Where Good Ideas Come From

Steven Johnson is an American popular science author, media theorist, and technology expert known for his interdisciplinary approach to understanding innovation, technology, and society. Born in Washington, DC in 1968, Johnson grew up in Washington and later moved to New York City. He studied semiotics at Brown University, where he graduated with a BA in 1990. His interest in the intersection of science, technology, and culture was evident even in his undergraduate years, where he wrote his honors thesis on hypertext literature. Johnson later pursued graduate studies in English Literature at Columbia University, further honing his skills in analyzing complex narratives and cultural phenomena.

Professionally, Johnson has built a career as a prolific writer and thinker at the intersection of science, technology, and culture. He has authored over a dozen books exploring various aspects of innovation, urban development, and the history of ideas. His first book, Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate (1997), set the tone for his future work by examining how digital interfaces shape people’s interaction with information and each other. Some of his other notable works include Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software (2001), which explores self-organizing systems; Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life (2004), delving into cognitive science; The Ghost Map (2006), a historical account of a cholera outbreak in London that also serves as an examination of urban planning and scientific discovery; and The Invention of Air (2008), a biography of Joseph Priestley that also explores the interconnectedness of scientific, political, and cultural progress.

Johnson’s work on Where Good Ideas Come From draws heavily on his previous explorations of complex systems, urban environments, and the history of scientific discovery. His synthesis of ideas from diverse fields such as biology, urban studies, technology, and cultural history is evident throughout the book. This interdisciplinary approach allows him to identify common patterns of innovation across different scales and domains.

In addition to his writing, Johnson has been involved in various media projects. He co-created the influential online magazine FEED in 1995, one of the earliest web-only magazines, which ran until 2001. He also helped create the website Plastic. com. These early forays into digital media gave Johnson firsthand experience with technological innovation and the dynamics of online communities.

Johnson has also ventured into television, hosting the PBS series How We Got to Now in 2014 and the BBC One series Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer in 2021. These experiences have likely contributed to his understanding of how ideas spread and evolve in different media environments, a theme he explores in Where Good Ideas Come From. As a public intellectual, Johnson has given numerous lectures and TED talks, further disseminating his ideas about innovation and creativity. He has been a contributing editor for Wired magazine and has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.