Steven Johnson

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Utah

Six Innovations That Made the Modern World

"A Young Readers adaptation of the New York Times Bestselling book where author, Steven Johnson, walks readers through the history and impact of six inventions that influence the modern world."--

How We Got to Now

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Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

New Jersey

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From and Extra Life, a new look at the power and legacy of great ideas. In this illustrated history, Steven Johnson explores the history of innovation over centuries, tracing facets of modern life (refrigeration, clocks, and eyeglass lenses, to name a few) from their creation by hobbyists, amateurs, and entrepreneurs to their unintended historical consequences. Filled with surprising stories of accidental genius and brilliant mistakes—from the French publisher who invented the phonograph before Edison but forgot to include playback, to the Hollywood movie star who helped invent the technology behind Wi-Fi and Bluetooth—How We Got to Now investigates the secret history behind the everyday objects of contemporary life. In his trademark style, Johnson examines unexpected connections between seemingly unrelated fields: how the invention of air-conditioning enabled the largest migration of human beings in the history of the species—to cities such as Dubai or Phoenix, which would otherwise be virtually uninhabitable; how pendulum clocks helped trigger the industrial revolution; and how clean water made it possible to manufacture computer chips. Accompanied by a major six-part television series on PBS, How We Got to Now is the story of collaborative networks building the modern world, written in the provocative, informative, and engaging style that has earned Johnson fans around the globe.

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Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

New York

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

In the tradition of Being Digital and The Tipping Point, Steven Johnson, acclaimed as a "cultural critic with a poet's heart" (The Village Voice), takes readers on an eye-opening journey through emergence theory and its applications.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
A VOICE LITERARY SUPPLEMENT TOP 25 FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR
AN ESQUIRE MAGAZINE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
Explaining why the whole is sometimes smarter than the sum of its parts, Johnson presents surprising examples of feedback, self-organization, and adaptive learning. How does a lively neighborhood evolve out of a disconnected group of shopkeepers, bartenders, and real estate developers? How does a media event take on a life of its own? How will new software programs create an intelligent World Wide Web?

In the coming years, the power of self-organization -- coupled with the connective technology of the Internet -- will usher in a revolution every bit as significant as the introduction of electricity. Provocative and engaging, Emergence puts you on the front lines of this exciting upheaval in science and thought.

Emergence

2194a010-67f4-42d1-a5aa-c289c1c79f6a-1

Florida

How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most

Plenty of books offer useful advice on how to get better at making quick-thinking, intuitive choices. But what about more consequential decisions, the ones that affect our lives for years, or centuries, to come? Our most powerful stories revolve around these kinds of decisions: where to live, whom to marry, what to believe, whether to start a company, how to end a war. Full of the beautifully crafted storytelling and novel insights that Steven Johnson's fans know to expect, Farsighted draws lessons from cognitive science, social psychology, military strategy, environmental planning, and great works of literature. Everyone thinks we are living in an age of short attention spans, but we've actually learned a lot about making long-term decisions over the past few decades. Johnson makes a compelling case for a smarter and more deliberative decision-making approach. He argues that we choose better when we break out of the myopia of single-scale thinking and develop methods for considering

Farsighted

f32b4244-1ef6-4022-8f60-db07e1bced24-1

Michigan

A Short History of Living Longer

As a species we have doubled our life expectancy in just one hundred years. All the advances of modern life - the medical breakthroughs, the public health institutions, the rising standards of living - have given us each about twenty thousand extra days on average. There are few measures of human progress more astonishing than our increased longevity. This book is Steven Johnson's attempt to understand where that progress came from. How many of those extra days came from vaccines? What are the forces that now keep us alive longer? Behind each breakthrough lies an inspiring story of innovation.

Extra Life

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How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter

From the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got To Now and Farsighted

Forget everything you've ever read about the age of dumbed-down, instant-gratification culture. 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, far from rotting our brains, is actually posing new cognitive challenges that are actually making our minds measurably sharper. 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.



Everything Bad Is Good for You

2a31a49a-f7cb-464d-9a88-b5bc918d425b-1

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

New Hampshire

Illinois

Minnesota

The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

A thrilling account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London and a brilliant exploration of how Dr John Snow's solution revolutionised the way people think about disease, cities, science and the modern world. This is an endlessly fascinating and compelling account of the summer of 1854, from the microbial level to the macro-urban-theory level, including, most importantly, the human level. A cultural critic with a poet's soul.' - The Village Voice'

The Ghost Map

00483b24-6fa2-40ac-ac13-9529ef755034-1

A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America

A portrait of scientist and theologian Joseph Priestly evaluates his friendships with such founding fathers as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson while citing Priestly's role in the nation's intellectual development, the pursuit of key scientific agendas and the founding of the Unitarian Church. Reprint. A best-selling book.

The Invention of Air

cac2a01a-9135-4597-a01b-3de63141ce1f-1

Wisconsin

The Natural History of Innovation

A fascinating deep dive on innovation from the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got To Now and Unexpected Life The printing press, the pencil, the flush toilet, the battery--these are all great ideas. But where do they come from? What kind of environment breeds them? What sparks the flash of brilliance? How do we generate the breakthrough technologies that push forward our lives, our society, our culture? Steven Johnson's answers are revelatory as he identifies the seven key patterns behind genuine innovation, and traces them across time and disciplines. From Darwin and Freud to the halls of Google and Apple, Johnson investigates the innovation hubs throughout modern time and pulls out the approaches and commonalities that seem to appear at moments of originality.

