We the Numerati

A quick post: I am almost finished reading "the Numerati" by Stephen Baker. I must say that I had very high expectations from this book and it seems to have come slightly short of it. Dont get me wrong, it is certainly a good book but, it wasn't a very technical book. So many of the topics and ideas presented here might sound quite familiar to someone who is wading in data and algorithms every waking hour. What I really like about the author is the way he treads a fine line between dismissing some of the myths about data miners and highlighting some legitimate concerns in the field. It is a great compilation of interviews and summarizes a number of research topics. A few interesting points/quotes from the book: Be watchful of the fact that in some fields (like analyzing terrorist networks) where lives are at stake, we need to be very very careful. False positives doesnt necessarily mean that it is a non-event. On the other hand, innocent folks can find themselves on terrorist watch lists. Failure can cost lives. From David Sifry's interview in the book -- be cautious of "mistaking correlation for causation". Don't think of privacy filters as add-ons that we can worry about after coming up with the data mining techniques. In Jeff Jonas's words sometimes "repurposing" data can lead to unintended uses. Watch out! Stephen Baker touches upon many different applications and profiles a number of scientists, companies and startups that make up the Numerati. My favorite chapter ofcourse was the "Blogger" and "Terrorist" for its social media and social network related discussions (OK I admit there is a slight bias here :-). And Pranam too is eagerly looking forward to reading the pages that talk about splogs. (I am rather surprised that he wasn't interviewed for this!) Overall, its a good book that caters to a wide audience. But most importantly does a great job at demystifying the Numerati and showing a balanced, informed picture about what we do.