Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World

Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World

by Steven Johnson
Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World

Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World

by Steven Johnson

Paperback

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Overview

“A house of wonders itself. . . . Wonderland inspires grins and well-what-d'ya-knows” —The New York Times Book Review

From the New York Times–bestselling author of How We Got to Now and Extra Life, a look at the world-changing innovations we made while keeping ourselves entertained.


This lushly illustrated history of popular entertainment takes a long-zoom approach, contending that the pursuit of novelty and wonder is a powerful driver of world-shaping technological change. Steven Johnson argues that, throughout history, the cutting edge of innovation lies wherever people are working the hardest to keep themselves and others amused. 
 
Johnson’s storytelling is just as delightful as the inventions he describes, full of surprising stops along the journey from simple concepts to complex modern systems. He introduces us to the colorful innovators of leisure: the explorers, proprietors, showmen, and artists who changed the trajectory of history with their luxurious wares, exotic meals, taverns, gambling tables, and magic shows.  
 
In Wonderland, Johnson compellingly argues that observers of technological and social trends should be looking for clues in novel amusements. You’ll find the future wherever people are having the most fun.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780399184499
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 11/14/2017
Pages: 336
Sales rank: 533,648
Product dimensions: 5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

About The Author
Steven Johnson is the bestselling author of thirteen books, including Where Good Ideas Come From, How We Got to Now, The Ghost Map, and Extra Life. He’s the host and cocreator of the Emmy-winning PBS/BBC series How We Got to Now, the host of the podcast The TED Interview, and the author of the newsletter Adjacent Possible. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and Marin County, California, with his wife and three sons.

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Excerpted from "Wonderland"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Steven Johnson.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Fashion and Shopping 17

2 Music 65

3 Taste 109

4 Illusion 147

5 Games 187

6 Public Space 233

Conculsion 279

Acknowledgments 285

Notes 287

Bibliography 299

Credits 307

Index 309

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