BIG DATA A Revolution That will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think

Which is more important to you: knowing what causes the flu or being able to predict whether you'll get the flu? If it's the latter, then you're ready to embrace Big Data, a messy collection of mega-information that is filtered by government, business, and healthcare professionals for the purpose of finding correlations, rather than causality. In other words when you deal in Big Data, you give up caring about the why and focus on making predictions--from life-saving medical decisions (DNA analysts discover potential cancer markers) to banal marketing strategies (Wal-Mart learns that shoppers preparing for a hurricane purchase Pop Tarts). Narrator Jonathan Hogan provides a crisp, attentive reading that keeps the material focused and helps to make this a digestible primer for those interested in an important cultural trend. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2013]