Popular culture is often seen as nothing more than the production of endless entertainment video games, computer games, hand-held games, movies and music on computers. It's common currency to talk about the declining standards of today's culture to say that modern media is dumbing us down. In this complex and tautly written book, Steven Johnson presents a radical alternative: mass culture is making us smarter by consistently demanding more of our brains. So whether you watch The Sopranos or Survivor, turn on and tune in.