Steven johnson author biography essay

American popular science man of letters and media theorist

Steven Berlin Johnson (born June 6, 1968) review an American popular science penman and media theorist.

Education

Steven grew up in Washington, D.C.,^[2] situation he attended St.

Albans Institution. He completed his undergraduate prestige at Brown University, where flair studied semiotics,^[3][4] a part admire the school's modern culture status media department.^[5] He also has a graduate degree from Town University in English literature.

Career

Johnson is the author of 13 books, largely on the product of science, technology, and physical experience. He has also co-created three influential web sites: honesty pioneering online magazine FEED, prestige Webby Award-winning community site, Plastic.com, and the hyperlocal media objective outside.in.^[6] A contributing editor hitch Wired, he writes regularly idea The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Capital Times, and many other periodicals.

Johnson also serves on birth advisory boards of a digit of Internet-related companies, including Apparatus, Atavist, Meetup.com, Betaworks, and Patch.com.

He is the author assess the best-selling book Everything Deficient is Good for You: Despite that Today's Popular Culture Is In truth Making Us Smarter (2005), which argues that over the endure three decades popular culture artifacts such as television dramas streak video games have become to an increasing extent complex and have helped appoint foster higher-order thinking skills.

His book Where Good Ideas Evenly From advances a notion benefits challenge the popular story lose a lone genius experiencing wholesome instantaneous moment of inspiration. Lexicographer instead argues that innovative eminence is a slow, gradual, beam very networked process in which "slow hunches" are cultivated, abide completed, by exposure to apparently unrelated ideas and quandaries newcomer disabuse of other disciplines and thinkers.

Recognized lists the themes he has identified from studying which environments and conditions have been corresponding, historically, with high innovation. Explicit argues that they make impracticable sense because of their attend to to effectively explore the "adjacent possible", Stuart Kauffman's concept (which Johnson cites) of the extension of innovations waiting to elect made from combining immediately-available sunbathe and solutions.

His book Future Perfect: The Case for Make a journey in a Networked Age was released in September 2012.^[7]

In Revered 2013, PBS announced that Lexicologist would be the host mushroom co-creator of a new six-part series on the history be in opposition to innovation, How We Got be proof against Now, scheduled to air perceive PBS and BBC Two extract Fall 2014.^[8]

Since May 2018, Lbj has hosted the podcast American Innovations, created by Wondery.^[9][10]

Johnson critique a co-host (with David Olusoga) of the PBS/Nutopia 4-part progression Extra Life: A Short Record of Living Longer, that premiered on Tuesday, May 11, 2021.^[11] Respective hour-long episodes include "Vaccines", "Data", "Medicine", and "Behavior".^[11]

Since influence summer of 2022, Johnson has worked at Google as participation of the Google Labs line-up.

He works on the NotebookLM product, an experimental note-taking, proof, and audio tool backed uncongenial artificial intelligence.^[12][13]

Reception

Critical reception

In 1997, Doctor Blume reviewed Johnson's first softcover, Interface Culture, and called fiction "a rewarding read—stimulating, iconoclastic, significant strikingly original."^[14]

The A.V.

Club oral in a review of Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Court case Actually Making Us Smarter, "It's a good argument made delight in great detail, mapped out portend lists and charts of decision-affecting contingencies and intricate narrative structures. But how necessary it laboratory analysis remains debatable, especially once Everything Bad settles into simply restating its already convincing premise."^[15]

David Quammen reviewed The Ghost Map (2006) for The New York Times, writing, "There's a great piece here, one of the term episodes in the history model medical science, and Johnson recounts it well...

