The Numerati

Probably a book about interesting topics. I say "probably" beasuse I was unable to read it. Book is written in childishly infantile style that is appropriate for kindergarden kids. I made many attempts to read this book - from the beginning, form the end, from the middle. Sorry. Facts are hidden in jumble-mumble

In this informative book we are introduced to a new breed of mathematicians, "the numerati", who are responsible for gathering loads of private information individuals provide when they use a credit card, donate to a cause, surf the Internet, or even make a phone call.

The book's chapters include:

1. Intro
2. The Worker
3. The Shopper
4. The Voter
5. The Blogger
6. The Terrorist
7. The Patient
8. The Lover
9. Conclusion

This book is so so interesting. I especially enjoyed the chapters on Shoppers and Bloggers. One firm in New York analyzes data from web searches, and gathers some 20 billion behavioral clues on internet users each day. I also learned about an interesting Blog search engine, how political consultants target particular voters, and so much more. This non fiction book is highly recommended.

"The Numerati" features a number of interviews between Baker and various individuals leading research efforts into analyzing consumer data. Readers would easily be led into believing that a New Age is around the corner.

I can testify from experience (health care, education, prisoners, construction) that it's not so simple. There are just too many side issues that complicate situations (Baker does point out some of them) and/or negate/limit the value of findings. In addition, in some areas there is active resistance to such findings - education is the most glaring example.

Education priorities are now set according to making life easier and more profitable for educators, not improving pupil outcomes; educators are dead set against undermining their "gold mine." Similarly, physicians generally do not accept outcomes data - partly for good reasons (the data inputs are not as accurate as desirable), but mostly because they don't want light shown on their fiefdoms.

Meanwhile, simpler methods exist - eg. focus groups. Further, I was disappointed the Baker did not cover the Internet's existing powerful ability to guide pricing decisions by randomly/decision-aided quoting of different prices.

Bottom Line: "The Numerati" does provide an overview of current thinking in the areas of grocery shopping, possible crime and terrorist prevention, etc. However, NO information on the current value/usefulness of these techniques is provided - thus, potential practitioners receive little of value.

I would highly recommend reading Baker's book immediately before or after reading How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business by Douglas Hubbard. Baker would probably consider Hubbard one of the "numerati". Both authors talk about some of the specifics of the analysis methods (but moreso Hubbard) and both talk about the general trends and impacts (but moreso Baker).

Like his table of contents (which is simply worker, shopper, voter, blogger, terrorist, patient, lover), Baker's book is sweeping if a bit terse in places. As a quant, I find Numerati an easy read with virtually no math but still enlightening even for the most quantitatively adept reader. There were several examples in Baker's book where I already knew of the mathod but had not heard of that application. He did some great research and covered a lot of topics in this giant and elaborate field of work.

My main concern for many management-level readers of this book is that in some cases Baker gives a reader just enough information to think they can apply it to a similar problem they have, falling into the "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" trap. Again, this can be offset with a read of Hubbard's book. It might also have been helpful to talk about the rise of "crackpot rigour" in a world with lots of data and relatively few competent mathematical analysts (various "data mining" experts come to mind).

In all, its one of my favorite reads of the year. I felt like someone was finally casting light on my own obscure field.

Steve Baker has written a page-turner that illuminates a world invisible to all but a few who understand the depths to which the digital world is shaping every aspect of our society. The "Numerati" -- those mathematical wizards and computer engineers to whom I paid little notice 30 years ago when I was in college -- are now the entrepreneurs and visionaries whose expertise is at work deciphering everything we do and even think. The Numerati's complex search methods known to those who took calculus in high school as "algorithms" are used every day by public and private sector entities to intrepret the vast amounts of data we all voluntarily put in the public domain every time we use our phones, credit cards and go "on-line." The story Baker tells of how the "Numerati" have insinuated themselves into every aspect of our economic and national life is compelling and and at times frightening. Every cell and land-line phone call, on-line communication, credit card purchase and daily email we send is part of an exponentially growing data base that's harvested not just for benign social and economic research, but highly targeted consumer marketing, politcal persuasion and outreach, business management and oversight of employees, as well as for govermernmental scrutiny of potentially suspicious activity. Baker's groundbreaking book tells in layman terms how the "Numerati" mine our data to determine who we are and what we do with our lives. Every single action we take using every day technology adds to a vast data base of information that is ripe for interperation not remotely imaginable in the analog world -- the four-TV channel and dial-phone universe in which I grew up as a kid in the 1960's and 1970's. As one of the "Numerati" notes in this book, this vast data base of information we voluntarily give up about ourselves is going to expand inexorably. Nothing will stop this juggernaut of information and the growing technological capacity to mine it. The genie is out of the bottle. Drawing on his skills as a journalist covering technology for more than two decades for Business Week Magazine, Baker introduces us to a Brave New World with great possibilities as well as potential perils. This is a gripping read: The three chapters covering politics, terrorism and medicine alone are worth the price of the book. There is much that is good and exciting about this new world, as it is putting information to use for us that expands our choices and improves our quality of life. But at the same time, the Numerati have the power and capacity to manipulate and reinforce our behavior as well as peer into our private lives. While this technological wizardry may well identify dangerous activity and potential terrorist threats, it also may invade our privacy in fundamental ways. "The Numerati" captures the dawn of a new era in which information is not simply power, but possibly all-controlling and potentially at odds with the values of a democratic society. Baker's ability to describe the new "search" technology and the experts that harness it makes for a compelling read, but it leaves the reader with more questions than answers. Is this technology and its accelerating capacity to scrutinize our daily activities outpacing our ability to regulate this new world so that our democratic and constitutional values are protected? The challenge of this new era, not so subtly raised by this extraordinary book, is whether this new technological revolution is going to control us or whether we will control it. To invoke a well worn book cover cliché: Run don't walk, to buy this book" -- and pay with cash if you want to keep your purchase private -- so you can decide for yourself.