Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)

A "New York Times" Bestseller An audacious, irreverent investigation of human behavior--and a first look at a revolution in the making Our personal data has been used to spy on us, hire and fire us, and sell us stuff we don't need. In "Dataclysm," Christian Rudder uses it to show us who we truly are. For centuries, we've relied on polling or small-scale lab experiments to study human behavior. Today, a new approach is possible. As we live more of our lives online, researchers can finally observe us directly, in vast numbers, and without filters. Data scientists have become the new demographers. In this daring and original book, Rudder explains how Facebook "likes" can predict, with surprising accuracy, a person's sexual orientation and even intelligence; how attractive women receive exponentially more interview requests; and why you must have haters to be hot. He charts the rise and fall of America's most reviled word through Google Search and examines the new dynamics of collaborative rage on Twitter. He shows how people express themselves, both privately and publicly. What is the least Asian thing you can say? Do people bathe more in Vermont or New Jersey? What do black women think about Simon & Garfunkel? (Hint: they don't think about Simon & Garfunkel.) Rudder also traces human migration over time, showing how groups of people move from certain small towns to the same big cities across the globe. And he grapples with the challenge of maintaining privacy in a world where these explorations are possible. Visually arresting and full of wit and insight, "Dataclysm" is a new way of seeing ourselves--a brilliant alchemy, in which math is made human and numbers become the narrative of our time. "From the Hardcover edition."

About the Author :
Christian Rudder is co-founder and President of OkCupid and author of the popular blog OkTrends. He graduated from Harvard in 1998 with a degree in math and later served as creative director for SparkNotes. He has appeared on Dateline NBC and NPR's "All Things Considered" and his work has been written about in the "New York Times" and the "New Yorker," among other places. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.

Review :
"Studying human behavior is a little like exploring a jungle: it's messy, hard, and easy to lose your way. But Christian Rudder is a consummate guide, revealing essential truths about who we are. Big Data has never been so fun." --Dan Ariely, author of "Predictably Irrational" ""Dataclysm" is a book full of juicy secrets--secrets about who we love, what we crave, why we like, and how we change each other's minds and lives, often without even knowing it. Christian Rudder makes this mathematical narrative of our culture fun to read and even more fun to discuss: You will find yourself sharing these intriguing data-driven revelations with everyone you know." --Jane McGonigal, author of "Reality Is Broken" "In the first few pages of "Dataclysm, "Christian Rudder uses massive amounts of actual behavioral data to prove what I always believed in my heart: Belle and Sebastian is the whitest band ever. It only gets better from there." --Aziz Ansari "It's unheard of for a book about Big Data to read like a guilty pleasure, but "Dataclysm "does. It's a fascinating, almost voyeuristic look at who we really are and what we really want." --Steven Strogatz, Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics, Cornell University, author of "The Joy of x " "Smart, revealing, and sometimes sobering, "Dataclysm "affirms what we probably suspected in our darker moments: When it comes to romance, what we say we want isn't what will actually make us happy. Christian Rudder has tapped the tremendous wealth of data that the Internet offers to tease out thoughts on topics like beauty and race that most of us wouldn't cop to publicly. It's a riveting read, and Rudder is an affable and humane guide." --Adelle Waldman, author of "The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. " "Christian Rudder has written a funny and profound book about important issues. Race, love, sex--you name it. Are we the sum of the data we produce? Read this book immediately and see if you