Everything Bad Is Good for You

“The author
Newsweek
called one of the most influential people in cyberspace…is back. The beauty of Johnson's latest work—beyond its engaging, accessible prose—is that anyone with even a glancing familiarity with pop culture will come to the book ready to challenge his premise.
Everything Bad Is Good for You
anticipates and refutes nearly every likely claim, building a convincing case that media have become more complex and thus make our minds work harder.”

—
Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Through a string of airtight, academic, and very entertaining essays, Johnson maintains that prime-time TV is more intellectually engaging than ever.”—
Time Out New York

“Sophisticated…nimble…strangely satisfying.”

—
Newsday

“Johnson's challenge to the oft-repeated lament that mass culture is dumbing down is as enlightening as it is necessary.”

—
BookForum

“Persuasive. The old dogs may grump about cultural illiteracy and the erosion of traditional values, but the new dogs have talents, aptitudes, and skills that we can only dream of.”

—Walter Kirn,
The New York Times Book Review

“Johnson may be the first mainstream writer to bring neuroscientific inquiry to
The Apprentice
…It's scientific and literary rigor, couch-potato style.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“Johnson paints a convincing and literate portrait, and he shows himself to be a master of many disciplines, which deepensens the well of his credibility.”

—
San Francisco Chronicle

“Engaging…Intriguing…Breezy and funny…Johnson is a forceful writer, and he makes a good case; his book is an elegant work of argumentation.”

—
Salon.com

“A brisk, witty read, well versed in the history of literature and bolstered with research…Johnson, it turns out, still knows the value of reading a book. And this one is indispensable.”

—
Time

“Smart and stimulating…a deliberate ‘nana-nana-boo-boo' to the Books Are Better crowd.”

—
The Washington Post

“[A] compelling—and yes, convincing—defense of video games, TV, the Internet, and Hollywood movies. It's…exciting to hear from such an articulate optimist.”

—
Forbes

“This punchy, thought-provoking book is a welcome antidote to the pessimism and handwringing of those who see only decadence and doom in popular culture.”

—
The Economist

“Convincing…
Everything Bad Is Good for You
is a lucid tour of the pop-culture landscape…. [It] provokes smarter thinking.”

—
The Boston Globe

“[Johnson is] a revolutionary thinker…. It's [his] hope that we take our freshly challenged brains out of the virtual world and into the real world, far away from recliners, to a place where we can apply the education that crept up on us when we thought we were only relaxing.”

—
Fort Worth Star Telegram

“In a fascinating, factoid-studded, wide-ranging essay, Johnson compares today's pop-culture texts with those of the past and concludes they're getting more complex…. Johnson is a clever and original pop-culture defender…. [He] does something that most pop-culture pundits seldom do: He makes you think.”

—
Seattle Weekly

“[An] essential and rather brilliant little book…
Everything Bad Is Good for You
is as witty as
Seinfeld
and as wise as
ER
.”

—
New Statesman

“A fascinatingly counterintuitive argument…filled with a hundred great philosophical arguments, starting points for parents, educators, publishers, media consumers, and sellers.”

—
Orlando Sentinel

“Provocative…Packed with contrarian insights backed by the author's deep understanding of high tech and low culture…Johnson excels in describing how television has grown increasingly sophisticated.”

—
Business Week

“Makes a convincing case that many of our assumptions about mass entertainment are dead wrong.”

—
The Week
(New York)

“I found Johnson's argument intriguing…We can find some consolation in the fact that the best way for Johnson to broadcast [them] is still that old-fashioned thing: a book.”

—
San Jose Mercury News

“Counterintuitive, engaging, smart, accessible…This book ought to be required reading….
Everything Bad
is an important key to understanding where the culture is headed.”

—
The Toronto Star

“Steven Johnson is the Quentin Tarantino of media critics. He appreciates our cultural past—loves it, in fact—but believes it has been invigorated with richer characters and multilayered story structures. In
Everything Bad Is Good for You
, Johnson slices at war critics who believe three renovated entertainments are crippling to our collective mental focus. In the end, like
Kill Bill
's one-woman hit squad, Johnson is left standing without a bruise showing.”

—
Northeast News Gleaner

“Provocative…Johnson argues that the complexity of modern culture provides a rigorous cognitive workout and develops skills that are useful in personal and professional settings.”

—
Sunday Advocate

“Brilliant…the first volley in a spirited argument that the decline of reading may not mean the end of intellect. While Johnson is not an apologist for pop culture's excesses, he's a necessary counterbalance to those who are blind to its charms, and, perhaps, its virtues.”

—
Mother Jones

“Exemplifying from such hits as Sims, Grand Theft Auto,
Seinfeld, Survivor
, and
24
; never disparaging high culture, especially literature; and writing with maximum clarity, Johnson broadcasts good news, indeed.”

—
Booklist

“Fascinating…Johnson convincingly argues that, on the contrary, much contemporary popular culture is intellectually demanding…. Highly recommended.”

—
Library Journal

“With the same winning combination of personal revelation and friendly scientific explanation he displayed in last year's
Mind Wide Open
, Johnson shatters conventional wisdom about pop culture as pabulum.”

—
Publishers Weekly

Interface Culture:

How New Technology Transforms the Way
We Create and Communicate

Emergence:

The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains,
Cities, and Software

Mind Wide Open:

Your Brain and the Neuroscience
of Everyday Life

How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter

RIVERHEAD BOOKS

NEW YORK

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)

Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)

Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India

Penguin Group (NZ), cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright © 2005, 2006 by Steven Johnson

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

RIVERHEAD is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

The RIVERHEAD logo is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the Riverhead hardcover edition as follows:

Johnson, Steven, date.

Everything bad is good for you : how today's popular culture is actually making us smarter / Steven Johnson.

p. cm.

ISBN: 978-1-1011-5801-2

1. Popular culture. 2. Intellect. I. Title.

HM621.J64 2005 2005042769

306'.0973—dc22

For Lydia, true believer