The Genius Myth
A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea
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The Genius Myth
Narrated by:
Helen Lewis
Buy Now for £14.25
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Narrated by:
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Helen Lewis
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By:
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Helen Lewis
About this listen
*A Guardian, Financial Times, New Statesman and GQ Book for 2025*
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. In The Genius Myth, Helen Lewis unearths how this one word has shaped (and distorted) our ideas of success and achievement.
Ultimately, argues Lewis, the modern idea of genius — a single preternaturally gifted individual, usually white and male, exempt from social niceties and sometimes even the law— has run its course. Braiding deep research with her signature wit and lightness, Lewis dissects past and present models of genius in the West, and reveals a far deeper and more interesting picture of human creativity than conventional wisdom allows. She uncovers a battalion of overlooked wives and collaborators. She asks whether most inventions are inevitable. She wonders if the Beatles would succeed today. And she confronts the vexing puzzle of Elon Musk, the tech disrupter who fancies himself as an ubermensch.
Smart, funny, and provocative, The Genius Myth will challenge your assumptions about creativity, productivity, and innovation --- and forever alter your mental image of the so-called “genius.”
Critic reviews
PRAISE FOR THE GENIUS MYTH
“By degrees unsettling, amusing, and prescient; a much-needed audit of a consuming idea”
— Kirkus Review
"A brilliant, timely and compulsively readable book. With her characteristic combination of deep reporting and lightness of touch, Helen Lewis shows how the idea of genius has warped our understanding of human creativity – and why people of vast accomplishment in one domain can prove so destructively clueless in others."
— Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks
"A provocative take on the problems we create when we put brainpower on a pedestal, from a journalist who pulls no punches."
— Adam Grant, bestselling author of Think Again and host of the "ReThinking" podcast
"A hilarious and thoughtful take-down of the ways we idolize brilliant assholes in science, art and business. Necessary reading."
— Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern and Co-host of the Pivot and Prof G Markets podcasts
“By degrees unsettling, amusing, and prescient; a much-needed audit of a consuming idea”
— Kirkus Review
"A brilliant, timely and compulsively readable book. With her characteristic combination of deep reporting and lightness of touch, Helen Lewis shows how the idea of genius has warped our understanding of human creativity – and why people of vast accomplishment in one domain can prove so destructively clueless in others."
— Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks
"A provocative take on the problems we create when we put brainpower on a pedestal, from a journalist who pulls no punches."
— Adam Grant, bestselling author of Think Again and host of the "ReThinking" podcast
"A hilarious and thoughtful take-down of the ways we idolize brilliant assholes in science, art and business. Necessary reading."
— Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern and Co-host of the Pivot and Prof G Markets podcasts
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