The document discusses NoSQL databases as an alternative to SQL databases for big data. It provides an overview of why NoSQL databases were created due to limitations of SQL for large, distributed datasets. It then categorizes and describes some popular NoSQL databases, including key-value stores like Dynamo and Redis, document databases like MongoDB and CouchDB, graph databases like Neo4J and FlockDB, and column-oriented databases like BigTable and HBase. The document also contrasts ACID transactions with the BASE model and eventual consistency used by many NoSQL databases.