stevenberlinjohnson.com: The Swingers Club

Normally when I post here to point you to a new article of mine, I like to say a few things about the subject matter of the piece, or a little back story about how I came to write it. But for once, I'd like to concentrate on the art direction of an essay, not the actual words themselves. If you happen to have a copy of the latest Wired (the one with Peter Jackson on the cover) turn to page 118 and prepare to have a good laugh at my expense. I'd written a fun piece for them about how accurate golf simulations have become -- basically you can improve your real-world golf game by playing virtual golf on your Xbox. As the piece was working its way through copy-edit, I got a call from their art department saying that they wanted to do a photo shoot for the piece with me as the lead subject. My brain was immediately filled with glamour shots of me wearing my best noted-cultural-critic look of intense rumination, glamour shots of me mulling the blurred line between the real and the virtual. All of my essays should have photos of me accompanying them, I thought. How appropriate that Wired -- with its legendary ahead-of-the-curve design sensibility -- should be the first to realize this.

And then I showed up for the photo shoot, and was greeted by a pair of yellow pants, a green jacket, an argyle sweater, and a hat that hasn't been worn without irony anywhere in the civilized world for nearly thirty years. You can get a sense of the picture from this smaller image here, but I assure you the full-size version alone is worth the cover price of Wired. My friend Rael described it best: I look like a demented leprechaun.

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!

Comments

Cripes, I actually thought "that must be a different steven johnson" when I saw it.

Posted by: andrew | April 08, 2004 at 02:08 AM

Give em your best shot!

Posted by: David Weisman | April 08, 2004 at 09:14 AM

Oh, Steven. This actually made me laugh out loud. hee hee hee

Posted by: Emily | April 09, 2004 at 02:28 AM

Not only that, but your swing is backwards: your weight is on your left foot when it should be on your right :)

Posted by: Joe Sokohl | April 09, 2004 at 03:41 AM

Steven,
I just want to know who decided on the red tam o'shanter with the Augusta-green coat? Obviously, it was a serious golfer.

Posted by: Rich Miller | April 10, 2004 at 02:33 AM

Steven, when I saw that picture in Wired two weeks ago I laughed really hard. What a contrast to the collar and jacket-clad man I met a few weeks earlier at KGB bar!

Also, congrats on your ad in this weeks New Yorker, I hope sales are going as well as they seem. You're getting nice placements at the 66th and Broadway, Barnes and Nobles too...

Posted by: Tom Cubeta | April 12, 2004 at 01:23 AM

When I saw this in the magazine, I nearly wet myself. You're a good sport.

Posted by: jkottke | April 14, 2004 at 01:38 AM

OMG.. ROFLMAO.. no wonder you don't venture up to Canada if you wear that getup!

you are indeed a good sport Steven lololol.
Green but a good sport...

can't
stop
giggling
lolololol

Posted by: Susan | April 19, 2004 at 05:48 AM