It is dated but contains some good bits. Reviews, ratings and shelves are our way of laying down pheromone trails for our fellow ants.

Definitely a three and half star situation.
Reading this book today, the first chapters on emergent systems in nature are a lot more interesting and relevant than the latter, Johnson's take on how our lives would look today.

I like Johnson's style and level of detail. I just wasn't interested in the subject matter. I like that my iPhone, laptop, and thermostat know how to do things; I don't care how.

Superb. Recommended.

Couldn’t get into it. Did not finish after 40%. Foofy high level and finally not that interesting or insightful to me.

A very interesting read about how certain types of complicated systems behave in unexpectedly intelligent ways.

I enjoyed but didn’t enjoy having the same point explained several times before moving on. Each point had to be explained two or three times in different analogy’s in case the we hadn’t understood the first time round. I understand the author wanting to make sure as much as his readers understood his points as possible but I think he overdid it a little.

Overall, very interesting but be prepared to skim.

The universe is a little like your brain which somewhat like a city which is kind of like ants which are a bit like slime mold which is not as insulting as it sounds.

The first couple of chapters were well written and gave an interesting historical account of the antecedents of complexity theory. But when Johnson begins to cover more current research (and remember, this was published in 2001), the writing bogs down, becoming very repetitive and often pedestrian. By the time he gets to speculating about the future, near the end, it's not really worth reading. Except for some ungrounded flights of fancy, it doesn't get much beyond envisioning sites like Goodreads, only for music and videos.

Moderately dated but remains highly relevant. A very accessible and interesting book on the concept of emergence. Many trends pointed out in the book remain on track today.

The beauty of journalists covering complex topics, especially one that cuts through several scientific fields and interconnects our world, is that they can generate niche-interest for broader audiences!
However, I made from two major conclusions after having read multiple books in this genre:

1. The last few chapters of non-fiction books are written mainly to increase the word-count and reach the minimum requirement to publish with a publisher.
In this book’s last 50 pages, Johnson switched from providing and reporting on invaluable insights to making casual armchair commentary on what the future for this tech would look like. Something that I, as a software engineer, could easily scoff at. (The book is 20 years old, so even a 10yo could do that today)

2. If I want to pick up a topic that I already have some interest in diving deeper, I’ll find books published by subject-matter experts. Even better if they are peer-reviewed scientific publications, or at least non-commercial/self-publishing pieces.

All in all, this book was 3.5/5 since I did learn quite a lot of cool things about fields I otherwise would overlook!

The first few chapters are excellent, imo a must read for anyone interested in complex adaptive systems. The last few chapters did not age as well - he's a lot more optimistic and bright eyes about what self organizing systems mean for information access on the internet than ended up being realistic.

From a book I am working on titled Elevating the Human Connection where I dedicate a section to this book (not a final draft).................

Emergent Connections
In Steven Johnson’s book titled Emergence, Mr. Johnson uses the decentralized command structure of ant colonies to demonstrate his point on the value of emergent systems, detailing how ant colonies never receive instructions from the queen ant but rely entirely on each other through the sharing of chemical pheromones left by each ant. Chemical breadcrumbs signaling threats and best opportunities to thwart invasions, store food, dispose of refuse, and find burial sites of other ants that best serve the community of ants. A collection of individuals working together to best serve the whole.

Of course the human species is wildly more complicated than a colony of ants but the point is to look at the human connection through technology as an emergent system where all of the users are comprised of elements of what they create and consume. Each person offering their own perspective as each thought enters into the flow of information. No matter whether it is spoken, written, performed, read, watched, or listened to, these experiences carry the DNA of both the creator and the recipient with previous experiences encoding points of view in the exchange. Each thought or grouping of thoughts representing signals to associate an idea or action with something or someone else. Aligning these signals to serve the interests of those in the exchange is a balancing act of which the human condition rests on.

When two hungry people approach a bush with poisonous berries with only one of them knowing the truth, one holds power over the other. This is the power of information or in this case the power of withholding it. In 1936, when the people of Germany watched Nazi propaganda films in theaters but were unaware of the death camps, the signal was biased with misinformation. When Goehring commissioned an increase in the production of radio receivers for the german population, the bias was amplified by extending the reach of misinformation, casting a wide net of rhetoric over millions of citizens hungry for change but unaware of the consequences. Technology playing to the emotions of the crowd.

But what if at the time, Josef Mengele’s records on human experimentation were uncovered by one person who shared it with a victim's relative, who corroborated the finding with a trusted doctor who shared this with a community of professionals who appealed to members of the Reichstag before Hitler used legislative loopholes to force passage of the Enabling Act of 1933. An impossible undertaking before the arrival of the mobile connection but a worthy thought experiment to have of technology playing to the reason of the individual signaling others on the micromotives of the Third Reich. The queen ant taking a backseat to foot soldiers of relevance.

In his book Emergence, Steven Johnson’s ends with “But understanding emergence has always been about giving up control, letting the system govern itself as much as possible, letting it learn from the footprints”. This is where I slightly depart, where smart systems can respond to smart signals of precedent, such as employing swarm logic to determine optimal traffic patterns, signals to follow to build human intelligence should come from connections the user works to build. Like a bricklayer laying a solid foundation or an artist crafting a fine painting, human effort should never be replaced by the logic? outside interests but the logic of the select resonating few. And this requires work. Technology can be the fulcrum but when a human push is no longer needed we may no longer be challenged to be needed.