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Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Pop Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
by Steven Johnson

Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Pop Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter Cover

About This Book

ISBN13: 9781573223072
ISBN10: 1573223077
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
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"[A]t first, Johnson's argument does sound as shocking as if your doctor had advised you to eat more donuts and, for God's sake, to try and stay away from spinach. But Johnson is a forceful writer, and he makes a good case; his book is an elegant work of argumentation, the kind in which the author anticipates your silent challenges to his ideas and hospitably tucks you in, quickly bringing you around to his side." Farhad Manjoo, Salon.com (read the entire Salon.com review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The $10 billion video gaming industry is now the second-largest segment of the entertainment industry in the United States, outstripping film and far surpassing books. Reality television shows featuring silicone-stuffed CEO wannabes and bug-eating adrenaline junkies dominate the ratings. But prominent social and cultural critic Steven Johnson argues that our popular culture has never been smarter.

Drawing from fields as diverse as neuroscience, economics, and literary theory, Johnson argues that the junk culture we're so eager to dismiss is in fact making us more intelligent. A video game will never be a book, Johnson acknowledges, nor should it aspire to be — and, in fact, video games, from Tetris to The Sims to Grand Theft Auto, have been shown to raise IQ scores and develop cognitive abilities that can't be learned from books. Likewise, successful television, when examined closely and taken seriously, reveals surprising narrative sophistication and intellectual demands.

Startling, provocative, and endlessly engaging, Everything Bad Is Good for You is a hopeful and spirited account of contemporary culture. Elegantly and convincingly, Johnson demonstrates that our culture is not declining but changing — in exciting and stimulating ways we'd do well to understand. You will never regard the glow of the video game or television screen the same way again.

Review:

"Worried about how much time your children spend playing video games? Don't be, advises Johnson — not only are they learning valuable problem-solving skills, they'd probably do better on an IQ test than you or your parents could at their age. Go ahead and let them watch more television, too, since even reality shows can function as 'elaborately staged group psychology experiments' to stimulate rather than pacify the brain. With the same winning combination of personal revelation and friendly scientific explanation he displayed in last year's Mind Wide Open, Johnson shatters the conventional wisdom about pop culture as pabulum, showing how video games, television shows and movies have become increasingly complex. Furthermore, he says, consumers are drawn specifically to those products that require the most mental engagement, from small children who can't get enough of their favorite Disney DVDs to adults who find new layers of meaning with each repeated viewing of Seinfeld. Johnson lays out a strong case that what we do for fun is just as educational in its way as what we study in the classroom (although it's still worthwhile to encourage good reading habits, too). There's an important message here for every parent — one they should hear from the source before savvy kids (especially teens) try to take advantage of it." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"[A] fascinating book....Highly recommended..." Library Journal

Review:

"Stimulating, iconoclastic, and strikingly original." Atlantic Monthly

Review:

"[Johnson] makes the reader feel smart by providing new tools with which to understand technology." Wired

Review:

"Brisk, witty...and bolstered with research....Indispensable." Time

Review:

"Everything Bad Is Good for You is a lucid tour of the pop-culture landscape, and Johnson makes a sometimes rambling but altogether lively guide." Boston Globe

Review:

"Perhaps the best metaphor for this book is one the author would be proud of: a many-tiered video game. You're a little wary of the experience, but it's easy to get swept up in. And it's strangely satisfying to complete." Chicago Tribune

Synopsis:

From the bestselling author of Mind Wide Open comes a groundbreaking assessment of popular culture as it's never been considered before: through the lens of intelligence.
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About the Author

Steven Johnson's three previous books are the New York Times bestseller Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life; Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software; and Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate. Cofounder of the online magazine FEED, Johnson currently writes the "Emerging Technology" column for Discover, is a contributing editor to Wired, writes regularly for Slate and the New York Times Magazine, and lectures widely.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
lukas, November 17, 2006 (view all comments by lukas)
Johnson's book is somewhat contingent on his audience being shocked (shocked!) that anything in the mire of pop culture (video games, tv, movies) can possibly be of value. If you agree, at least somewhat, with his premise, then this book is rather redundant. Johnson, sort of like Thomas Friedman with globalization, is ready to play the cheerleader to such a degree that he doesn't fully take into account objections to or weaknesses in his argument. I don't entirely disagree with him, but he's not very convincing or incisive. Plus, he seems to selectively choose instances that support his point, which is just lazy. If you've got half a brain, you've probably come to some of the same conclusions and this book is a waste of time. Maybe play video games instead.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781573223072
Author:
Johnson, Steven
Publisher:
Riverhead Hardcover
Subject:
General
Subject:
Anthropology - Cultural
Subject:
Popular Culture
Subject:
Intellect
Subject:
Popular Culture - General
Copyright:
2005
Publication Date:
May 2005
Binding:
Hardback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
256
Dimensions:
8.36x5.82x.91 in. .83 lbs.
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