology age. This includes information we willingly and consciously disclose, as well as information we may not know we're disclosing. What do grocery stores do, or what might they do, with our "buying hab
More...
Dec 07, 2008
Stephen
rated it:
I went into this book expecting it to be a dark side of the Singularity type book. However, the case studies are presented in a relatively neutral to upbeat tone as opposed to an end of privacy as we know it gloom and doom as expected.
The book discusses various ways that groups are moving from binning us into large categories for marketing and profiling, and moving towards more individual analysis. The book is broken into a series of case studies from marketing, employment, surveill More...
The book discusses various ways that groups are moving from binning us into large categories for marketing and profiling, and moving towards more individual analysis. The book is broken into a series of case studies from marketing, employment, surveill More...
Jan 31, 2011
David
rated it: 
Title is a clever neologism for people who engage in data mining to serve some pragmatic goal (e.g., Karl Rove micro-targeting likely-persuadable Republican voters to go to the polls; Amazon figuring out what you might like to read from what you have ordered previously; match.com correlating your profile with that of another customer with whom you might like to go out........).
Underlying process is kind of interesting but the book itself is too long and repetitive, and it was a little More...
Underlying process is kind of interesting but the book itself is too long and repetitive, and it was a little More...
Nov 08, 2009
Emily
rated it:
The Numerati is a book by a business reporter (Stephen Baker) rather than a scientist, and it reads like it. He's trying to explore the world of computer scientists who partner with linguists, anthropologists, et al. to exploit online and/or public records data with the goal of modeling people--as voters, shoppers, and patients. That information can then be used to target political ads to you or to help you find the right person on an online dating site, and so forth.
The use of compu More...
The use of compu More...
Dec 20, 2008
Desiree
rated it:
I think I would have liked this book if the author had given more specifics. Yes, I am sure we all know by now that we are being tracked. Computers are powerful enough to sift through massive amounts of data and their results will become more and more useful as time goes on. I am about to tackle a related book called Click, which I may find more interesting!
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Dec 21, 2008
David
rated it:
Very interesting raw information - disturbing, I guess you'd say. But a little disappointing on the analysis side. Maybe the purpose of this kind of book is simply to scare you by listing all the kinds of things that you do that aren't private anymore, but I was sort of hoping to get more of a 'what should we make of this' kind of take as well.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Nov 20, 2010
Maurizio
rated it:
Questo libro ha un sottotitolo che sembra stato scritto da Lina Wertmüller: "Chi sono i Signori dei numeri che controllano il nostro comportamento: cosa compriamo, come votiamo, come amiamo". Eppure chi ha scelto il titolo dell'edizione italiana non ha avuto il coraggio di lasciare intatto quello originale e scrivere "I Numerati", ma ha scelto di usare qualcosa a effetto, incurante del fatto che più che altro si parla di statistici e informatici. Ma si sa, i matematici hanno
More...
Aug 13, 2009
Oleg
rated it:
After getting a degree in Information Studies, some of Stephen Baker's ideas and explanations were basic. However, his basic premise that the mathematical modeling of human beings (whether it's for commercial, political, security, or relationship purposes) will shape our lives in the future. Mr. Baker does a good job of tempering the usual fear-mongering that comes with issues related to data-mining and probability-based predictions, explaining that, in fact, the Numerati still have a long way t
More...
Jun 22, 2011
Ron
rated it:
Enjoyable treatment of fascinating topic of a world-wide cultural revolution fostered by the seemingly endless stream of zero's and one's of that thing called the binary code that is changing our way of life in ways unimaginable outside of a drug induced hallucinatory state. Baker considers how we as a species are on the pinnacle of far reaching changes that are at once frought with fear and trembling, and yet at the same time a natural extention of a movement back toward individualizing appeal
More...
Aug 01, 2011
Pbloren
rated it:
All those thingies dangling from your keychain from stores where you shop, all those receipts from that shopping, restaurants, etc. give new meaning to "Big Brother is watching you" except he's only collecting every piece of data on all those things, plus internet use, hospital visits, chatrooms, ad nauseum. The data is being mined, and chances are very good that you, in all your doings, are on a computer(s) somewhere in the world, waiting for the Numerati to parse your data into what
More...
Oct 06, 2009
Bob
rated it:
This is a solid popular-level quick read, with some content I might use professionally, but I was disappointed that Baker's understanding of math in the future economy is quite limited.
This book is really focused on data mining, and on top of that really focused on a consumer perspective (as opposed to meeting business needs) - he misses a lot of other opportunities. His chapters cover Worker, Shopper, Voter, Blogger, Terrorist, Patient, and Lover. By the time you get past "Blog More...
This book is really focused on data mining, and on top of that really focused on a consumer perspective (as opposed to meeting business needs) - he misses a lot of other opportunities. His chapters cover Worker, Shopper, Voter, Blogger, Terrorist, Patient, and Lover. By the time you get past "Blog More...
Mar 14, 2009
Natalia
rated it:
I was disapointed with this book. It's a full-length book about the use of statistical methods and data mining to model people... but there is no discussion at all of those statistical methods or data mining techniques. It's full of talk about the data that's collected, and the predictions that are or could potentially be made, but the middle bit, the way that analysis actually happens is simply not addressed.
Now, I understand that other people are not as interested in statistics as More...
Now, I understand that other people are not as interested in statistics as More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 29, 2009
Mark
rated it:
This is a well organized and highly readable exploration of the way number crunchers and computer scientists are mining our personal data to figure out more and more about us as shoppers, voters, bloggers, medical patients and lovers (think Chemistry.com).
