stevenberlinjohnson.com: Eating The Sun

I read a galley copy of Oliver Morton's Eating The Sun: How Plants Power The Planet very quickly a few months ago, as I was finishing up Invention Of Air, in part because the two books have many shared obsessions, and because I knew I had a great deal to learn from Oliver's writing and thinking. I was very impressed with it then, but I when I went back to read it more slowly last month, I realized what a masterpiece the book was: a kind of epic poem to the power and potentiality of photosynthesis.

Oliver and I met years ago -- thanks to the sublime Denise Caruso -- and have kept in touch loosely since then, but there's no need for a full disclosure here; this book is so great I'd be singing its praises even if we were arch rivals. Eating The Sun is many things. It's a story of scientific discovery told with great clarity and narrative drive, and it's a mind-expanding rumination on life, energy, and the future of our planet. The book has descriptions of natural and semi-natural landscapes (including Priestley's haunts at Bowood) that are just exquisite. And it's a refreshingly optimistic call-to-arms that talks about our climate crisis as something that is both immense and potentially manageable, making the most compelling case for radical innovation in solar energy that I've read to date. I hope there are Obama people who are reading this book right now--it should be required reading for anyone entering the White House, right up there with the Michael Pollan and the Doris Kearns Goodwin. But those of you who aren't currently going through the screening process should pick up a copy too; it's still early, but I think this may be my favorite book of 2008.

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

I really love the books of Oliver Morton. Eating the sun deals with great topics and is really interesting. I was addicted to the book and couldn't lay it down.In general I love almost all works of Oliver Morton.The topics of his books are so profound and make the reader obsessed.

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I also second Genghis Blues. An interesting, introspective look at the state of a musician in decline until he discovers Tuvan throat singing and the people who help him.

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