Genius: A Very Short Introduction

Homer, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart, Shakespeare, and Tolstoy; Curie, Darwin, Einstein, Galileo, and Newton. What do these world-famous artists and scientists have in common? Most of us would probably say all ten possessed something we call genius, which in each instance permanently changed the way that humanity perceived the world. Genius: A Very Short Introduction uses the life and work of familiar geniuses, and some less familiar, to illuminate both the individual and the general aspects of genius. In particular: the roles of talent, heredity, parenting, education, training, hard work, intelligence, personality, mental illness, inspiration, eureka moments, and luck, in the making of genius.