On Saturday night actors, literary types, and journalists mingled at a spacious Brooklyn Heights apartment with ceiling-high bookshelves--celebrating Steven Johnson's newest book, The Invention of Air. The crowded party featured desserts and homemade mojitos.

Johnson's new book reexamines the life of 18th Century scientist and thinker, Joseph Priestley--who the DailyKos called a prototypical science blogger.

GalleyCat caught up with Johnson--author of Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter--for this video interview about digital books, the state of publishing, and Google Books.