Everybody Lies: The New York Times Bestseller

“Essays Using Google Data,”

Offering up new types of data is the first power of Big Data.

Numbers can be seductive. We can grow fixated with them, and in so doing we can lose sight of more important considerations.

Parents are two and a half times more likely to ask “Is my son gifted?” than “Is my daughter gifted?”

The media bombard us with correlation-based studies seemingly every day. For example, we have been told that those of us who drink a moderate amount of alcohol tend to be in better health. That is a correlation. Does this mean drinking a moderate amount will improve one’s health—a causation? Perhaps not. It could be that good health causes people t

Many counties combine all the main ingredients for success. Return, again, to Boston. With numerous universities, it is stewing in innovative ideas. It is an urban area with many extremely accomplished people offering youngsters examples of how to make it. And it draws plenty of immigrants, whose children are driven to apply these lessons.

The reason for the relationship doesn’t matter. But the relationship itself does.