Steven Johnson's Reading List

The author of “Wonderland” says that for a long period, he concentrated on science and technology. “But right around when I turned 40, I found myself needing the companionship of novels.”

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By the Book: Steven Johnson (2016)

NYT By the Book column (2016-12-15).

Source: www.nytimes.com

The Power Broker

Robert Caro · 1974 · Buy on Amazon

"The section on Jones Beach may be the most extraordinary chapter of nonfiction prose I've ever read."

The Shows of London

Richard Altick · Buy on Amazon

"I found this exquisite and immense study of the early-19th-century illusion palaces... That book is as full of magic as the shows it describes."

Submergence

J. M. Ledgard · Buy on Amazon

"I loved J. M. Ledgard's haunting novel "Submergence.""

On Beauty

Zadie Smith · 2005 · Buy on Amazon

"I'm always drawn to narratives where the characters are intellectuals or artists in some fashion, books like Zadie Smith's "On Beauty" or Colm Toibin's "The Master.""

Arcadia

Tom Stoppard · Buy on Amazon

"I often find myself revisiting the two works that I was obsessed with when I was much younger: Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" and Jorie Graham's second book of poems, "Erosion.""

Erosion

Jorie Graham · Buy on Amazon

"I often find myself revisiting the two works that I was obsessed with when I was much younger: Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" and Jorie Graham's second book of poems, "Erosion.""

Chaos

James Gleick · Buy on Amazon

"the one book that broke through those boundaries was James Gleick's "Chaos"; there was something about the idea of the scientific embrace of chaotic systems that seemed... compatible with the philosophical ideas in the air at the time."

The Interestings

Meg Wolitzer · Buy on Amazon

"I have a sweet tooth for novels that are about a group of friends... books like Meg Wolitzer's "The Interestings" or Jeffrey Eugenides's "The Marriage Plot.""

The Marriage Plot

Jeffrey Eugenides · Buy on Amazon

"I have a sweet tooth for novels that are about a group of friends... books like Meg Wolitzer's "The Interestings" or Jeffrey Eugenides's "The Marriage Plot," which is literally about Brown semiotics majors in the '80s."

Middlemarch

George Eliot · 1871 · Buy on Amazon

"I think she would have to be my favorite heroine. (Just as "Middlemarch" is my favorite novel.)"

Consilience

E. O. Wilson · Buy on Amazon

"E. O. Wilson had a similar effect on me with the argument in "Consilience.""

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Patricia Highsmith · Buy on Amazon

"I reread "The Talented Mr. Ripley" for a reminder of how Patricia Highsmith uses third-person point of view."

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