Everything Bad is Good for You

How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter

By: Steven Johnson

Narrated by: Jason Culp

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Mind Wide Open comes a groundbreaking assessment of popular culture as it's never been considered before: through the lens of intelligence.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 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. You will never regard the glow of the video game or television screen the same way again.

Critic reviews

"Revelatory...Daring...Finally, an intellectual who doesn’t think we’re headed down the toilet!" —Washington Post Book World

"Persuasive...The old dogs won’t be able to rest as easily once they’ve read Everything Bad is Good for You, Steven Johnson’s elegant polemic.... It’s almost impossible not to agree with him."—Walter Kirn, The New York Times Book Review

"A thought-provoking argument that today's allegedly vacuous media are, well, thought provoking...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

"There is a pleasing eclecticism to [Johnson’s] thinking. He is as happy analyzing Finding Nemo as he is dissecting the intricacies of a piece of software ... Johnson wants to understand popular culture…in the very practical sense of wondering what watching something like The Dukes of Hazzard does to the way our minds work." —Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker

"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

"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 deepens 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

Skips sections

Periodically the audio book will skip over a sentence in the book. It also skipped four pages (109-113 depending on your book copy)

Insisghtful

It is a very interesting and insightful book. Johnson is able to link good cases with his hypostases of the evolution of the mind. In addition, as a father, is a relief to know that video games and TV might be good for kids.

compelling

interesting read with compelling arguments that were easy to read (or listen to) with an underpinning of hard science.

Smart people… it must be TV and video games!

Would you recommend Everything Bad Is Good for You to your friends? Why or why not?

No. It's references are dated.

Was Everything Bad Is Good for You worth the listening time?

Not worth the time. It's an interesting idea and I'm sure parts of it are true however he provides little proof to support his theory. The book is full of "I think" and "I suspect" without backing up his assumptions.

great material, but outdated.

If you are truly interested in the topics of this book, there are many more modern adaptations of the idea that have taken this research further.

It was a great book, and I believe the author was ahead of the curve at the time, but when he is talking about technology, we are leaps and bounds ahead of where he mentions in the book.

Although it is somewhat comforting to validate the information.