Small Data - a book report

 This should be pretty short and informal. It's a book report about Small Data written by Martin Lindstrom. The one line description of the book is you basically study the crap out of people and then guess what will sell them stuff. 

He has seven steps, and it seems like they fall into the general normal categories of do your research, find a need, come up with a solution to the need, and Market a product or service.

The guy makes some very interesting observations and correlations about human behavior and about how bizarre our cultural influences cause us to act as people on the whole.

He seems to poo poo religion or at least Christianity. He includes the Roman Catholic church with dirt, dust, grime, and poverty. Jesus taught that it was extremely difficult for rich people to get into heaven so I guess it makes sense to include Christianity with poverty. Staying broke increases your odds 35% of getting into heaven. Of course the Bible doesn't say this but I just like to put numbers on things.

It sounds like he's the guy that turned Lego around and kept them from dissolving. So he talks a lot about Lego. And he poopoos Big Data. If I get the jist he says, Big Data can show you patterns, but it doesn't really tell you what to do to sell people more stuff. My take on small data is you basically research people in tremendous detail digging through their closets, bathrooms, and especially the refrigerators to find out how to sell them more stuff.