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The Invention of Air

3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 · rating details · 1,344 ratings · 267 reviews

The Invention of Air is a story of sweeping historical transformation, of genius and friendship, violence and world-changing ideas, that boldly recasts our understanding of the most significant events in our history.

It centers on the story of Joseph Priestley—scientist and minister, protégé of Benjamin Franklin, friend of Thomas Jefferson—an eighteenth-century radical thin...more The Invention of Air is a story of sweeping historical transformation, of genius and friendship, violence and world-changing ideas, that boldly recasts our understanding of the most significant events in our history.

It centers on the story of Joseph Priestley—scientist and minister, protégé of Benjamin Franklin, friend of Thomas Jefferson—an eighteenth-century radical thinker who played key roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the discovery of oxygen, the founding of the Unitarian church, and the intellectual development of the United States. Priestley represented a unique synthesis: by the 1780s, he had established himself as one of the world's most celebrated scientists, most prominent religious figures, and most outspoken political thinkers. Yet he would also have become one of the most hated men in all of his native England. When an angry mob burned down his house in Birmingham, Priestley and his family set sail for Pennsylvania.

In the nascent United States, Priestley hoped to find the freedom to bridge the disciplines that had governed his life, to find a quiet lab and a receptive pulpit. Once he arrived, as a result of his close relationships with the Founding Fathers—Jefferson credited Priestley as the man who prevented him from abandoning Christianity—Priestley found himself at the center of what would go down as one of the seminal debates in American history. And as Johnson brilliant charts, Priestley exerted profound if little-known influence on the shape and course of this great experiment in nation-building.

As in his most recent bestselling work, The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson here uses a dramatic historical story to explore themes that have long engaged him: innovation and the way new ideas emerge and spread, and the environments that foster these breakthroughs. As he did in Everything Bad is Good for You, he upsets some fundamental assumptions about the world we live in—namely, what it means when we invoke the Founding Fathers—and replaces them with a clear-eyed, eloquent assessment of where we stand today.(less)

Hardcover, 254 pages

Published December 26th 2008 by Riverhead Hardcover

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Jan 24, 2009 Randy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Joseph Priestly did not 'invent' air. Rather, he was instrumental in discovering it. Let alone Joseph's influence on America as a newly born country's political, scientific and faith culture. Regardless, I find this book very well written, and a personal epiphony discovering my family is related to him.

Steve Johnson's writing style is easy to read, entertaining and informing.

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Aug 06, 2010 George rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lacpl-epub, nook-ereads

INTERESTING AND ENLIGHTENING.

"…the ideal of Enlightenment science had instilled in them a set of shared political values, a belief that reason would ultimately triumph over fanaticism and frenzy.”
–page 24

(I wonder how that worked out for them.)

‘The Invention of Air: An Experiment, a Journey, a New Country and the Amazing force of Scientific Discovery,’ by Steven Johnson is an entertaining, very interesting and enlightening tale of science, religion and politics. It is the story of Joseph Pries...more

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May 14, 2010 Dauphne rated it 2 of 5 stars

"The classic case study for the concept of a paradigm shift is the Compernican revolution in astronomy, but in actual fact, the first extended story that Kuhn tells in 'The Structure of Scientific Revoutions' is the paradigm shift in chemistry that took place in the 1770s, led by the revolutionary science of Joseph Priestly."

Are you freaking kidding me? Who read that sentence and remembered what the first half of it was by the time they got to the end?

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Jan 26, 2009 Aurora rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not only a biographical work about Joseph Priestley, but a great read about how scientific thought and innovation happens - the unpredictable mix of creativity, conversations with others, just plain accidents and coincidences, patience, and risk-taking.

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Aug 10, 2011 Stephen Wong added it

Now I know a lot more about Joseph Priestley, the discovery of oxygen, the combustions and conflagrations of Priestley's time in England and the new United States, amid science and political friendships and the Zelig that he was of the Enlightenment in the progress of ideas in science, politics and religion.

