A former Google data scientist presents an insider's look at what the vast, instantly available amounts of information from the Internet can reveal about human civilization and society.

Part I: Data, big and small. Your faulty gut -- Part II: The powers of big data. Was Freud right? -- Data reimagined -- Digital truth serum -- Zooming in -- All the world's a lab -- Part III: Big data: handle with care. Big data, big schmata? What it cannot do -- Mo data, mo problems? What we shouldn't do -- Conclusion: how many people finish books?