How we got to now

six innovations that made the modern world

by Steven Johnson

293 pages

English language

Published Aug. 20, 2014

ISBN:: 978-1-59463-296-9
OCLC Number:: 879851784

(18 reviews)

"From the New York Times-bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From and Everything Bad Is Good for You, a new look at the power and legacy of great ideas. In this illustrated volume, Steven Johnson explores the history of innovation over centuries, tracing facets of modern life (refrigeration, clocks, and eyeglass lenses, to name a few) from their creation by hobbyists, amateurs, and entrepreneurs to their unintended historical consequences. Filled with surprising stories of accidental genius and brilliant mistakes-from the French publisher who invented the phonograph before Edison but forgot to include playback, to the Hollywood movie star who helped invent the technology behind Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-How We Got to Now investigates the secret history behind the everyday objects of contemporary life. In his trademark style, Johnson examines unexpected connections between seemingly unrelated fields: how the invention of air-conditioning enabled the largest migration of human beings in the history of the species-to cities such as Dubai or Phoenix, which would otherwise be virtually uninhabitable; how pendulum clocks helped trigger the industrial revolution; and how clean water made it possible to manufacture computer chips. Accompanied by a major six-part television series on PBS, How We Got to Now is the story of collaborative networks building the modern world, written in the provocative, informative, and engaging style that has earned Johnson fans around the globe. "--

1 edition

tauriner reviewed How we got to now by Steven Johnson

Review of 'How we got to now' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I'll come back and put down more thoughts as I have them, but this book contains great examples of two tenets about innovations in general:

1. There are no truly original ideas, or as Kirby Ferguson puts it, "Everything is a Remix" - no innovation occurs in a vacuum. All innovation builds on what came before. (cross reference the notion of the "adjacent possible" - or Stamen's slogan, "the next most obvious thing") In particular this book makes the point that some of these adjacent possible things are not an obviously predictable effect of the cause, yet when you look back in history, the connection is undeniable. (e.g. the printing press created literacy which created the need for glasses which created innovation in lens making which led to the creation of microscopes and telescopes.)

2. And following from the last point, once something is "possible," it is rare for one lone genius to come up with the next thing. Usually, at that point in history, there will be many people who independently come up with the same innovation. This is one way to show that cause and effect, because the sudden proliferation of the same innovation could not have occurred with the earlier thing existing.

TODO: (SPOILERS)
List all the interesting connections that are talked about in this book