How We Got to Now: Six Innovations that Made the Modern World

by Steven Johnson

From Steven Johnson, the bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From, comes How We Got to Now, the companion book to his five-part BBC TV series.

How did the advent of refrigeration help create the golden age of Hollywood? How did the invention of flash photography help shift public opinion on the plight of New York's poorest inhabitants and bring about social reform? And what about our battle against dirt? How did that help create the microchips in our smartphones and computers?

In How We Got to Now, Steven Johnson traces six essential innovations that made the modern world; from their origins in ancient history to the technological advancements of recent years. A celebration of innovation: this book shows how time and time again, big ideas coalesce out of smaller, incremental breakthroughs. Unlocking tales of the unsung heroes and unexpected scientific revolutions, this is the story of the ideas that changed the world and the way we live in it.

'Johnson is one of the world's best chroniclers of innovation and in this book he brings a plethora of insights' Matt Ridley, Sunday Times

'Readable, entertaining, and a challenge to any jaded sensibility that has become inured to the everyday miracles all around us' Peter Forbes, Guardian

'Steven Johnson is the Darwin of technology. Through fascinating observations and insights, he enlightens us about the origin of ideas' Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs

'Elegant, one of the most persuasive advocates for the role of collaboration in innovation . . . Johnson's erudition can be quite gobsmacking' Philip Delves Broughton, Wall Street Journal

Steven Johnson is the US bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From, The Invention of Air, The Ghost Map, and Everything Bad Is Good for You. He is the founder of a variety of influential websites - most recently, outside.in - and writes for Time, Wired, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

• ISBN10: 1846148537
• ISBN13: 9781846148538
• Publish Date: 25 September 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 31 October 2015
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Imprint: Particular Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

How We Got To Now takes you through how small discoveries changed the world, from sound to cold, to light, you name it. Someone discovered how something worked, and it took off and changed the world into how it is today. This was a series I saw on PBS some time ago, so I heard some of it before.

Pretty good book, but all the nuggets of interesting information got buried in too much rhetoric. Succinct is not a word I would use to describe this book. The writing style was to introduce, tell anecdote/trivia, then spend another 50 pages rehashing everything in different words. Over and over. I'd get about halfway through a chapter and skip to the next one. Seriously, if this book was half as long, it would be 5 stars.

So, interesting but very wordy. Perhaps watching the whole series on TV would cut the content down a bit. Yeah, probably. Go watch the series. It's probably on PBS.

Also, half a star deducted for talking about Edison in glowing terms with no mention of Tesla. Booo!! HISS!!!