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The Genius Myth

The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers

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The Genius Myth

By: Helen Lewis
Narrated by: Helen Lewis
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

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

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.

© Helen Lewis 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

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All stars
Most relevant  
Really well told, interesting, and thought provoking. Some books feel like work to get through. This one was hard to turn off.

Could not stop listening

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I had high hopes for this book, but eventually struggled to listen to it.
The author rams home point after point that I had accepted before starting the book. I think the social landscape required for the apelation genius, is not different in function to that necessary for clever, or stupid.
it's all just massive bs.
Could have been a shorter more concise and brutal book.
I should add the caviat that I have not done a PhD in this or anything else, and might be wrong. But I don't feel wrong saying this.

It was potentially an interesting subject

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