Stephen Baker is an experienced business writer who sought out a lot of the top entrepreneurial and university data miners for this book, which is organized by the themes mentioned above.
It ranges from the way our More...
Sep 27, 2008
Jeffrey
rated it:
I'll post a more complete review as a blog article. But I can say that I loved the authors approach and deep dive into the people and organizations that are crunching very large databases to find behavioral patterns... of you and I!
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 02, 2010
Barry
rated it:
Good survey book about the ways our lives are being quanitified, from marketers to politicians to matchmakers to medical researchers.
Works and actions that have been recorded in many ways can be quanted out for analysis and projections. Content analysis has been around since the sixties. But with the web offering huge amounts of data and computers offering rapid means of tumbling the data, new statistical methods are yielding thinner and thinner slices of actionable data.
Content ana More...
Works and actions that have been recorded in many ways can be quanted out for analysis and projections. Content analysis has been around since the sixties. But with the web offering huge amounts of data and computers offering rapid means of tumbling the data, new statistical methods are yielding thinner and thinner slices of actionable data.
Content ana More...
May 06, 2009
Nathaniel
rated it:
An interesting look at the emerging importance of data-mining in virtually every sphere of our economy and public life, but definitely an outsider's look. Many of the insights that Baker portrays as shocking will come as yesterday's news to anyone who a) leads anything approaching a wired life and b) has ever troubled to think for a minute about all the free services, rewards programs, etc. available to the savvy consumer... or even wondered briefly about how the now-ubiquitous "recommendat
More...
Mar 25, 2009
Thurston
rated it:
A cocktail mix of cocktail party facts, like the "Outliers" book by Gladwell I recently read, this is readily digestible popular social science, heavy on the social... Perhaps more typically enjoyed in magazine form or internet capsule, still some interesting tidbits. Something about a site like acxiom.com (was that it?) that felt a bit insidious.
Of course, I feel that way about all stereotyping which is largely what the numerati feast upon, statistics in all their sadistic More...
Of course, I feel that way about all stereotyping which is largely what the numerati feast upon, statistics in all their sadistic More...
Jan 07, 2009
Kelly
rated it:
Baker's book, set up in the style of Weinberger's Small Pieces Loosely Joined is a great primer for people who are unaware of the prevalence of data in our culture. The book loosely touches on ethical implications, saving the bulk of the text for digging into how this data is used. For those who are somewhat aware of technology or are consumers of news from sources other than the television, this isn't new or particularly insightful. But for people who may not be aware, this is a great book.
More...
May 14, 2010
Nicole
rated it:
I wouldn't necessarily call this a bad book, but it was a disappointing one for me. It provided a survey of some of the applications of data mining in modern culture, but failed to provide any information about the mathematics - while I agree with Baker that not everyone needs to become one of the Numerati, it wouldn't hurt to give readers a few basic concepts - and gave only a cursory examination of the ethical issues involved in this kind of research. I was looking for a book that I could reco
More...
Sep 09, 2010
Erica
rated it:
Holy smokes this was enlightening and of particular interest to a math geek like myself. It brought back fond memories of stats classes in college. I expected it to be an alarmist book about all the information that is being collected against our wills by our time "on the web", but it was alarmist, just informative about what amazing things are, aren't , and can be done with the data being culled. Each chapter is titled for various aspects of our lives: shopper, patient, voter, etc.
More...
Jul 27, 2011
Jay
rated it:
Nice overview of the commercial use of math, stats, operations research, etc., as well as measurement and monitoring capabilities. The author took some effort to make things interesting to a broad audience, but made it a bit too pop-science-y for my liking. A lot like an extended article from Wired magazine. Nice overview, though I think enough material exists to dedicate an entire book to a couple of the subjects, like politics and healthcare. I would have preferred more detail on one or two of
More...
Mar 15, 2009
Flourish
rated it:
An enjoyable, light nonfiction book. Nothing in it was "news" to me, but then, I live and work with this stuff every day and probably see a lot more of it than most people (MIT's media scholars are featured prominently in it). It wasn't a fear-mongering kind of book, which I really appreciated, and it introduced me to a couple new technologies that I didn't realize were in the works (especially ones for health monitoring: I've considered buying a Body Bugg, and I'm excited to someday b
More...
Mar 02, 2009
Vince
rated it:
Excellent guide to how information is being stored and culled. Soon we'll all be quantified and exploited by those who hope to influence our every action. Unless of course we all take 10 minutes a day to write emails about subjects we have no interest in and write blog entries that make little sense. Of course just using a fake name when acquiring those neat little keychain cards that save us tens of cents at the store and using a different birthdate everytime asked on the net will slow this al
More...
May 17, 2010
Annie
rated it:
This book made me think about the way I buy and who is watching me shop in new ways. At school we are encouraged to use data to inform our decision making, but this book takes it to a whole new level. I did appreciate the view into the marketing world and knowing how online and supermarket purchasing are all recorded because of our digital universe. Cash only? And I just read that now you can get a swipe app for your phone. I was nervous when Mobil offered that little stick to wave at the g
More...
Jan 26, 2010
Jim
rated it:
I managed to get through it but I found it a bit of a slog. It contained interesting information about the use of statistics, loyalty cards, political and commercial consumer targeting, etc. and it had the virtue of being a small book. I found out I am a "barnacle", that is a customer who comes into a store, buys the sale items and leaves without buying any regular priced goods. When (not if) the numerati find out who I am they will stop offering me special deals. They still haven'
More...
