TIME Secrets of Genius


Book Description

Leonardo and Einstein ... Beethoven and Michelangelo ... Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs: they are among the great minds who dazzled us with their brilliance, astounded us with their creative gifts and seemed to carry the human race into the future through sheer force of will. Yet even as we admire the outsized nature of their contributions to civilization, such exceptionally gifted people provoke us to ask: What are the wellsprings of genius? How is it acquired? What are its hallmarks, its drawbacks, its surprising side-effects? Now TIME profiles history's most gifted and inventive humans and explores the work of scientists who are using advanced technologies in their attempts to isolate and quantify the nature of genius itself. We'll explore the tantalizing questions surrounding human brilliance: Is genius the product of nature-or nurture? Is there a genetics of genius? Can science find new ways to enhance our intellectual and creative powers? How are child prodigies shaped? Is there a link between genius and mental instability? And can the experience of those with brain injuries open new windows into the nature of genius? Calling all Tiger Moms, brainiacs, rocket scientists and whiz kids: For a close encounter with the extremes of human possibility, read Genius, from the editors of TIME.




The Hidden Habits of Genius


Book Description

“An unusually engaging book on the forces that fuel originality across fields.” --Adam Grant Looking at the 14 key traits of genius, from curiosity to creative maladjustment to obsession, Professor Craig Wright, creator of Yale University's popular “Genius Course,” explores what we can learn from brilliant minds that have changed the world. Einstein. Beethoven. Picasso. Jobs. The word genius evokes these iconic figures, whose cultural contributions have irreversibly shaped society. Yet Beethoven could not multiply. Picasso couldn’t pass a 4th grade math test. And Jobs left high school with a 2.65 GPA. What does this say about our metrics for measuring success and achievement today? Why do we teach children to behave and play by the rules, when the transformative geniuses of Western culture have done just the opposite? And what is genius, really? Professor Craig Wright, creator of Yale University’s popular “Genius Course,” has devoted more than two decades to exploring these questions and probing the nature of this term, which is deeply embedded in our culture. In The Hidden Habits of Genius, he reveals what we can learn from the lives of those we have dubbed “geniuses,” past and present. Examining the lives of transformative individuals ranging from Charles Darwin and Marie Curie to Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol to Toni Morrison and Elon Musk, Wright identifies more than a dozen drivers of genius—characteristics and patterns of behavior common to great minds throughout history. He argues that genius is about more than intellect and work ethic—it is far more complex—and that the famed “eureka” moment is a Hollywood fiction. Brilliant insights that change the world are never sudden, but rather, they are the result of unique modes of thinking and lengthy gestation. Most importantly, the habits of mind that produce great thinking and discovery can be actively learned and cultivated, and Wright shows us how. This book won't make you a genius. But embracing the hidden habits of these transformative individuals will make you more strategic, creative, and successful, and, ultimately, happier.




The Secret Principles of Genius


Book Description

Unlock the Hidden Powers of Your Mind These secret principles of genius have been hidden, lost, or even forgotten through time. They have played a critical role in the greatest achievements of humanity, yet most of us are unaware of them. Now, they are finally revealed. Internationally bestselling author I. C. Robledo has profiled the brightest minds to demonstrate why these secret principles are so important. Their lives range from time periods that span millennia and include a wide range of cultures, professions, and personalities. We will explore the intellect of icons such as Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Maria Montessori, and Sun Tzu. An important theme is that brilliant people have used these principles to accomplish what no one thought was possible. When everyone said “No”, they still found a way to make it happen. What has become clear through the ages is that with the right principles, it is possible to tap into a potential that is limitless. Discover the Secret Principles Which Changed the Following Lives - Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance man who gave us the Mona Lisa and was so committed to learning the human form that he dissected cadavers - Dr. Ben Carson, who grew up in a Detroit ghetto, yet he gained notoriety as a neurosurgeon for separating conjoined twins successfully - Wolfgang Mozart, and the secret principle which played a major role in his incredible rise to stardom in the classical music scene - Sun Tzu, whose timeless military wisdom has been applied in countless battles and beyond to business, law, and chess - The late musical artist Prince, who played 27 musical instruments and had no tolerance for low standards - Maria Montessori, who was ages ahead of her time with her revolutionary system for educating children - Ben Underwood, a boy who learned to “see” the world despite having his eyes removed because of retinal cancer - Many more brilliant minds and lives, and the secret principles they applied are discussed inside… Learn the life-changing Secret Principles of Genius to discover what you are truly capable of. Pick up your copy today by scrolling to the top of the page and clicking BUY NOW.




Cracking Creativity


Book Description

From the bestselling author of Thinkertoys, this follow up brings innovative creative thinking techniques within reach, giving you the tools to tackle everyday challenges in new ways. Internationally renowned business creativity expert, Michael Michalko will show you how creative people think—and how to put their secrets to work for you in business and in your personal life. You don't have to be a genius to solve problems like one. Michalko researched and analyzed hundreds of history's greatest thinkers across disciplines—from Leonardo da Vinci to Pablo Picasso—to bring the best of their techniques together and to teach you how to apply them in your own life. Cracking Creativity is filled with exercises and anecdotes that will soon have you looking at problems and seeing many different solutions.




