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659 reviews for:
Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
Steven Pinker, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
3.82 AVERAGE
659 reviews for:
Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
Steven Pinker, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
3.82 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
The methodology and conclusions were both interesting but overall I didn’t like the book, also I think some assumptions were made about conclusions without considering possible alternative explanations. One specific example, the author compared quotes to their position in books to come up with the conclusion that most people don’t finish books. Another possible conclusions people read less carefully near the end. I certainly was bored near the end and paying less attention.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Lots of interesting information. It leaves you wanting to learn more.
I couldn't put this book down. Every couple of pages referenced an interesting study.
I felt both attacked and comforted by the data on what people google search. It's uncomfortable to be reminded that companies like Netflix, Google, and Facebook often understand our behaviors better than we understand ourselves... but it's comforting to know that other people make similar Google searches and I'm not just a weird anomaly.
I highly recommend this book, the author is funny too.
I felt both attacked and comforted by the data on what people google search. It's uncomfortable to be reminded that companies like Netflix, Google, and Facebook often understand our behaviors better than we understand ourselves... but it's comforting to know that other people make similar Google searches and I'm not just a weird anomaly.
I highly recommend this book, the author is funny too.
I never read nonfiction. I didn't even get this book, my roommate picked it up at the library and brought it home. Upon seeing it, I went on a 5 minute rant on how I never read nonfiction and it doesn't really interest me.
Cut to me finishing this book within a week.
I picked it up and couldn't put it down, I think I read the first 50 pages in one sitting. The topic was something that I hadn't really thought of before but once the book started going into it all, it was gripping. The idea of Big Data holding all the answers to the universe might be a bit of stretch but it definitely can tell us a lot. My big takeaway is what the title tells us- everybody lies- to surveys, to themselves, but not to google. Is that a good or bad thing?
Cut to me finishing this book within a week.
I picked it up and couldn't put it down, I think I read the first 50 pages in one sitting. The topic was something that I hadn't really thought of before but once the book started going into it all, it was gripping. The idea of Big Data holding all the answers to the universe might be a bit of stretch but it definitely can tell us a lot. My big takeaway is what the title tells us- everybody lies- to surveys, to themselves, but not to google. Is that a good or bad thing?
Interesting premise, to be sure. I agree with the author that there's a great deal of overlap with Freakonomics. I love the examples from Google, Facebook, and, er, "other" sites NSFW. I'll certainly be incorporating some lessons from the book in my analytics class at ASU.
On a different level, this is a more interesting book than my own on Big Data. As a data scientist, I would expect as much.
Still, the writing at times is a bit stilted. Every use of 'utilized' made me bristle and I caught a few grammatical errors. Seth would do well to Google Orwell's tips on simple writing.
I don't want to be too harsh, though. Seth is a young guy and, if I'm honest, he's a better writer than I was at his age.
On a different level, this is a more interesting book than my own on Big Data. As a data scientist, I would expect as much.
Still, the writing at times is a bit stilted. Every use of 'utilized' made me bristle and I caught a few grammatical errors. Seth would do well to Google Orwell's tips on simple writing.
I don't want to be too harsh, though. Seth is a young guy and, if I'm honest, he's a better writer than I was at his age.
Big data has to be taken with a grain of salt but I did find the information in this book interesting.
Stephens-Davidowitz uses google trends, and other large anonymous sources of data, to learn about what human's really believe. He uses this data to learn things about ourselves that normal surveys seem to miss. People aren't honest about being racist in surveys, so he uses searches for racial slurs (it's more complicated than this) to get a better estimate of actual levels of racism. He finds racism clustered in a variety of unexpected places in the United States.
He's clearly on the cutting edge of this big data analysis. It remains to be seen how accurate his conclusions actually are, but many of them are compelling. The section on analyzing whether Freudian slips and dreams actually revel anything about our true inner feelings, or are just bullshit. His data suggests that dreams about bananas have nothing to do with a penis. Sure bananas are phallic shaped, they are also the second most common fruit. People don't type "lipsdick" instead of "lipstick" because they are perverts, they type that, because we make a lot of typos.
His writing style reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell. He's funny, entertaining, and informative all at the same time.
He concludes the book by pointing out that this big data will allow the "soft" sciences to be less soft. What he doesn't address nearly enough are the ethical concerns that using this data creates. He only gives that a cursory review, and barely touches on how companies are already using this data.
He's clearly on the cutting edge of this big data analysis. It remains to be seen how accurate his conclusions actually are, but many of them are compelling. The section on analyzing whether Freudian slips and dreams actually revel anything about our true inner feelings, or are just bullshit. His data suggests that dreams about bananas have nothing to do with a penis. Sure bananas are phallic shaped, they are also the second most common fruit. People don't type "lipsdick" instead of "lipstick" because they are perverts, they type that, because we make a lot of typos.
His writing style reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell. He's funny, entertaining, and informative all at the same time.
He concludes the book by pointing out that this big data will allow the "soft" sciences to be less soft. What he doesn't address nearly enough are the ethical concerns that using this data creates. He only gives that a cursory review, and barely touches on how companies are already using this data.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced