The Numerati (Book Review of the Week-ish)

The Numerati (Book Review of the Week-ish)

Digital marketing thrives on data and digital marketers use that data to discern their customers’ motivations. Paco Underhill, in his outstanding Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping,
was the first to illustrate a process by which marketers and merchandisers could catalog and codify their customers’ behavior. But Underhill seems quaint – and, frankly, less terrifying – compared with the researchers detailed in Stephen Baker’s The Numerati.
Because it’s not just marketers. And it’s not just consumers. Baker highlights how marketers, physicians, political consultants and, yes, our government, uses the digital data generated by an increasingly connected citizenry to bucket, segment and target consumers, patients, voters and even terrorists.

Baker illustrates how much our behavior tells researchers and how those researchers use the data to sell product and optimize profits; diagnose disease and prescribe treatments; isolate swing voters and communicate messages. The book is as frightening as it is enlightening. Eye opening. Thought provoking. But the questions it raises also highlight where Baker falls short. A skillful writer, Baker poses many questions about whether the gathering of so much data is, indeed, a Good Thing. If he’d proposed even half as many answers – though, admittedly, many of these questions defy clear answers at this point – The Numerati
would represent a classic of the genre, demanding a place on every business bookshelf.

Still, despite these flaws, Baker shines a light into the dark corners of data collection, analysis and decision making. His research points a way forward for businesses and employees, marketers and consumers, politicians and voters. And, yes, criminals and those trying to catch them. Given that we all fall into one – or more – of those categories, it’s well worth the read. Pick up a copy today.

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