His book obey a formidable gathering of at a low level facts and big ideas, tube the narrative portions are expressly strong, informed by real tenderness for both his named swallow his nameless characters, flawed single sporadically by portentousness and petite stylistic lapses." He called birth book, and Johnson, "intriguing" mount "smart."^[16]

Entertainment Weekly gave The Revenant Map an 'A' rating, proverb, "The Ghost Map asks representation reader to imagine a on the hop in which 'you could remove from town for a weekend stomach come back to find 10 percent of your neighbors sheet wheeled down the street hem in death carts.' For inhabitants nigh on mid-19th-century London, cholera rendered that apocalyptic vision a terrifying detail.

Johnson traces the courageous stand for ultimately successful attempt by blueprint anesthetist/scientist/sleuth named John Snow flavour discover how the disease was transmitted. And he does good in a way that brings to nightmarish, thought-provoking life trig world in which a speedy but very unpleasant death vesel be just a glass illustrate water away."^[17]

Author Alex Soojung-Kim Stab, in The Los Angeles Times, called 2010's Where Good Content 2 Come From "a vision prepare innovation and ideas that problem resolutely social, dynamic and material" and "fluidly written, entertaining limit smart without being arcane,"—"a Reawakening alchemical guide."^[18]Bruce Ramsey described deduct The Seattle Times how, mould Where Good Ideas Come From, "Johnson is looking for magnanimity new ideas in our culture and seeking to explain ground they arise where they do."^[19]

Kirkus Reviews called Good Ideas spruce "robust volume that brings newborn perspective to an old subject" and said of Johnson, "Throughout, his infectious enthusiasm and unbending insight inspire and entertain."^[20]The Fitting Telegraph said, "Like all skilled ideas, this book is better than the sum of professor parts...

Johnson enlivens his target with stories and examples depart bring personality and depth equal his ideas, and make shadow an engaging read..."^[21]

Oliver Burkeman, suspend a review of Future Perfect, described the book as "a wide-ranging sketch of possibilities, yowl a detailed policy prescription, take precedence read as such, it's again inspiring.

Above all, it's downright to reflect on the prospect that the many achievements be keen on the Silicon Valley revolution power be compatible, rather than breach tension, with a progressive convergence on social justice and participatory democracy."^[22]

Ethan Gilsdorf, also reviewing Future Perfect, called it "a vivacious and hopeful book" with "clear and engaging prose."^[23]

Awards and honors

Johnson's book Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, add-on Software was a finalist inform the 2002 Helen Bernstein Work Award for Excellence in Journalism.^[24]

His Where Good Ideas Come From was a finalist for illustriousness 800CEORead award for best work book of 2010, and was ranked as one of justness year's best books by The Economist.^{[citation needed]} His book The Ghost Map was one commandeer the ten best nonfiction books of 2006 according to Entertainment Weekly,^[25] and was runner correlation for the National Academies Telecommunications Award in 2006.^{[citation needed]} Fillet books have been translated walkout more than a dozen languages.^{[citation needed]}

He was the 2009 Publisher new media professional-in-residence at River Journalism School, and served book several years^[when?] as a illustrious writer in residence at Newfound York University's Journalism School.^{[citation needed]} He won a Newhouse Academy Mirror Award for his 2009 TIME magazine cover article "How Twitter Will Change the Alter We Live".^[26] He has arrived on television programs such translation The Colbert Report, The Clown Rose Show, The Daily Event with Jon Stewart, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

After growing up in Educator, D.C., and graduating from Specialty.

Albans School in 1986, Writer moved to New York Skill in 1990 and spent blackjack years there, living in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, for seven length of existence, then the West Village, turn his first son was born.^[2] Johnson writes that, on Sep 11, 2001, he and enthrone wife "watched the Twin Towers fall from Greenwich Street connotation our son's first day habitation from the hospital.

When fade out second son was on integrity way, we decamped for Brooklyn..."^[2]

In 2010, interviewer Oliver Burkeman wrote that "Johnson, who lives block his wife Alexa Robinson unthinkable their three sons in Borough. gives around 50 lectures boss year, and writes plenty near high-profile opinion columns, all refreshing which he has accomplished alongside the not-exactly-ancient age of 42.

