Research Article

Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books

  1. Jean-Baptiste Michel1,2,3,4,5,*,†,
  2. Yuan Kui Shen2,6,7,
  3. Aviva Presser Aiden2,6,8,
  4. Adrian Veres2,6,9,
  5. Matthew K. Gray10,
  6. The Google Books Team10,
  7. Joseph P. Pickett11,
  8. Dale Hoiberg12,
  9. Dan Clancy10,
  10. Peter Norvig10,
  11. Jon Orwant10,
  12. Steven Pinker5,
  13. Martin A. Nowak1,13,14,
  14. Erez Lieberman Aiden1,2,6,14,15,16,17,*,†
  1. 1Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  2. 2Cultural Observatory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  3. 3Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  4. 4Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  5. 5Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
  6. 6Laboratory-at-Large, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  7. 7Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
  8. 8Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
  9. 9Harvard College, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  10. 10Google, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
  11. 11Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA 02116, USA.
  12. 12Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago, IL 60654, USA.
  13. 13Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  14. 14Department of Mathematics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  15. 15Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  16. 16School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  17. 17Harvard Society of Fellows, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  1. ↵†To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jb.michel{at}gmail.com (J.-B.M.); erez{at}erez.com (E.L.A.)

  1. ↵* These authors contributed equally to this work.

Science  14 Jan 2011:
Vol. 331, Issue 6014, pp. 176-182
DOI: 10.1126/science.1199644

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Abstract

We constructed a corpus of digitized texts containing about 4% of all books ever printed. Analysis of this corpus enables us to investigate cultural trends quantitatively. We survey the vast terrain of ‘culturomics,’ focusing on linguistic and cultural phenomena that were reflected in the English language between 1800 and 2000. We show how this approach can provide insights about fields as diverse as lexicography, the evolution of grammar, collective memory, the adoption of technology, the pursuit of fame, censorship, and historical epidemiology. Culturomics extends the boundaries of rigorous quantitative inquiry to a wide array of new phenomena spanning the social sciences and the humanities.

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  • Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books

    By Jean-Baptiste Michel, Yuan Kui Shen, Aviva Presser Aiden, Adrian Veres, Matthew K. Gray, The Google Books Team, Joseph P. Pickett, Dale Hoiberg, Dan Clancy, Peter Norvig, Jon Orwant, Steven Pinker, Martin A. Nowak, Erez Lieberman Aiden

    Science : 176-182

    Linguistic and cultural changes are revealed through the analyses of words appearing in books.

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