Synopses & Reviews
andquot;Music defines us. Joel Beckerman knows. Let him tell you all about it.andquot; andmdash;Anthony Bourdain andldquo;Equal parts sociological study and business advice, using unique everyday examplesandmdash;for instance, how the fate of the Chiliandrsquo;s fajita empire rested on the sound of the sizzling platter, and how Disneyland approaches soundscapes for a fully immersive experienceandmdash;to explain how sound effects our mood and shopping habits.andrdquo;andmdash;EW.com
and#160;
Sound and music surround us so constantly that we often take them for granted. But sound has surprising power to influence our decisions, opinions, and actions in ways we might not even notice. Discordant ambient noise can induce anxiety; ice cream truck jingles can bring you back to your childhood. Inand#160;The Sonic Boom,and#160;composer andand#160;strategic sound expert Joel Beckerman provides a new framework for thinking about soundandrsquo;s effects on every aspect of our lives.
and#160;
You donandrsquo;t need to be a musician or a composer to harness the power of sound. Companies, brands, and individuals can strategically use sound to get to the core of their mission, influence how theyandrsquo;re perceived by their audiences, and gain a competitive edge. Whether youandrsquo;re a corporate giant connecting with millions of customers or a teacher connecting with one classroom of students, the key to an effective sonic strategy is the creation of andldquo;boom momentsandrdquo;andmdash;transcendent instants when sound connects with a listenerandrsquo;s emotional core.
and#160;
andldquo;Iandrsquo;ve spent my life curating, creating, and collecting sounds. But Beckerman and Gray have shown here that there are still plenty of sounds that weandrsquo;ve all missed.and#160;The Sonic Boomand#160;reveals the music and structured cacophony of everyday life.andrdquo; andmdash;Moby
Review
"What Im certain about is that
Big Data will be the defining text in the discussion for some time to come."
—Forbes.com "The authors make clear that ‘big data is much more than a Silicon Valley buzzword. . . No other book offers such an accessible and balanced tour of the many benefits and downsides of our continuing infatuation with data."
—Wall Street Journal "Brilliant . . . an elegant and readable primer."
—New Scientist "Plenty of books extol the technical marvels of our information society, but this is an original analysis of the information itself—trillions of searches, calls, clicks, queries and purchases....A fascinating, enthusiastic view of the possibilities of vast computer correlations and the entrepreneurs who are taking advantage of them."
—STARRED Kirkus Reviews "This book offers important insights and information."
—Booklist "‘Big data [is] one of the buzzwords of corporate executives, tech-savvy politicians, and worried civil libertarians. If you want to know what theyre all talking about, then BIG DATA is the book for you, a comprehensive and entertaining introduction to a very large topic....Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier offer up some sensible suggestions on how we can have the blessings of big data and our freedoms, too. Just as well; their lively book leaves no doubt that big datas growth spurt is just beginning."
—Boston Globe "Every decade, there are a handful of books that change the way you look at everything. This is one of those books. Society has begun to reckon the change that big data will bring. This book is an incredibly important start."
—Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and author of Remix and Free Culture "Big Data breaks new ground in identifying how todays avalanche of information fundamentally shifts our basic understanding of the world. Argued boldly and written beautifully, the book clearly shows how companies can unlock value, how policymakers need to be on guard, and how everyones cognitive models need to change."
—Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab "Big Data is a must-read for anyone who wants to stay ahead of one of the key trends defining the future of business."
—Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, salesforce.com "An optimistic and practical look at the Big Data revolution — just the thing to get your head around the big changes already underway and the bigger changes to come."
—Cory Doctorow, boingboing.com "Just as water is wet in a way that individual water molecules arent, big data can reveal information in a way that individual bits of data cant. The authors show us the surprising ways that enormous, complex, and messy collections of data can be used to predict everything from shopping patterns to flu outbreaks."
—Clay Shirky, author of Cognitive Surplus and Here Comes Everybody "This brilliant book cuts through the mystery and the hype surrounding big data. A must-read for anyone in business, information technology, public policy, intelligence, and medicine. And anyone else who is just plain curious about the future."
