Everything Bad is Good for You
How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
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4.1 • 10 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Forget everything you’ve ever read about the age of dumbed-down, instant-gratification culture
From the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got To Now and Farsighted
In this provocative, unfailingly intelligent, thoroughly researched, and surprisingly convincing big idea book, Steven Johnson draws from fields as diverse as neuroscience, economics, and media theory to argue that the pop culture we soak in every day—from Lord of the Rings to Grand Theft Auto to The Simpsons—has been growing more sophisticated with each passing year, and is actually making our minds measurably sharper. Johnson expertly dismantles conventional wisdom surrounding new media and makes a compelling argument for popular culture and its cognitive benefits.
After reading Everything Bad is Good for You, you will never regard the glow of the video game or television screen the same way again.
With a new afterword by the author.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
Customer Reviews
Superb!
Having grown up in this generation, I love this book.