The Building of Steven Johnson's Argument in How We Got to Now by Nolanlits https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc by: Nolan Litschewski en-us 2018-02-16 00:23:35 UTC 2025-11-13 00:45:38 UTC hello@padlet.com The Author's Arrangement 19litschewskin https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc/wish/232205264 The author Steven Johnson's arrangement uses a combination of both Exemplification and cause and effect. The book is about six innovations that made the modern world so it can easily be inferred that the book will include a large amount of exemplification, but the argument is most strongly built by the use of cause and effect. Johnson argues that the six innovations he puts forward were the cause the modernization of the world we now know today. This is presented in an intriguing yet very simple manor. There are six main sections in the book, one for each innovation. In addition to this there is an introduction and a conclusion. The author's main argument is presented in the introduction and then strongly supported in the following sections. The way he does this in each section is by starting with the initial innovation and then tracing it's ripple effect through the veins of historical progression much like a pebble dropped in a peaceful lake. This helps provide a plethora of valid supported examples to strengthen his initial claim. ]]> 2018-02-16 01:19:12 UTC https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc/wish/232205264 The Author's Main Argument 19litschewskin https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc/wish/232208818 Steven Johnson's argument is initially clearly stated in then supported throughout the rest of the book in anecdotal sections of different innovations and their amplified effect on the modernization of our society. Many will find this reminiscent of the wildly popular butterfly effect, a pertinent piece of the chaos theory that states minimal changes to the past can have a catastrophic effect on completely unrelated things in the future.

"The extraordinary (and unsettling) property of the butterfly effect is that it involves a virtually unknowable chain of causality; you can’t map the link between the air molecules bouncing around the butterfly and the storm system brewing in the Atlantic. They may be connected, because everything is connected on some level, but it is beyond our capacity to parse those connections or, even harder, to predict them in advance." 

what Johnson explores in this book is something different and much more calculated. Something he calls the hummingbird theory.

"something very different is at work with the flower and the hummingbird: while they are very different organisms, with very different needs and aptitudes, not to mention basic biological systems, the flower clearly influences the hummingbird’s physiognomy in direct, intelligible ways."

His argument is that much like a hummingbird and a flower, the change of one thing can trigger the change in another potentially unrelated thing directly or indirectly but still in a way in which we can retrace the steps of advancement. An example he provides in the intro (which is also in direct correlation to his first innovation: glass) is Johannes Gutenberg's printing press. When books and popular scriptures were suddenly readily available to the masses is created a surge in demand for spectacles which encouraged people to experiment with lenses which led to both the invention of the microscope and the telescope. 

throughout the book he goes through what he has chosen to be the most internal innovations to the fruition of the world we know today. This strongly supports his argument about the presence of the hummingbird effect and also adding the six innovations to his argument. 
]]> 2018-02-16 01:49:47 UTC https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc/wish/232208818 Types of Appeals 19litschewskin https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc/wish/232217536 This book relies heavily on logos and ethos appeals. The biggest propellant and drive for the supporting evidence is historical credibility. The events and inventions explained in the book are done so with little to no room to question the correlation between the innovations that Johnson is trying to prove. This is by far the strongest appeal of this book. His historical accuracy almost immediately gives him the credibility that makes it very easy to understand his logic in a way that is very appealing. The reader never knows what correlation is going to come next which instantly intrigues them in his well supported claims and argument. 
While history is by far the strongest and most often used appeal there are many many more appeals in this book such as science, statistics and even patriotic things that hook readers and help them support his argument. ]]> 2018-02-16 03:12:37 UTC https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc/wish/232217536 literary and rhetorical devices 19litschewskin https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc/wish/232220380 The most used device in this book is anecdotes. almost the entire book is anecdotal events about innovations that led to the next. All of these short stories and reports of historical events help support the authors claim that they are connected and heavily influenced by each other. Another device he strongly uses is analogies. The most prominent one is obviously the hummingbird and the flower. He compares this to all innovations in the world and how it is a chain that can easily and logically be identified as a connected cause and effect. One could also make the case that a lot of his anecdotes could be considered allusions. There are many minute references to historical happenings around the time period of the given innovation being discussed. All these devices help strengthen his argument and add depth to the book that is very important to an effective argument.  ]]> 2018-02-16 03:41:48 UTC https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc/wish/232220380 elements of tone 19litschewskin https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc/wish/232222729 When first reading this book the expected content is calculated informative exemplification and description but it is so much more than that. It brings new deep ideas about our history and the progression of it. It makes us question what other things in the past are linked to each other. The author achieves this reader engagement through many different techniques but one of the less obvious tactics for a book of this genre is the tone. There is a constant feeling of curiosity and discovery. This helps keep the book moving at a quick rate that takes you through the ages of history quick enough to keep your eyes glued to the page. As the audience gains the excitement of these discoveries and the connections between them their appeal to the book and it's argument grows stronger and stronger. ]]> 2018-02-16 04:04:48 UTC https://padlet.com/19litschewskin/srib602plbjc/wish/232222729