Steven Johnson, "Everything Bad Is Good for You" reading May 10, 2005

Steven Berlin Johnson will be reading from and discussing his new book, Everything Bad Is Good for You.

"With the same winning combination of personal revelation and friendly scientific explanation he displayed in last year's Mind Wide Open, Johnson shatters the conventional wisdom about pop culture as pabulum, showing how video games, television shows and movies have become increasingly complex. Furthermore, he says, consumers are drawn specifically to those products that require the most mental engagement, from small children who can't get enough of their favorite Disney DVDs to adults who find new layers of meaning with each repeated viewing of Seinfeld."