Search

How the Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter

By: Stefan Weitz

Narrated by: Dana Hickox

Search is as old as language. There has always been a need for one to find something in the jumble of human creation. The first web was nothing more than passing verbal histories down the generations so others could find and remember how not to get eaten; the first search used the power of written language to build simple indexes in printed books, leading to the Dewey Decimal system and reverse indices in more modern times. Then digital happened. Besides having profound societal impacts, it also made the act of searching almost impossibly complex for both engines and searchers. Information isn't just words; it is pictures, videos, thoughts tagged with geocode data, routes, physical world data, and, increasingly, the machines themselves reporting their condition and listening to others. Search: How the Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter holds up a mirror to our time to see if search can keep up. Author Stefan Weitz, a Director in Search for Bing (Microsoft), explores the idea of access to help readers understand how we are inventing new ways to access data through devices in more places and with more capabilities. We are at the cusp of imbuing our generation with superpowers, but only if we fundamentally rethink what search is, how people can use it, and what we should demand of it.

©2014 Stefan Weitz (P)2014 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"In his book Search, Weitz leads us through a fascinating future where the 'capable web' augments human intellect, search begins to do, and where the physical world itself islit up with web-derived intelligence." (Adam Cheyer, Siri co-founder)

Disappointed

As the author is supposed a senior director from Microsoft Bing, I expected the book to contain insights from a search industry insider. But it feels the book is written by some PhD students doing academic research on internet of Things. Not sure why the book has very high star ratings. I was enticed by the good reviews. But it was a pain listening through the whole book keeping my hope for getting at least some useful information. I did listen through the whole book from beginning to end. I felt disappointed shortly after the book begin and was left disappointed at the end.