stevenberlinjohnson.com: The Dust Clears

Things are finally settling down a bit in the new house at last, and I hope a more regular blogging schedule will commence next week. Our kitchen will be done as of tomorrow afternoon, and early next week we should get the remaining boxes out of the living room, which will give us pretty much the run of the whole house. We're lucky to be living so close to Prospect Park, and to have had so much good weather -- our son has basically been living in the park all day while the construction guys are tramping around the house. He's only twenty months, so we're not sure if he's entirely clear whether he's moved to a brownstone or to the 11th Street playground.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with support and interest about the new book. It was almost as exciting to hear everyone's interest as it was to hand it in the first place. As far as the book-blog integration goes, I think I'm going to follow a modified version of Bill Seitz's suggestion: once every few days I'm going to post a key passage from each chapter here, perhaps with a brief introduction, and encourage critiques, rebuttals, free associations, suggested reading, etc. When I get to the next revision, which should be in about three weeks, I'll prepare a PDF version, and email it to those of you who wrote in saying that you'd be interested in reading it. There's also an internal debate going on about title possibilities, which I might share with you all once we're narrowed down to a short list of candidates.

If this goes well, I might just give you all a cut of the royalties. Too bad they haven't figured out an online nano-payment scheme yet. Maybe the next book. :)

The Basics

I'm a father of three boys, husband of one wife, and author of eight books, and co-founder of three web sites. We spend most of the year in Marin County, California though I'm on the road a lot giving talks. (You can see the full story here.) Personal correspondence should go to sbeej68 at gmail dot com. If you're interested in having me speak at an event, drop a line to Wesley Neff at the Leigh Bureau (WesN at Leighbureau dot com.)

My Books

Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation
An exploration of environments that lead to breakthrough innovation, in science, technology, business, and the arts. I conceived it as the closing book in a trilogy on innovative thinking, after Ghost Map and Invention. But in a way, it completes an investigation that runs through all the books. Sold more copies in hardcover than anything else I've written.
The Invention of Air
The story of the British radical chemist Joseph Priestley, who ended up having a Zelig-like role in the American Revolution. My version of a founding fathers book, and a reminder that most of the Enlightenment was driven by open source ideals.
The Ghost Map
The latest: the story of a terrifying outbreak of cholera in 1854 London 1854 that ended up changing the world. An idea book wrapped around a page-turner. I like to think of it as a sequel to Emergence if Emergence had been a disease thriller. You can see a trailer for the book here.
Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
The title says it all. This one sparked a slightly insane international conversation about the state of pop culture -- and particularly games. There were more than a few dissenters, but the response was more positive than I had expected. And it got me on The Daily Show, which made it all worthwhile.
Mind Wide Open : Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life
My first best-seller, and the only book I've written in which I appear as a recurring character, subjecting myself to a battery of humiliating brain scans. The last chapter on Freud and the neuroscientific model of the mind is one of my personal favorites.
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software
The story of bottom-up intelligence, from slime mold to Slashdot. Probably the most critically well-received all my books, and the one that has influenced the most eclectic mix of fields: political campaigns, web business models, urban planning, the war on terror.
Interface Culture : How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate
My first. The book I wrote instead of finishing my dissertation. Still in print almost a decade later, and still relevant, I think. But I haven't read it in a while, so who knows what's in there!

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The Dust Clears

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