Its definitely Steven Johnson season at handcircus at the moment. Having read Emergence a couple of weeks ago, I picked up his latest, “Everything Bad is Good for you” - a book discussing the relative merits of modern pop-culture.

The main proposition of the book is a straightforward argument: that todays popular culture, much maligned as meritless and mindless, is in fact challenging and enriching our minds and those of younger generations MORE than it ever has. The book attempts to seperate content from complexity within media, much as you might seperate curds and whey, and explains the necessity to shift focus from content to the complexity of the media in order to measure these cognitive benefits. While most critics of today’s media complain of the immorality of the content of the Sopranos (sex, violence, antiheroes) or the horribly cliche and vacuous plotlines of many videogames, Steven argues that this is missing the point.

By analysing annual IQ test figures and by demonstrating the increasing narrative complexity of shows like “24″ and “The Sopranos”, he suggests that these games and TV shows have given birth to a generation of talented problem-solvers, able to nimbly analyse complex systems and relationships. He suggests that the much-maligned content of reality TV (or at least most of it) is in fact enhancing the viewers emotional intelligence. He also shows the financial reasons why networks are commissioning these brain-teasing series’. Very convincing, and once again highly recommended.