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Helen Lewis is a staff writer at The Atlantic who writes about culture and politics. I love her work so much. And I loved her new book, The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea.

Today we talk about who really deserves to be described as a genius, if anyone does. And why genius figures in our culture have such a hold over us.

Helen shares some truly fascinating anecdotes about our perception of the exceptional, and together we explore some of the more pernicious and potentially dangerous genius myths.

We talk about what typically goes into creating or inspiring a genius, why certain moments and places in history have overproduced them, and why being labeled as a genius seems to have a corrupting influence over certain people. We talk about some of the most notable wives of geniuses, and Helen’s take on muses.

Helen reveals that some of our grandest inventions were actually simultaneous inventions, where two people arrived at the same conclusion and created the same thing at the same time. Helen explains the idea of the zone of the adjacent possible, and we talk about whether some inventions are, more or less, inevitable.

We also talk about  the myth of the lone rebel and the iconoclast, and of course, how we might look at the work of geniuses who have behaved badly.

The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea

Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights

Helen’s Substack

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Helen’s Website

ELISE:

I love your work. You always make me laugh, and of course I loved your book. It stands to reason I would love your book as well, so congratulations. Thank you very much. Why this topic?