Plot Synopsis

HOW WE GOT TO NOW WITH STEVEN JOHNSON explores the power and the legacy of great ideas, including why and how ideas happen -- and their sometimes unintended results -- while highlighting the people who brought them to life. In each one-hour episode, host and best-selling author Steven Johnson focuses on a different theme, including: "Clean," during which he reveals how clean water has changed our world and the way we live our lives; "Time," as he discovers how time advanced navigation, technology, travel and the way we work; "Glass," uncovering this link between art, science and global communication; "Light," exploring how light has altered sleeping patterns, architecture and more; "Cold," examining the effects of man's mastery of cold on food, Hollywood, and more; and "Sound," chronicling the impact of sound in the world of medicine and our lives today. Tracking each of these topics through ancient and contemporary history, Johnson unlocks tales of unsung heroes and radical revolutions that changed the world and the way we live in it. Plus, Johnson uses historical precedents and modern-day analogies to explain why it's not always the smartest person in the room who has the best idea. From frozen foods entrepreneur Clarence Birdseye to Internet visionary Tim Berners-Lee, Hollywood "Golden Age" actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr to mother of radioactivity Marie Curie, and from Thomas Alva Edison to Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Johnson reveals how the best ideas can come from surprising places (and take years to shape), as well as how amateurs can revolutionize specialist fields. HOW WE GOT TO NOW is scheduled to premiere in the UK on BBC Two in Fall 2014.