The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers

by Helen Lewis

Genres: Non-fiction
Pages: 352
Rating:

Synopsis:

Everything you think you know about genius is wrong.

Most discoveries don't come in a flash of inspiration. Most high achievers aren't obsessive loners with high IQs. Most 'geniuses' have collaborators and well-developed support networks. What is a genius? Very often, it's the person who takes the credit.

Helen Lewis takes aim at the myth of the solitary genius, exploring historical and contemporary examples to show how a set of stories influence our idea of the word.

This mythology would not matter so much if it didn't have a human cost. The Genius Myth lays bare the invisible support enjoyed by our most celebrated individuals: their collaborators, their teams, their wives and parents and family wealth and connection, all quietly tidied from the historical record.

By understanding the past and current models for genius, The Genius Myth works towards a possible future of a more egalitarian meritocracy.

The premise of Helen Lewis’ The Genius Myth is basically that when we moved from saying “this person has a genius for X” into “this person is a genius”, we created a mythology that serves us ill, with examples including Elon Musk and Roman Polanski. The genius label helps people get away with bad behaviour, encourages us to worship them, and causes people to think they’re going to be great at running a major social media network just because their company successfully delivered astronauts to the space station. You know, just as an example.

(As a note, Lewis gives Elon Musk more credit than I do, seeing him as very good in his field. I have questions about this, but that’s irrelevant to the main argument.)

I think Helen Lewis has a point, and this book is a good complement to Claire Dederer’s Monsters (which it mentions) because it deals with some of the same issues from a slightly different angle. It did feel like it dragged on a bit, though; I could’ve used a couple fewer case studies and some tighter prose.

Still, some interesting points, and also examples of how the genius myth covers even for people who aren’t as highly placed as Musk, using an example of a now-disgraced playwright who was also a paedophile.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)