—John Seely Brown, former Chief Scientist, Xerox Corp., and head of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center "The book teems with great insights on the new ways of harnessing information, and offers a convincing vision of the future. It is essential reading for anyone who uses — or is affected by — big data."
—Jeff Jonas, IBM Fellow & Chief Scientist, IBM Entity Analytics
Synopsis
A revelatory exploration of emerging trends in “big data”—our newfound ability to gather and interpret vast amounts of information—and the revolutionary effects these developments are producing in business, science, and society at large.
Synopsis
"Music defines us. Joel Beckerman knows. Let him tell you all about it." --Anthony Bourdain
"Equal parts sociological study and business advice, using unique everyday examples--for instance, how the fate of the Chili's fajita empire rested on the sound of the sizzling platter, and how Disneyland approaches soundscapes for a fully immersive experience--to explain how sound effects our mood and shopping habits."--EW.com
Sound and music surround us so constantly that we often take them for granted. But sound has surprising power to influence our decisions, opinions, and actions in ways we might not even notice. Discordant ambient noise can induce anxiety; ice cream truck jingles can bring you back to your childhood. In The Sonic Boom, composer and strategic sound expert Joel Beckerman provides a new framework for thinking about sound's effects on every aspect of our lives.
You don't need to be a musician or a composer to harness the power of sound. Companies, brands, and individuals can strategically use sound to get to the core of their mission, influence how they're perceived by their audiences, and gain a competitive edge. Whether you're a corporate giant connecting with millions of customers or a teacher connecting with one classroom of students, the key to an effective sonic strategy is the creation of "boom moments"--transcendent instants when sound connects with a listener's emotional core.
"I've spent my life curating, creating, and collecting sounds. But Beckerman and Gray have shown here that there are still plenty of sounds that we've all missed. The Sonic Boom reveals the music and structured cacophony of everyday life." --Moby
Synopsis
Financial Times Business Book of the Year Finalist“Illuminating and very timely . . . a fascinating — and sometimes alarming — survey of big datas growing effect on just about everything: business, government, science and medicine, privacy, and even on the way we think.”
—New York Times
It seems like “big data” is in the news every day, as we read the latest examples of how powerful algorithms are teasing out the hidden connections between seemingly unrelated things. Whether it is used by the NSA to fight terrorism or by online retailers to predict customers buying patterns, big data is a revolution occurring around us, in the process of forever changing economics, science, culture, and the very way we think. But it also poses new threats, from the end of privacy as we know it to the prospect of being penalized for things we havent even done yet, based on big datas ability to predict our future behavior. What we have already seen is just the tip of the iceberg.
Big Data is the first major book about this earthshaking subject, with two leading experts explaining what big data is, how it will change our lives, and what we can do to protect ourselves from its hazards.
“An optimistic and practical look at the Big Data revolution — just the thing to get your head around the big changes already underway and the bigger changes to come.”
—Cory Doctorow, boingboing.com
Synopsis
A andldquo;sonic brandingandrdquo; expert explains how businesses can strategically use music and sound to maximize their impact, revealing the powerful influence of sound on our emotions, opinions, and brand preferences.
About the Author
Hailed as andldquo;equal parts Philip Glass and Don Draperandrdquo; by Details Magazine, JOEL BECKERMAN is an award-winning composer and producer for television. He is the founder of Man Made Music, a company specializing in sonic branding. Fast Company named him one of their andldquo;Most Creative People in Businessandrdquo; and Man Made Music one of their andldquo;Most Innovative Companiesandrdquo; in music. He created original scores for more than fifty television programs, won ASCAPandrsquo;s andldquo;Most Performedandrdquo; theme award for the past eight years, and has developed signature sonic branding programs for global giants such as Disney, ATandT, and Southwest Airlines. Beckerman has worked with John Legend, will.i.am, Moby, OK Go, Morgan Freeman, and the composer John Williams. He lives in New Providence, New Jersey.
TYLER GRAY is editorial director for Edelman in the New York City office. He was recently editorial director for Fast Company and is the author of The Hit Charade.