From Powells.com
Staff Pick
This thoughtful celebration of our most playful pursuits is fascinating — and a pleasure to read. Wonderland offers a persuasive argument that popular entertainment is responsible not just for momentary thrills, but for significant technological advancements. Recommended By Renee P., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
From the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got to Now and Where Good Ideas Come From, a look at the world-changing innovations we made while keeping ourselves entertained.
This lushly illustrated history of popular entertainment takes along-zoom approach, contending that the pursuit of novelty and wonder is a powerful driver of world-shaping technological change. Steven Johnson argues that, throughout history, the cutting edge of innovation lies wherever people are working the hardest to keep themselves and others amused.
Johnson's storytelling is just as delightful as the inventions he describes, full of surprising stops along the journey from simple concepts to complex modern systems. He introduces us to the colorful innovators of leisure: the explorers, proprietors, showmen, and artists who changed the trajectory of history with their luxurious wares, exotic meals, taverns, gambling tables, and magic shows.
Johnson compellingly argues that observers of technological and social trends should be looking for clues in novel amusements. You'll find the future wherever people are having the most fun.
Review
"An engaging survey full of unexpected connections that readers of a historical or sociological bent will find particularly riveting." Library Journal
Review
"This is a great book for all curious readers, especially the history-averse, who will enjoy the fast pace, topical diversity, and abundant trivia." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"Johnson connects the dots in a way that sheds new light on everyday concepts" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Review
"Johnson...provides a compelling counterintuitive argument that the Industrial Revolution, democracy, and the computer age were all driven by diversions and appetites that historians too often ignore." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
About the Author
Steven Johnson is the author of eight bestsellers, including How We Got To Now, Where Good Ideas Come From, The Invention of Air, The Ghost Map, and Everything Bad Is Good for You, and is the editor of the anthology The Innovator’s Cookbook. Most recently, he is the is the author of Wonderland. He is the founder of a variety of influential websites — including outside.in — and writes for Time, Wired, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Marin County, California, with his wife and three sons.
Steven Johnson on PowellsBooks.Blog
My new book,
Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World, is a sequel of sorts to
How We Got to Now, the book and PBS series I did a few years ago. Like
How We Got to Now,
Wonderland is a history of innovations that helped shape the world we live in today...
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