How Data Happened, Chris Wiggins
How Data Happened, Chris Wiggins
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

How Data Happened
A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms

Author: Chris Wiggins, Matthew L. Jones

Narrator: Eric Jason Martin

Unabridged: 10 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/21/2023


Synopsis

A sweeping history of data and its technical, political, and ethical impact on our world.

From facial recognition—capable of checking us onto flights or identifying undocumented residents—to automated decision systems that inform everything from who gets loans to who receives bail, each of us moves through a world determined by data-empowered algorithms. But these technologies didn't just appear: they are part of a history that goes back centuries, from the census enshrined in the US Constitution to the birth of eugenics in Victorian Britain to the development of Google search.

Expanding on the popular course they created at Columbia University, Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones illuminate the ways in which data has long been used as a tool and a weapon in arguing for what is true, as well as a means of rearranging or defending power. By understanding the trajectory of data—where it has been and where it might yet go—Wiggins and Jones argue that we can understand how to bend it to ends that we collectively choose, with intentionality and purpose.

About Chris Wiggins

Chris Wiggins is an associate professor of applied mathematics at Columbia University and the New York Times's chief data scientist. He resides in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Iain on June 26, 2023

Get the print version. The functions do not translate well to audio and the narrator doesn't know how to speak maths.......more

Goodreads review by Amanda on June 18, 2023

DNF. The writing and organization really interfered with what could be a fascinating subject.......more

Goodreads review by Florent on July 15, 2023

Extremely interesting history of data, from the origins of state-istic (science of the state) to generative AI. Great research work, with the usual milestones: IQ & indian casts, p-value & Guiness beer, Tuskegee & consent, ... Also a great reminder that AI was rule based (and so explainable) for dec......more

Goodreads review by Levyj93 on February 25, 2024

A decent overview, albeit written from the NYT “view from nowhere” … i.e., mainstream liberalism. The footnotes are the highlight for me, as they point to many foundational primary sources of statistics, data science, computing etc. A great number of secondary sources/commentaries on the subject matt......more

Goodreads review by Hail on April 21, 2025

Really fascinating read. I loved the discussion on big data but found the book overall a bit repetitive. The history of data was probably my favourite part however a lot of the algorithms did not translate well to audio. Overall, definitely recommend if you’re looking for something outside your norm......more