Wherever you look, information is staring back at you. It's on road-signs, newspapers, computer screens, even this page. When you think about it, nearly our whole lives are spent processing information and deciding what to do with it. Our actions are motivated by beliefs which are formulated depending on the data available to us.

Information Generation is the story of the seminal role data plays in our lives and explains how the advance of our civilization has come hand in hand with our ability to collect and interpret data. Starting with occasional scratching on cave walls, eminent statistician David J. Hand guides us right up to the modern era where society is completely dependent on an abundance of data systems for its very survival. Teeming with varied and interesting examples of the role of data, Hand's book offers an accessible and beautifully written account to one of the most underrated and hugely important concepts in human society today.