This book’s sub-title is: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter. Obviously, as a Netflix junkie who watches The Office on a loop, I’m intrigued by this.
A paraphrase from the book blurb: Author Steven Johnson draws from neuroscience, economics, and media theory to argue that the pop culture we soak in every day 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.
Mr. Johnson is a New York Times bestselling author of How We Got To Now and Farsighted.
I’m skeptical and curious about what’s in this book. It appears to be well-researched, but I wonder if it’s also just a bit “what we want to hear”. Sure, watching Lord of the Rings may spur you to read the books, but how does binging The Simpsons “posing new cognitive challenges”?
We’ll see – it’s on my TBR shelf. Get your copy from Amazon here.
