Everything Bad is Good for You: How Popular Culture is Making Us Smarter (Paperback)

However, a major flaw with this book as far as I see it is its concentration on America and American media. Whether older British television is indeed as simple compared to today's shows as Johnson claims American TV is, I cannot say; however, I suspect that at least some of our older television still challenges today's audiences. Equally, results of spurious IQ studies (with Johnson himself mentioning that IQ is not necessarily a good measure of intelligence) are entirely divorced from our culture. Having lived in America, I did understand most of the references to television shows, but there were still some which passed me by, unfortunately.

In terms of style the book is fairly heavy-going (at least initially) since it takes a more academic than casual tone. Certainly the term 'Sleeper Curve' is accurate as I fell asleep reading it a few times, and I felt more like I was ploughing through reams of justification than following a series of eloquent arguments. However, Johnson makes his point logically, and well, and I am inclined to agree with his line of reasoning; it is also a good thing for mass media that finally a well-supported argument can stand up to the old-wives' myths levelled at it by its detractors, and the general folk belief that "TV is bad for you" which, I realise, I have never seen actually argued out anywhere.

Overall, this is an interesting and fairly challenging book but a little too America-centric; I feel it wouldn't have been terribly difficult to look outside the USA for examples! If one can look past that, however, it's definitely worth at least one read, though it might not stand up to repeated reading, since my reaction on finishing the book was to want to talk to the author to challenge some of his points -- something the old-fashioned one-way un-interactive medium of books doesn't allow

I no longer look at my children's fascination with playing computer games with such concern; it has not increased my viewing of TV (a medium I actually think too many people view with rose tinted historic spectacles given it formed such a key part of their early lives) but it has helped me appreciate the wider benefits of how TV series now operate and are structured versus the versions I saw as a child; plus the internet and its wider social impact is put into context with the end coverage that IQs are given these changes getting higher in the middle and lower zones of society if not so clearly helping the top intellectual end are well made even if you do not wholly agree everything.

The book is US centric but given the author's life, location and background that seems inevitable and indeed the beauty of the arguments presented for consideration is that you find yourself applying them to local UK TV programmes given the main messages are universal.

While the style is too academic at the start, once the writer warms to his subjects he does present well and in a very creative structure that interlocks across the book. Finally, the end section on summarising areas for further reading on the different topics is one of the best I have seen in such a small book.