And while some references I've met before to the Jefferson-Adams letters were ineffectual fillips to check them out, Steven Johnson's depositing them in the context of a palimpsest of a palim...more

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Mar 10, 2009 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-autobiography

Johnson did an excellent job of putting a life and a time period into interwoven context. By modern standards, Priestley would be considered a "talented amateur" in the field of science, basically flinging experiments at a subject until it yielded results. His willingness to experiment with politics and religion as well got him into remarkable amounts of trouble, including a literal mob with torches coming to destroy his home.
My only minor quibbles were that several of his actual discoveries wer...more

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Mar 07, 2009 Tony rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Johnson, Steven. THE INVENTION OF AIR: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America. (2008). ***. This is a book about Joseph Priestley, but it is not a biography, per se. I’d have to stick it on one of my history shelves. What I think happened here was that the author’s agenda changed after he had gathered all of the information he needed for a biography. I suspect that he found it lacking in enough excitement to sustain a standard biography. Instead, he choose to place Pries...more Johnson, Steven. THE INVENTION OF AIR: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America. (2008). ***. This is a book about Joseph Priestley, but it is not a biography, per se. I’d have to stick it on one of my history shelves. What I think happened here was that the author’s agenda changed after he had gathered all of the information he needed for a biography. I suspect that he found it lacking in enough excitement to sustain a standard biography. Instead, he choose to place Priestley in the center of all of the changes that were occuring during his lifetime and show how he influenced them through his interactions with key personalities of these various events. Let’s begin with science. Priestley was a dabbler; an empirical ‘natural philosopher’ who did things at random (apparently) and watched what happened. What hits you is that he interprets various phenomena incorrectly – holding on to these misinterpretations up to his death. His principal discovery was how to produce carbonated beverages, although later in life he was given credit for the observance of up to ten other gases in the atmosphere. Note that I use the word observance. He never identified the gases, nor quantified their presence in the atmosphere. The claim that he discovered oxygen is pure hype. He noted that there was a portion of the atmosphere that supported animal life and helped keep a candle burning brighter, but he turned to the phlogiston theory to explain it all. My vote still goes to Lavoisier. In the world of religion, he was a principal founder of what we now call Unitarianism. OK. That’s what caused him the most trouble, and led to his house being burned down and his ultimate escape to America. During his lifetime he was friends with the principal luminaries of the day, including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. The author credits Priestley, along with Ben Franklin, for the discovery of the first “system” in nature – the interdependence of animal and plant life. The author has done a force fit of Priestley into a mold first explored and delineated by Kuhn in his book, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,” in which the terms ‘paradigm’ and ‘paradigm shift’ were first used. There is no question but that Priestley had an influence on the thinking of some of our founding fathers, especially through his religious philosophy. This was especially acute in the case of Jefferson, who had lost his faith in Christianity altogether, but was persuaded to Deism after discussions with Priestley and readings of his writings. Although Priestley has been relegated to mostly footnotes these days, this book attempts to place him within the pantheon of luminaries of his time. I suspect that this is not really the case. As an aside, Priestley’s house and “laboratory” of his final American home is still on view in Northumberland, PA, and is well worth a visit.(less)

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Apr 18, 2013 Farnoosh Brock rated it 4 of 5 stars

“The Invention of Air” has a fantastic topic and story, so I make room for forgiveness where style and prose lack. The story of Joseph Priestley, whom I am not proud to hear about for the first time in this book, is remarkable. He is an educator, theologian, philosopher, politician, but at heart, a scientist and an inventor through all the turbulence of his life.

Biographies are in general captivating. A biography that puts your brain to work – scientific experiments, hypothesis, results, and th...more “The Invention of Air” has a fantastic topic and story, so I make room for forgiveness where style and prose lack. The story of Joseph Priestley, whom I am not proud to hear about for the first time in this book, is remarkable. He is an educator, theologian, philosopher, politician, but at heart, a scientist and an inventor through all the turbulence of his life.

Biographies are in general captivating. A biography that puts your brain to work – scientific experiments, hypothesis, results, and the meaning of discovery in an age where little was known about electricity, physics, chemistry and especially the air we breathe - makes the mark on higher levels.

I found it delightful how the invention of coffee brought about a tremendous boost to productivity, replacing alcohol as the standard drink of the day. While not invented by Priestley, it certainly impacted his social life.

