Steven Johnson is the author of the national bestsellers "Everything Bad Is Good for You" and "Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life," as well as "Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software" and "Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate."
?[Johnson is] an infectiously exciting writer [and] "The Invention
of Air" is delightful to read. But it aims high. It isn't a work of
conventional history or biography, though it contains snippets of
both, but more like a case study in the history of ideas that hints
at a grander analytical theory. Johnson is a wide-ranging
enthusiast with a catholic appetite for intriguing facts and a
Marxian appetite for searching for structures that underlie social
phenomena.?
?"Salon"
?Like Priestley, Johnson?who wrote the bestselling "Everything Bad
Is Good For You"?is a polymath, and ? [it?s] exhilarating to follow
his unpredictable trains of thought. To explain why some ideas
upend the world, he draws upon many disciplines: chemistry, social
history, geography, even ecosystem science.?
?"Los Angeles Times"
?Steven Johnson's mind works in wondrous ways and readers have been
the beneficiaries of his eclectic interests. Johnson's new book,
"The Invention of Air," marks a retu
a[Johnson is] an infectiously exciting writer [and] "The Invention
of Air" is delightful to read. But it aims high. It isn't a work of
conventional history or biography, though it contains snippets of
both, but more like a case study in the history of ideas that hints
at a grander analytical theory. Johnson is a wide-ranging
enthusiast with a catholic appetite for intriguing facts and a
Marxian appetite for searching for structures that underlie social
phenomena.a
a"Salon"
aLike Priestley, Johnsonawho wrote the bestselling "Everything Bad
Is Good For You"ais a polymath, and a] [itas] exhilarating to
follow his unpredictable trains of thought. To explain why some
ideas upend the world, he draws upon many disciplines: chemistry,
social history, geography, even ecosystem science.a
a"Los Angeles Times"
aSteven Johnsonas mind works in wondrous ways and readers have been
the beneficiaries of his eclectic interests. Johnsonas new book,
"The Invention of Air," marks a return to cultural history a]His
free-ranging mind and irreverent wit entertain and prompt
thought.a
a"Seattle Post-Intelligencer"
aSteven Johnson argues that [this] key player has been all but
forgotten a] An expat, a champion of reason, an original
progressiveaPriestleyas ideals were central to the American
experiment. He rarely gets the credit, but he was arguably the
United Statesa original advocate for hope and change.a
a "Newsweek"
aThis is not a book about the discovery of oxygen but about the
invention of air: how groups of scientists, natural philosophers,
religious leaders and politicians served as cultural petri dishes
in which ideas were discussed, experimented with, discarded
oraccepted a][Johnson] gives long-overdue time and space to some of
the more controversial aspects of [Priestleyas] work a]Priestley
may not have gotten full credit for his work on oxygen, but this
new book gives plenty to the life of the man himself.a
a"Dallas Morning News"
aSteven Johnson's latest book, "The Invention of Air," is a
wide-ranging, learned, engrossing biography of the polymath
pioneering scientist, Joseph Priestley a] Johnson uses the life of
Priestley to illuminate a theory of history that holds that great
people are neither an inevitable product of their times, nor
luminous, supernatural geniuses -- rather, they are the product of
an "ecosystem" of influences, technologies, climate, and energy
(literally -- the story of stored energy in coal, saltpetre, and
plant-bound carbon are vital to the story). He pulls this off
deftly, with a series of insightful, beautifully realized
anaecdotes from the life of Priestley and his contemporaries -- his
allies and his many enemies -- that make the idea of history being
shaped by webs and networks seem absolutely true.a
a Boingboing
a[Johnson] refracts just about every beam of Enlightenment thought
through the prism of Priestley.a
a"Seattle Weekly"
aWe rarely hear of [Joseph Priestley] today, but it wasn't always
thus: the correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
includes 52 mentions of Priestley, versus just three of George
Washington. With "The Invention of Air," Steven Johnson brilliantly
explains why a] For all of Priestleyas many achievements, laid out
so delightfully in Johnsonas account, itas his work with plants and
the oxygen cycle that rightfully gained him immortality
a]Engrossing.a
a"Oregonian"
aIn "The Invention of Air" Steven Johnson gives a biography not
just of a man, but a time in which the spigot of ideas was
gradually being cranked wide open. It's a fun (and quite short)
read for anyone interested in the intersection of science,
politics, and religion. It's also an interesting look at how
societies react -- for good and ill -- to periods of rapid
change.a
aDaily Kos
aA breath of fresh air a] Johnson paints Priestley not as a man of
the past but precisely the sort of figure the world needs more than
ever: A searcher who shared his discoveries openly and willingly,
crossed disciplinary boundaries with impunity and insight, who
conceived of the world as a large laboratory a] We live in
troubling times, filled with signs of a great economic apocalypse,
politicized science on topics from birth control to climate change
and religious zealots who kill innocents rather than live
peacefully with them. This is exactly the moment to learn from
Priestley, who survived riots, threats of prosecution and other
hardships and yet never doubted that athe world was headed
naturally toward and increase in liberty and understanding.aa
a"New York Post"
aIntelligent a] Steven Johnson, who has a fine reputation for
discerning trends and for his iconoclastic appreciation of popular
culture, chooses his topics well. As a reminder of the underlying
sanity and common sense of this countryaa reminder perhaps much
needed after the excesses of a displeasing presidential election
campaign
a"The Invention of Air" succeeds like a shot of the purest
oxygen.a
a "Publishers Weekly "(Signature Review)
aArresting account of the career of JosephPriestley a] Johnson
employs his customary digressiveness to great effect a] Another
rich, readable examination of the intersections where culture and
science meet from a scrupulous historian who never offers easy
answer to troubling, perhaps intractable questions.a
a"Kirkus"
aJoseph Priestley (1733-1804) was a veritable Renaissance man,
whose interests and skills ranged from science to religion to
politics. Science writer Johnson ("The Ghost Map") weaves together
all of these themes and how they played out in his life, in early
America, and among the Founding Fathers. He tells the story [of
Priestley] in a reader-friendly manner that also encourages readers
to think about how these themes apply in todayas world.a
a"Library Journal"
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