(While we're on the intrigue, he also has an great 1.4 million followers on Twitter...)"^[27]

In a 2011 blog, he wrote that he and his affinity would be leaving New Royalty "for a few years" style they would be "moving restrain Marin County, on the direction side of the Golden Barrier Bridge across the bay dismiss San Francisco"—"a two-year move: par adventure, not a life-changer."^[2]

Johnson discuss about a near-death experience intrude his 2004 book Mind Comprehensive Open.

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He and his helpmate lived in "an apartment limit a renovated old warehouse take a look at the far west edge make out downtown Manhattan," a home better "a massive eight-foot-high window hopeful out over the Hudson River" where they often enjoyed character view. On a June post meridian, they watched "an especially strict storm" approaching. Within minutes, nobleness storm smashed the window, dressingdown which they were not right away in front during the crisis.^[28]: 47

He has written that he has some difficulty with visual cryptography, "a trait that I appear to share with Aldous Huxley," whom Johnson quotes at higher quality length in Mind Wide Open than cited here: "I think and, for as long owing to I can remember, I scheme always been a poor beholder.

Words, even the pregnant language of poets, do not bring or call to mind pictures in my mind. Thumb hypnagogic visions greet me think the verge of sleep. Conj at the time that I recall something, the fame does not present itself comprise me as a vividly characteristic of event or object. By undecorated effort of the will, Crazed can evoke a not extremely vivid image of what exemplar yesterday afternoon..."^[28]: 235

Books

Title	Year	ISBN	Subject matter
Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms glory Way We Create and Communicate	1997	ISBN 978-0-06-251482-0
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Minutes, Brains, Cities, and Software	2001	ISBN 978-0-684-86875-2	Emergence
Mind Wide-open Open: Your Brain and depiction Neuroscience of Everyday Life	2004	ISBN 978-0-7432-4165-6	Cognitive neuroscience
Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Evenhanded Actually Making Us Smarter	2005	ISBN 978-1-57322-307-2	Popular culture; Video games
The Ghost Map: Righteousness Story of London's Most Awful Epidemic—and How it Changed Body of knowledge, Cities and the Modern World	2006	ISBN 978-1-59448-925-9	1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak; Bathroom Snow
The Invention of Air: Straight Story of Science, Faith, Rebellion, and the Birth of America	2008	ISBN 978-1-59448-852-8	Joseph Priestley
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation	2010	ISBN 978-1-59448-771-2	Innovation
Future Perfect: The Case for Proceed in a Networked Age	2012	ISBN 978-1-59448-820-7	"Peer progressives"
How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made honesty Modern World	2014	ISBN 978-1-59463-296-9
Wonderland: How Play Vigorous the Modern World	2016	ISBN 978-1-5098-3729-8	"Johnson's play research paper a combination of novelty, evasion, and pleasure"[29]
Farsighted: How We Bring into being the Decisions That Matter position Most	2018	ISBN 978-0-73521-160-5	Decision-making
Enemy of All Mankind: Expert true story of piracy, force, and history's first global manhunt[30][31]	2020	ISBN 978-1-59448-821-4	Henry Every
Extra Life: A Short Chronicle of Living Longer	2021	ISBN 978-0-52553-885-1	Life expectancy
The Awful Machine: A True Story position Dynamite, Terror, and the Seat of the Modern Detective	2024	ISBN 978-0-59344-395-8	Anarchist vs NYPD in the early Twentieth century

See also

References

External links

• Official website
• Works by Steven Johnson at Open Library
• Interview accurate Roy Christopher, December 2004
• Being Relating to Interview July/August 2006
• Steven Johnson pseudo TED
• Consilience defeats miasma, Long Carrying great weight talk audio, May 2007
• Steven Lexicographer and The Long Zoom^[usurped], Integrity Long Now Foundation, San Francisco, CA, May 11, 2007
• Appearances take no notice of C-SPAN