Coffee served as one attraction but the coffee house of London with the divinity students, book sellers, musicians, poets, scientists, was a gathering place to think about and loudly discuss topics of significance such as the limits of religious orthodoxy or advancements in scientific experiments in some make-shift lab or the future of government and the end of the monarchy and freedom of the people.

Later in life, Ben Franklin tells Joseph Priestly how sorely he missed the days at the coffee houses in London – which leads the author to grant Franklin a more British citizenship than the American one we bestow on him today.

Johnson does one thing very well – he gives us the true essence of the character of Joseph Priestley. To fully appreciate this man’s fearlessness and sense of optimism, we follow him at the age of 61 on his voyage from Britain to US in what can be described as nauseating ship travels.

Reading the first chapter of the book on what horrific afflictions must be endured by the human body and spirit, not to mention the very likely risk of death, was more than sufficient to convince me that a man in his condition must be perfectly insane to take on such a journey with his wife. Insane or optimism are in the beholder’s eyes – and it is clear that the infinite comforts of our age have spoiled us beyond comprehension of what was a standard affliction just over 200 years ago.

It is hard not to be impressed with life story of a single person with his vast accumulation of knowledge in numerous fields, his ability to form relationships with the Founding Fathers and his substantial contribution to humanity – but it is impossible not to be impressed by a man who is unflappable as his entire home and possessions, including his haven of laboratory, is destroyed and set to fire by rioters. This I found the most inspiring and enduring trait of Joseph Priestley’s character.

In letters that were found later describing the aforementioned dark night, Mary Priestley beautifully writes the following:

“Undaunted he heard the blows which were destroying the house and the laboratory that contained all his valuable and rare apparatus and their effects, which it had been the business of his life to collect and use….he, tranquil and serene, walked up and down the road with a firm yet gentle peace that evinced his entire self-possession, and a complete self-satisfaction and consciousness which rendered him thus firm and resigned under the unjust and cruel persecution of his enemies……Not one hasty or impatient expression, not one look expressive of murmur or complaint, not one tear or sigh escaped him; resignation and a conscious innocence and virtue seemed to subdue all these feelings of humanity”(less)

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Jul 12, 2012 Eva rated it 4 of 5 stars

Official summary, for context (taken from Amazon): It is the story of Joseph Priestley—scientist and theologian, protégé of Benjamin Franklin, friend of Thomas Jefferson—an eighteenth-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the discovery of oxygen, the founding of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the United States.

Priestly and the overall book are reasonably interesting, and Priestly is impressive in his diversity of intere...more Official summary, for context (taken from Amazon): It is the story of Joseph Priestley—scientist and theologian, protégé of Benjamin Franklin, friend of Thomas Jefferson—an eighteenth-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the discovery of oxygen, the founding of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the United States.

Priestly and the overall book are reasonably interesting, and Priestly is impressive in his diversity of interests and contributions, but I most enjoyed seeing the history of science and the evolution of ideas. For instance, Priestly found that a candle would go out when placed in a closed glass jar. And a mouse slipped into that jar (through water, as I recall, to prevent fresh air from getting in?) would quickly die. But when he put a mint plant in such a jar, it thrived! AND a mouse added later would also survive quite a while. Wow. What must Priestly and his peers (like Franklin) have thought of that? What would I make of it, in their shoes?

Priestly wasn't always right, of course. He was dedicated to the idea of dephlogistication (great word!), which held that air had an unseen substance that was used up when something--like a candle--was burned in it. Sounds reasonable, right? Other scientists, however, noted that some substances got heavier when burned, not lighter--what to make of that? The author notes that science is often moved forward not by new experiments or ideas, but rather by greater precision in measurement. Both the mapping of the gulf stream (done largely by Ben Franklin!) and this discovery about substances that grow heavier when burned owe to better instruments: thermometers and scales, respectively.