Where Good Ideas Come From

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Colorado

California

North Carolina

How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter

Discusses the intellectual benefits of elements from modern popular culture, including video games and reality TV programs.

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

As a species we have doubled our life expectancy in just one hundred years. All the advances of modern life--the medical breakthroughs, the public health institutions, the rising standards of living--have given us each about 20,000 extra days on average. There are few measures of human progress more astonishing than our increased longevity, and yet it's easy to overlook. This book is Steven Johnson's attempt to understand where that progress came from. How many of those extra 20,000 days came from vaccines, or the decrease in famines, or seatbelts? What are the forces that now keep us alive longer? Behind each breakthrough lies an inspiring story of cooperative innovation, of brilliant thinkers bolstered by strong systems of public support and collaborative networks. But it is not enough simply to remind ourselves that progress is possible. How do we avoid stalling out in the advance of life expectancy as we face new challenges and old fixes start to fail? What current technologies or interventions that could reduce mortality further are we somehow ignoring? A study in how meaningful change happens in society, this book is an ode to the enduring power of common goals and public resources. The most fundamental progress we have experienced over the past few centuries has not come from big corporations or startups. It has come, instead, from activists struggling for reform; from university-based and publicly funded scientists sharing their findings open-source-style; and from non-profit agencies spreading new innovations around the world.

This book is a celebration of ideas: how they happen and their sometimes unintended results. Johnson shows how simple scientific breakthroughs have driven other discoveries through the network of ideas and innovations that made each finding possible. He traces important inventions through ancient and contemporary history, unlocking tales of unsung heroes and radical revolutions that changed the world and the way we live in it

Virginia

Bestselling author Johnson recounts the story of Joseph Priestley--scientist and theologian, protege of Benjamin Franklin--an 18th-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the founding of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the U.S.

Washington

Farsighted (signed)

Oregon

The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

A historical chronicle of Victorian London's worst cholera outbreak traces the day-by-day efforts of Dr. John Snow, who put his own life on the line in his efforts to prove his previously dismissed contagion theory about how the epidemic was spreading. Reprint.

Ohio

How Popular Culture Is Making Us Smarter

Putting forward an alternative to the endless complaints about reality TV, throwaway movies and violent video games, this book shows that mass culture is actually more sophisticated and challenging than ever before.

Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life

BRILLIANTLY EXPLORING TODAY'S CUTTING-EDGE BRAIN RESEARCH,MIND WIDE OPENIS AN UNPRECEDENTED JOURNEY INTO THE ESSENCE OF HUMAN PERSONALITY, ALLOWING READERS TO UNDERSTAND THEMSELVES AND THE PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES AS NEVER BEFORE.Using a mix of experiential reportage, personal storytelling, and fresh scientific discovery, Steven Johnson describes how the brain works -- its chemicals, structures, and subroutines -- and how these systems connect to the day-to-day realities of individual lives. For a hundred years, he says, many of us have assumed that the most powerful route to self-knowledge took the form of lying on a couch, talking about our childhoods. The possibility entertained in this book is that you can follow another path, in which learning about the brain's mechanics can widen one's self-awareness as powerfully as any therapy or meditation or drug.InMind Wide Open,Johnson embarks on this path as his own test subject, participating in a battery of attention tests, learning to control video games by altering his brain waves, scanning his own brain with a $2 million fMRI machine, all in search of a modern answer to the oldest of questions: who am I?Along the way, Johnson explores how we "read" other people, how the brain processes frightening events (and how we might rid ourselves of the scars those memories leave), what the neurochemistry is behind love and sex, what it means that our brains are teeming with powerful chemicals closely related to recreational drugs, why music moves us to tears, and where our breakthrough ideas come from.Johnson's clear, engaging explanation of the physical functions of the brain reveals not only the broad strokes of our aptitudes and fears, our skills and weaknesses and desires, but also the momentary brain phenomena that a whole human life comprises. Why, when hearing a tale of woe, do we sometimes smile inappropriately, even if we don't want to? Why are some of us so bad at remembering phone numbers but brilliant at recognizing faces? Why does depression make us feel stupid?To readMind Wide Openis to rethink family histories, individual fates, and the very nature of the self, and to see that brain science is now personally transformative -- a valuable tool for better relationships and better living.

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Steven Johnson

How We Got to Now

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How We Got to Now

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Emergence

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Extra Life

Steven Johnson

Everything Bad Is Good for You

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How We Got to Now

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How We Got to Now

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The Ghost Map

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The Invention of Air

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Where Good Ideas Come From

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The Invention of Air

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How We Got to Now

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How We Got to Now

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Everything Bad Is Good for You

Steven Johnson

Extra Life

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How We Got to Now

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The Invention of Air

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Farsighted (signed)

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The Ghost Map

Steven Johnson

Everything Bad Is Good for You

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The Ghost Map

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The Invention of Air

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Mind Wide Open