stevenberlinjohnson.com: The Greening Of My Thumb

I wouldn't go so far as to say that I am a gardener, but ever since we moved to our house in Brooklyn, I have technically been a person who owns a garden, who enjoys hanging out in his garden, and who has spent a little bit of money paying people to come plant things in said garden. But my dad and grandfather are/were ardent gardeners, and I can feel something of it awakening in me (assuming I can get over my bee phobia.) This spring I've ventured out to the back yard every day to inspect the latest developments: the hydrangea buds starting to appear, the wisteria blooms drooping, the ants doing their strange rituals on the peonies. This time of year, every day brings a small change to something in the garden; it's marvelous to watch these algorithms play themselves out with such regularity and precision.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying that I devoured this week's special issue on Landscape Architecture in the Sunday New York Times Magazine. If you missed it -- and have any interest in this stuff -- be sure to check it out online, though there are some wonderful pictures that might be better on the page. The two highlights for me were 1) a typically brilliant and intimate piece by Michael Pollan (author of The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World, one of my all-time faves) on his experiences as a transplanted New England gardener trying to grow things in his new Berkeley garden, and 2) a new essay by Jane Jacobs -- as vital as ever, in her mid 80s I believe -- on "The Greening of the City".

The Basics

I'm a father of three boys, husband of one wife, and author of seven 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 sbeej at earthlink dot net. Media requests should go to Matthew.Venzon at us.penguingroup 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

Wow, this looks like one of the few Times Magazine lifestyle features I can actually relate to. Usually they feel like they're aimed at millionaires, or wannabe millionaires.

Posted by: Brad Hurley | May 21, 2004 at 10:57 AM

I like your description of the wisteria and the peonies. I have both in my little yard as well. When the peonies finally bloom, they burst on the scene and then drop from the weight of all that work. They never seem to last long enough.

Posted by: Jennifer | June 07, 2004 at 03:32 AM

Be braver -- you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.

Posted by: David Lloyd George | June 18, 2004 at 06:06 AM

Posted by: David Lloyd George | June 18, 2004 at 06:11 AM