This reminds me of a video I recently watched on the effectiveness of science education videos. The creator's thesis was that we often go into science education with implicit--and wrong--assumptions. Then, when we learn the truth, we filter it through our expectations, say "yes, like I thought," and often fail to update our understanding. That's why his research showed that science education videos worked better when they made common misunderstandings explicit, had the viewer consider them, and then struck them down and then replaced them with the truth. Similarly, I think this is why I enjoy The Emperor of All Maladies and A Short History of Nearly Everything so much. Both books show how truly muddy science is--what the experimental results show, how people interpret them (often in entirely reasonable ways), and how they finally realize their interpretations are wrong. Contrary to the way it's shown in most science classes and textbooks, science is not actually straightforward or obvious, except perhaps in retrospect.

I only wish I'd read this book on kindle, instead of listening on audiobook. Then I'd have more cool notes :)(less)

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Jul 10, 2012 Dale rated it 3 of 5 stars

Meandering book felt more like an expanded magazine article

I am a history teacher and thought The Invention of Air: A Story Of Science, Faith, Revolution, And The Birth Of America might be an interesting new perspective on the Enlightenment and the American Revolution from the perspective of English theologian, philosopher and scientist Joseph Priestley.

We get a hefty dose of scientific history which is appropriate but not my area of interest. We don't get a lot of detail on his theological w...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Jrobertus rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this a fascinating read. It centers on Joseph Priestly, the late 18th century scientist, philosopher, and religious dissenter. Priestly was an ordained minister who engaged in scientific studies of electricity and the chemistry of gases (hence the title). He invented soda water, and is credited with the discovery of oxygen, although that is a complex story, made clear by the book. Priestly was involved with some wonderful learned sociecities, like the Royal Society and the Honest Whigs....more

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Mar 06, 2011 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Johnson’s quite the writer and this offering doesn’t disappoint. I’d somehow only come across Priestly a couple times in other texts despite the fact that he invented air! Johnson follows this likable character through his experimental mint-in-glass-tube breakthrough that represented another significant step in discarding persistent, ye olde Dark Age notions through to his political interests, exile to Pennsylvania, family issues, and so forth. Basically Priestly’s story represents one of a numb...more Johnson’s quite the writer and this offering doesn’t disappoint. I’d somehow only come across Priestly a couple times in other texts despite the fact that he invented air! Johnson follows this likable character through his experimental mint-in-glass-tube breakthrough that represented another significant step in discarding persistent, ye olde Dark Age notions through to his political interests, exile to Pennsylvania, family issues, and so forth. Basically Priestly’s story represents one of a number (plenty of Benjamin Franklin cameos here) in the transition from fledgling-yet-crude activities in the field of “natural philosophy” to more full-formed, rigorous “scientific” investigations as the Industrial Age dawned. If it wasn’t for Priestly and his ilk, we might not have had a Polio vaccine, split atoms, or three trillion and forty-seven ways to insert corn syrup into every citizen’s diet. He even invented soda water (before that Schweppes jackleg patented the process), which eventually became a primary high-fructose corn syrup delivery mechanism! Without these intellectual giants we might still have crappy weather forecasts though.

Priestly’s position in scientific as well as early US political history makes this a compelling story. As Johnson states, his Forest Gump-like appearances at pivotal turning points position him as “some kind of errant founding father.” He was one of the primary targets for those much beloved Alien and Sedition Acts. He was privy to all the goings on with Franklin, the kite, and the key (in fact, Priestly was the one who published the story as Franklin sort of skipped the details in his papers. Johnson quips that, because flammable wood steeples were often the tallest built things around and lightening obviously favors tall stuff, Franklin and the general God-fearing populace had to contend with that “puzzling but undeniable reality: the Almighty seemed to have a perverse appetite for burning down the buildings erected in His honor.”

