Tracey's review

Tracey's review

Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
by Steven Johnson

349264 Tracey's review
rating: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
bookshelves: libraryread

First heard about this on NPR's Morning Edition in May; then Johnson appeared on The Daily Show early in June. I'd read his Mind Wide Open a month or two ago & really enjoyed it, so I put this book on hold at the library.

Johnson's basic theory is that popular culture has gotten more complex and challenging over the last few decades, and our consumption of such has assisted us with problem solving and dealing with complex relationships, referring to this as the Sleeper Curve. He also references the Flynn Effect - a study that shows an increase of approximately 13 IQ points in the average American population over the last 50 years.

In the gaming world, the most popular games require strategy, forethought and probing skills. Users spend time learning not only the interface and the underlying rules, they also have to put together a set of goals in order to finish the game successfully. He references Grand Theft Auto ...more

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