Book excerpt: Let Hadoop For Dummies help harness the power of your data and rein in the information overload Big data has become big business, and companies and organizations of all sizes are struggling to find ways to retrieve valuable information from their massive data sets with becoming overwhelmed. Enter Hadoop and this easy-to-understand For Dummies guide. Hadoop For Dummies helps readers understand the value of big data, make a business case for using Hadoop, navigate the Hadoop ecosystem, and build and manage Hadoop applications and clusters. Explains the origins of Hadoop, its economic benefits, and its functionality and practical applications Helps you find your way around the Hadoop ecosystem, program MapReduce, utilize design patterns, and get your Hadoop cluster up and running quickly and easily Details how to use Hadoop applications for data mining, web analytics and personalization, large-scale text processing, data science, and problem-solving Shows you how to improve the value of your Hadoop cluster, maximize your investment in Hadoop, and avoid common pitfalls when building your Hadoop cluster From programmers challenged with building and maintaining affordable, scaleable data systems to administrators who must deal with huge volumes of information effectively and efficiently, this how-to has something to help you with Hadoop.