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peterme

To clarify, I have no issue with using the Long Zoom frame. It's apparent that the Long Zoom is the driving force of the book -- so without it, you wouldn't have anything.

But I think what happened, with an approach so systems-oriented, is that you lost the more emotional/visceral connection to Priestley. I think in your understandable desire to move away from a "Great Man" narrative, and your explanations of all the influences that enabled Priestley's genius to fluorish, you sacrificed some of the story's heart. Biographies succeed when they allow readers to understand larger historical movements/moments in the context of a relatable individual. THE GHOST MAP worked because you provided such heart for Snow and Whitehead.

peterme

Separately, I was speaking to my wife (an historical archaeologist) about your Long Zoom thesis. And she wondered how familiar you were with Braudel's concept of the "longue durée" which is very similar to The Long Zoom -- looking at history at multiple levels, and not being so focused on The Event.

Steven Johnson

Thanks for the clarification, Peter. That's interesting what you say about Priestley as a character. You're the only one so far who has voiced that criticism -- I feel like there's a lot more about him that you neglected to mention in your review, in part because the surviving letters give so much personality. There is far more about him as an individual than there was about Snow or Whitehead in Ghost Map. But certainly, if I'd written a longer book there would have been more room to develop him as a relatable individual...

As for Braudel, yes, big influence. I actually use the phrase long duree in Invention at some point. I read him a lot when I was in grad school, and he also figures prominently in De Landa's 10,000 years book, which had a huge impact on my approach. In a way, I would describe the long zoom approach as a kind of fusion of Braudel, consilience, and the Long Now Brand/Eno vision...

One difference with Braudel is that I don't believe that he ever really reached over into the sciences the way I've tried to do -- that's the consilience influence, I suppose. So it's not about the Event or the Great Man with Braudel, but it's also not about the impact of the Carboniferous on industrialization. Nor is it about the impact of dopamine on cultural complexity the way I described it in Everything Bad.

Speaking of which, you should read the second half of Everything Bad -- it's the section where I try to describe *why* the culture is getting more complex, not just making the case that it is getting more complex. For all the press that book got, almost no one dealt with the second half, which was actually, in my opinion, the more interesting argument. (And it's also the first place where I start talking about this approach in some detail.) I'm sure you can find a second-hand reviewer's copy somewhere to ensure I don't see a cent from it. :)

Simon Goldie

I think the long zoom approach works very well. It gives texture and context and makes a point about Priestley and how we should look at history. I see the book as part of a body of work that explores networks, science, how we organise ourselves and how we live.

I have posted a review of it on my blog if anyone cares to read it - just click on my name.

Steven  Johnson

Simon, thanks so much for that review. Your description sounds exactly like the book I was trying to write. I'm glad it resonated with you...

normd

Connections are fine. The long zoom is fine. I think it is hard to write a book that is biographical but not actually a biography; the risk is that readers will want a hero-fest.

Since I have yet to finish Invention, I will wait to comment further. Other than to confess that I have yet to be annoyed :)

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    The Basics

    • I'm a father of three boys, husband of one wife, and author of five books. In early 2007 I went and foolishly got myself a day job running the hyperlocal community site, outside.in that I co-founded the year before. We spend most of the year in Park Slope, Brooklyn, though I'm on the road a lot giving talks. (You can see the full story here.) Personal correspondence should go to sbj6668 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.)

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    • : The Ghost Map

      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

      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

      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

      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

      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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