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Johnson calls this principle the Sleeper Curve, for the Woody Allen movie in which future scientists discover the health benefits of junk food. Everything Bad is not junk criticism; it is a brisk, witty read, well versed in the history of literature and bolstered with research--for instance, even as electronic media have supposedly "dumbed down" society, IQs in the developed world have been increasing three points a decade for a century. Johnson, it turns out, still knows the value of reading a book. And this one is indispensable. --By James Poniewozik