He was, in a nutshell, of the classic Renaissance Men typology. Johnson’s text plays on Priestly’s not always balanced immersions into science, politics, and faith, lamenting how these areas typically have few contemporary overlaps beyond, of course, the occasional Al Gore “scientist/politician” example that the author sarcastically throws in. This was an age of, if less developed understandings, much shared dialogue across many intellectual areas, often over coffee. Of course Johnson being Johnson, he brings current global networking offered by the internet into the story as perhaps some type of parallel scenario where, like wig-wearing, philosophically inclined dudes arguing at the London Coffee House, ideas may now develop through a much larger “web” involving less specialized persons and therefore yielding more open discussions. Probably Al Gore’s World Wide Web will remain mostly used for decidedly un-scientific, none-too-religious online gaming and porn. Beats me, but I do know this was quite an enjoyable read.
(less)

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Jul 08, 2010 Jack Cheng added it

Johnson has good ideas but I don't find him the most fluid author. He's got a great subject in Joseph Priestly, who helped determine the existence of oxygen and the fact that plants create an atmosphere that can sustain a flame (or the life of a mouse). Priestly was also a radical Unitarian minister who wrote treatises outlining all the magical accretions that he thought undermined a purer Christian faith, and was a bit too enthusiastic about the French Revolution (this last part got him driven...more

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Jan 11, 2010 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars

Absolutely love this book. It's a great story about one of the most important figures in the American Revolution and the history of science and philosophy. Joseph Priestly was a polymath and pioneer, the likes of which we will probably never see again. Respected scientist (until he wasn't), pastor and theologian (until he wasn't), political theorist (until he wasn't), and, in general, affable man (he always seemed to be).

It's shocking to realize that despite being one of the best and most respec...more

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Jun 16, 2009 Meri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, biography-memoir, united-states, lifelong-learners

Joseph Priestly is not widely recognized, but may as well have been a (British) founding father. A product of a remarkable age, Priestly produced a string of innovations in science, religion, and politics. He was eventually exiled from England for his agnostic views, but he died a respected man in a young United States.

In this book, Johnson has taken an interesting figure and turned him into a metaphor for explosions of progress (like the Age of Enlightenment) and how seemingly separate discipl...more

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May 09, 2009 Trevor rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, science

I would have liked this to have been a much better book. There were parts of it where it showed promise – but those parts were swamped in what was mostly ‘junk polymathism’. That is a new phrase I’ve made up – I think it might even prove handy. I am going to use it as a way to describe someone who has decided to refer to multiple disciplines, but not really use them in a way that shines new light on either the topic at hand or on the discipline referred to. Worst of all was the fact that when he...more

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Apr 27, 2009 Barry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Joseph Priestly, the discoverer oxygen, was considered one of the leading scientists of his time - an era when serious science was still conducted by amateurs. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson numbered among Priestly's closest friends and all make extended appearances.

The role of scientific inventions in the fate of nations, as well as the geologic history of Earth's atmosphere, resulting in breathable air suitable for humans to evolve, are among the engrossing digressions tha...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Eileend rated it 4 of 5 stars

This isn't a biography of Joseph Priestley, and it isn't a full historical summary of England and the beginning of America. It's not a scientific monograph, and in some ways, it's not history of science, either. But it is a good, sweeping tale that includes everything from dinosaurs and gigantic dragonflies to the French revolution and the Alien and Sedition Act in the United States. If you read this as something it's not, you won't like it. If you think that Johnson is only promoting the view o...more

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Mar 01, 2011 Todd Martin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: environment-science, history

I could write my own review, but there is really no reason to when the New York Times has so effectively captured my thoughts about The Invention of Air .
The review can be seen here.

Johnson uses the life story of Joseph Priestly (18th century scientist and one of the discoverers of oxygen) as a means to illustrate connections between the disparate fields of energy, religion, the French and American revolutions, the scientific method and the ways in which paradigms shift occur (among a host of...more

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Sep 15, 2010 Molly rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the story of Joseph Priestly who discovered oxygen in the 18th century, at a time when all that stuff around us was though of as empty space. Then we discovered the components of our atmosphere. The best part of the story was the interlude describing the Proterozoic era 2 billion years ago when the oxygen content of the atmosphere doubled due to cyanobacteria. Then there was the period when the air was replete with O2 and some creatures took off and became gigantic - dragonflies as big a...more

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May 14, 2012 Dennis Fischman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

This book is a kaleidoscope. View it from one direction and it's a moment in the history of science, where people discover that air is not just empty space but that it contains oxygen, emitted by plants, which lets humans breathe and fires burn. Pull back a bit, and that discovery anticipates the whole idea of ecology. From a different angle, this is the story of an amazing life, that of Joseph Priestley, "a kind of Zelig of early American history, appearing at key turning points like some kind...more

