Description

Book Synopsis

*A Guardian, Financial Times, New Statesman and GQ Book for 2025 *

''Brilliant, timely and compulsively readable'' Oliver Burkeman

The tortured poet. The rebellious scientist. The monstrous artist. The tech disruptor.

You can tell what a society values by who it labels as a genius. You can also tell who it excludes, who it enables, and what it is prepared to tolerate.

Taking us from the Renaissance Florence of Leonardo da Vinci to the Floridian rocket launches of Elon Musk's SpaceX, Helen Lewis unravels a word that we all use without really questioning what it means.

Along the way, she uncovers the secret of the Beatles' success, asks how biographers should solve the Austen Problem, and reveals why Stephen Hawking thought IQ tests were for losers (before taking one herself). And she asks if the modern idea of genius a class of special people is distorting our view of the world.

The Genius Myth

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    A Paperback by Helen Lewis

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    RRP £16.99 – you save £1.70 (10%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Mon 26 Oct 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Vintage Publishing
      Published 6/19/2025
      ISBN-13 9781787333253
      978-1787333253
      ISBN-10 1787333256

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      *A Guardian, Financial Times, New Statesman and GQ Book for 2025 *

      ''Brilliant, timely and compulsively readable'' Oliver Burkeman

      The tortured poet. The rebellious scientist. The monstrous artist. The tech disruptor.

      You can tell what a society values by who it labels as a genius. You can also tell who it excludes, who it enables, and what it is prepared to tolerate.

      Taking us from the Renaissance Florence of Leonardo da Vinci to the Floridian rocket launches of Elon Musk's SpaceX, Helen Lewis unravels a word that we all use without really questioning what it means.

      Along the way, she uncovers the secret of the Beatles' success, asks how biographers should solve the Austen Problem, and reveals why Stephen Hawking thought IQ tests were for losers (before taking one herself). And she asks if the modern idea of genius a class of special people is distorting our view of the world.

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