Forget everything you've read about the age of dumbed-down, instant-gratification culture. In this provocative, intelligent, and convincing endorsement of today's mass entertainment, national bestselling author Steven Johnson argues that the pop culture we soak in every day-from The Lord of the Rings to Grand Theft Auto to The Simpsons-has been growing more and more sophisticated and, far from rotting our brains, is actually posing new cognitive challenges that are making our minds measurably sharper. You will never regard the glow of the video game or television screen the same way again.
In his fourth book, Everything Bad Is Good for You, iconoclastic science writer Steven Johnson (who used himself as a test subject for the latest neurological technology in his last book, Mind Wide Open) takes on one of the most widely held preconceptions of the postmodern world--the belief that video games, television shows, and other forms of popular entertainment are detrimental to Americans' cognitive and moral development. Everything Good builds a case to the contrary that is engaging, thorough, and ultimately convincing.
The heart of Johnson's argument is something called the Sleeper Curve--a universe of popular entertainment that trends, intellectually speaking, ever upward, so that today's pop-culture consumer has to do more "cognitive work"--making snap decisions and coming up with long-term strategies in role-playing video games, for example, or mastering new virtual environments on the Internet-- than ever before. Johnson makes a compelling case that even today's least nutritional TV junk food-the Joe Millionaires and Survivors so commonly derided as evidence of America's cultural decline--is more complex and stimulating, in terms of plot complexity and the amount of external information viewers need to understand them, than the Love Boats and I Love Lucys that preceded it. When it comes to television, even (perhaps especially) crappy television, Johnson argues, "the content is less interesting than the cognitive work the show elicits from your mind." Johnson's work has been controversial, as befits a writer willing to challenge wisdom so conventional it has ossified into accepted truth. But even the most skeptical readers should be captivated by the intriguing questions Johnson raises, whether or not they choose to accept his answers. --Erica C. Barnett
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
A skeptic is convinced:
Johnson's argument, as initially counter intuitive as it would seem, is thoroughly backed up and virtually impossible to refute once you've finished reading it. Comparing the complexity of various TV shows of today (e.g., The Sopranos, 24) to TV shows of yesterday (Dragnet, Hill Street Blues), Johnson makes a very compelling case that much of today's TV is much more cognitively challenging than yesterday's. The fact that he didn't touch on certain shows (e.g., The Wire, Lost) actually makes his case even... more info
A must-read for anyone interested in learning and teaching.:
As an instructional designer for online learning (a profession that didn't exist when I got my degrees) I see immediate connections between Johnson's conclusions and the real world of higher education. We know from a multitude of online research studies that people don't read the same way online that they do when reading a book. Yet we constantly see teachers trying to mold the new online medium into the shape of the old analog one. Doesn't work. Knowing how today's students' learning abilities have been... more info
Robert Kalinowski's Review of Steven Johnson's Everything Bad Is Good for You:
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3J7RZQ33Q4XLN Robert Kalinowski's review was made as part of a critical review assignment for the Spring 2009 Economics of Technology seminar at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, taught by Art Diamond. (The course syllabus stated that part of the critical review assignment consisted of the making of a video recording of the review, and the posting of the review to Amazon.)
The Modern World Isn't So Bad:
It has been typical of the mainstream (read "old guard") to look down upon new popular entertainment technologies. Movies, TV, video games, the Internet--all have received criticism about how they ruin the mind unlike, say, more classic entertainments like reading. While Mr. Johnson acknowledges various weaknesses of these media, his thesis is that they are not the mindless (bread and) circuses of the modern age. In fact, these entertainments are making us smarter. In his section on video and computer... more info