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Jul 16, 2009 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

This was fascinating, and more technical/scientific/philosophical than books I've grown used to reading. Provides a decent mental workout of following the arguments he makes, but not difficult at all. It's interesting to hear Priestley's experiments explained, but I was expecting him to have a little more influence on American Founding Fathers. Definitely interesting he had influence at all, but the contact was essentially a bunch of letters between him and Franklin, and a few between him and Je...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Caroline rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Joseph Priestly deserves a good modern biography, but this isn't it; it isn't even, as advertised, a worthwhile picture of his life in the context of the American Revolution and early republic. Repetitious, too general when specifics about what he actually said or did were needed. Too full of riffs on common wisdon rather than careful explication of thoughtful research based on an expert's knowledge of the time and field. Plodding on in leaden footed commitment to metaphors (energy as a driver o...more

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Oct 13, 2010 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Steven Johnson has written a coherent history of one of the most important scientists of the Enlightenment, one whose name is known mostly to modern readers for being mentioned in biographies of others who corresponded with him, especially Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. This book goes far to plug the hole of biographies of important Colonial and early American Republic characters, but Johnson intends to go beyond that task. He is known for his promotion of information networks as condui...more

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Mar 27, 2009 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a political and scientific biography of Joseph Priestly who was a very influential scientist, radical Unitarian Minister, and political revolutionary. His friendship with Benjamin Franklin played a role in the famous kite experiments. His friendship with Thomas Jefferson gave Jefferson reason to remain a Christian, refined many of Jefferson's political ideas, and provided the framework for Jefferson's renewed friendship with John Adams at the end of their lives.

I found this book to be a...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Jenn rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a history of science/science biography that goes far beyond documenting the happenings in a period or w/r/t a field or person; Johnson draws out the connections between our sources of energy (e.g., the gulf stream, coal, etc.) and the kinds of things we can know. It's a truly illuminating way to think about scientific developments. The one upsetting element (to me) is that, at least in the edition of the book that I read, there were numerous errors, most of which were of the sort that su...more

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Feb 13, 2009 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, science

From my readings in the history of science and of religious controversy I was familiar with Priestley's significance before reading this book, but Johnson succeeds marvelously in delineating Priestley's importance to not just his own historical era, but in the grander scheme of intellectual and cultural history leading up to our present. Johnson's best chapters are the most sweeping, such as the discussion in the Intermezzo of the interrelatedness of the Carboniferous Age, Priestley's residence...more

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Nov 18, 2010 Professor rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: personal-library

Sara passed this book on to me, after she read and enjoyed it. Johnson aims to tell the story of Joseph Priestly, a 18th century scientist who was also active in the fields of religion and politics. Not only did Priestly discover soda water and made major breakthroughs in our understanding of air, he was also a friend and correspondent with Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams-and on top of that, he was a major figure in the development of the Unitarian church. By all measures, he SHOU...more

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Mar 14, 2009 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-history, scientists, biography

Johnson makes a credible hypothesis about how scientific discoveries are made using the example of Joseph Priestly who had influence in science, politics and religion and was friends with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.

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Nov 30, 2009 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars

The secondary title is "A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution and The Birth of America." Quite a mouthful. I hope it doesn't discourage potential readers. The author makes complicated events very accessible and timely,
so informally that when he cites one Joe Jackson and his "World on Fire,"
I'm ready to go to the music store, hoping it's as good as the "Heaven and Hell" oratorio with Dawn Upshaw. Wrong Joe Jackson entirely (this one's a historian). Joseph Priestley, Johnson's hero, is amazingly...more

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About Steven Johnson

Steven Johnson is the author of the bestsellers Where Good Ideas Come From, The Invention of Air, The Ghost Map, Everything Bad Is Good For You, and Mind Wide Open, as well as Emergence and Interface Culture. He is the founder of a variety of influential websites—most recently, outside.in—and writes for Time, Wired, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Marin County, Califor...more

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Books by Steven Johnson

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Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation

Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life

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

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