Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Pop Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson, reviewed by Salon.com
Following up on the article in the New York Times Magazine a few weeks back, the link above is a review of Steven Johnson's new book about pop culture. The reviewer, Farhad Manjoo, argues that Johnson's theory should make sense to anyone my age--of course video games and TV can make you smarter! Have you ever tried to beat a complicated game? You work out a strategy, learn from experience, revise your plans--it's life writ small. Yes, you're learning how to solve fictional problems, but the process is the same as the one for solving real ones. (I'm sure this statement shocks those who knew me in my college days of decrying all the time spent on gaming.) Have you ever tried to follow the plot on The Sopranos? There's a reason people call one another afterward to confirm what they think was happening in this scene and collaboratively recall the salient details from that scene. Watching TV can be hard work.
Anyhow, it's a great review, probably good enough that once you've read it, you'll know all you would want to from the book. Enjoy.
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