The Genius Myth : A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea

Author: Helen Lewis

History

Published on 18 June 2026 by Vintage Publishing (Vintage) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 352 pages
195 x 128 x 25 | 244g

'This is the book we need right now' CAROLINE CRIADO PEREZ‘Lucid, funny and fascinating’ ADAM BUXTONThe 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’ TLS