'A chronicle of the present state of big data and the possible future it portends... argues persuasively that big data is just now coming of age and that it has a lot of maturing still to do.' * Washington Post * 'Steve Lohr lays out the promise, the personalities, and the perils of big data in an entertaining and enlightening book.' -- Hal Varian, chief economist at Google 'Big data has the potential to make us healthier and more effective. Learn why, and what will happen, in Steve Lohr's important new book.' -- Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google "The digitization of business has created staggering amounts of data and unprecedented opportunities for data-driven decision-making. If you want to understand this new territory, Steve Lohr is the trusted, insightful guide you need." -- Erik Brynjolfsson, co-author of <i>The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies</i> "If you want to understand where our world is headed, you need to read this book. It goes beneath the surface of Big Data to provide a penetrating view of the people exploring the edges of how to extract more value from the data." -- John Hagel, Co-Chairman, Center for the Edge "Chock full of anecdotes, insights, and behind-the-scenes profiles of modern-day data gods such as Cloudera's Jeff Hammerbacher and IBM's Michael Haydock, Data-ism is a must-read for understanding Big Data's impact on society and in your own life." -- Oren Etzioni, CEO, Allen Institute For Artificial Intelligence