Penguin Random House South Africa

Categories: History, International Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, Adult
ISBN: 9781529967661
Published: June 2026
Imprint: Vintage
Page Extent: 352
Format: Paperback
RRP 345.00

Genius Myth

Helen Lewis

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About the book

'This is the book we need right now' CAROLINE CRIADO PEREZ

'Lucid, funny and fascinating' ADAM BUXTON

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

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 - and asks if the modern idea of genius is distorting our view of the world.

'Brilliant, timely and compulsively readable' OLIVER BURKEMAN

'A provocative, witty book'...

About the Author

Helen Lewis

Helen Lewis

Helen Lewis is a staff writer at The Atlantic, based in London, who writes about politics and culture. Her first book, Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights, was a Sunday Times bestseller and a Guardian, Telegraph and Financial Times book of the year. She is the writer and presenter of the BBC podcast series The New Gurus and Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat, and co-host of Radio 4’s Kafka vs Orwell and Strong Message Here. She won the 2024 Kukula Award for excellence in non-fiction book reviewing.

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