The Geography of Genius


Book Description

Tag along on this New York Times bestselling “witty, entertaining romp” (The New York Times Book Review) as Eric Weiner travels the world, from Athens to Silicon Valley—and back through history, too—to show how creative genius flourishes in specific places at specific times. In this “intellectual odyssey, traveler’s diary, and comic novel all rolled into one” (Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness), acclaimed travel writer Weiner sets out to examine the connection between our surroundings and our most innovative ideas. A “superb travel guide: funny, knowledgeable, and self-deprecating” (The Washington Post), he explores the history of places like Vienna of 1900, Renaissance Florence, ancient Athens, Song Dynasty Hangzhou, and Silicon Valley to show how certain urban settings are conducive to ingenuity. With his trademark insightful humor, this “big-hearted humanist” (The Wall Street Journal) walks the same paths as the geniuses who flourished in these settings to see if the spirit of what inspired figures like Socrates, Michelangelo, and Leonardo remains. In these places, Weiner asks, “What was in the air, and can we bottle it?” “Fun and thought provoking” (The Miami Herald), The Geography of Genius reevaluates the importance of culture in nurturing creativity and “offers a practical map for how we can all become a bit more inventive” (Adam Grant, author of Originals).




Divine Fury


Book Description

Genius. With hints of madness and mystery, moral license and visionary force, the word suggests an almost otherworldly power: the power to create, to divine the secrets of the universe, even to destroy. Yet the notion of genius has been diluted in recent times. Today, rock stars, football coaches, and entrepreneurs are labeled 'geniuses,' and the word is applied so widely that it has obscured the sense of special election and superhuman authority that long accompanied it. As acclaimed historian Darrin M. McMahon explains, the concept of genius has roots in antiquity, when men of prodigious insight were thought to possess -- or to be possessed by -- demons and gods. Adapted in the centuries that followed and applied to a variety of religious figures, including prophets, apostles, sorcerers, and saints, abiding notions of transcendent human power were invoked at the time of the Renaissance to explain the miraculous creativity of men like Leonardo and Michelangelo. Yet it was only in the eighteenth century that the genius was truly born, idolized as a new model of the highest human type. Assuming prominence in figures as varied as Newton and Napoleon, the modern genius emerged in tension with a growing belief in human equality. Contesting the notion that all are created equal, geniuses served to dramatize the exception of extraordinary individuals not governed by ordinary laws. The phenomenon of genius drew scientific scrutiny and extensive public commentary into the 20th century, but it also drew religious and political longings that could be abused. In the genius cult of the Nazis and the outpouring of reverence for the redemptive figure of Einstein, genius achieved both its apotheosis and its Armageddon. The first comprehensive history of this elusive concept, Divine Fury follows the fortunes of genius and geniuses through the ages down to the present day, showing how -- despite its many permutations and recent democratization -- genius remains a potent force in our lives, reflecting modern needs, hopes, and fears.




Genius


Book Description

Facing unemployment if he cannot present new research to the scientific community, quantum physicist Ted Marx tries to coerce his father-in-law into revealing a profound and devastating secret that Einstein entrusted to him.




Organizing Genius


Book Description

Uncovers the elements of creative collaboration by examining six of the century's most extraordinary groups and distill their successful practices into lessons that virtually any organization can learn and commit to in order to transform its own management into a collaborative and successful group of leaders. Paper. DLC: Organizational effectiveness - Case studies.




Valley of Genius


Book Description

"This is the most important book on Silicon Valley I've read in two decades. It will take us all back to our roots in the counterculture, and will remind us of the true nature of the innovation process, before we tried to tame it with slogans and buzzwords." -- Po Bronson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nudist on the Late Shift and Nurtureshock A candid, colorful, and comprehensive oral history that reveals the secrets of Silicon Valley -- from the origins of Apple and Atari to the present day clashes of Google and Facebook, and all the start-ups and disruptions that happened along the way. Rarely has one economy asserted itself as swiftly--and as aggressively--as the entity we now know as Silicon Valley. Built with a seemingly permanent culture of reinvention, Silicon Valley does not fight change; it embraces it, and now powers the American economy and global innovation. So how did this omnipotent and ever-morphing place come to be? It was not by planning. It was, like many an empire before it, part luck, part timing, and part ambition. And part pure, unbridled genius... Drawing on over two hundred in-depth interviews, Valley of Genius takes readers from the dawn of the personal computer and the internet, through the heyday of the web, up to the very moment when our current technological reality was invented. It interweaves accounts of invention and betrayal, overnight success and underground exploits, to tell the story of Silicon Valley like it has never been told before. Read it to discover the stories that Valley insiders tell each other: the tall tales that are all, improbably, true.




Genius


Book Description

Takes young readers inside the lives and minds of the greatest inventors in history Genius! tells the stories behind the amazing inventions that helped shape our modern world. Young readers are introduced to the technologies developed by thinkers and inventors such as Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, Gutenberg, James Watt, the Wright brothers, and Tim Berners-Lee, and the creativity and determination behind their discoveries. The book is divided into five key thematic sections: Pioneers, Communication, Technology, Transport, and Into Space. Read about how the innovators who brought us today’s world of communications, the Internet, fast travel, space exploration, and entertainment faced challenges and dangers as they dared to create new machines and technologies. Combining lively, entertaining stories with well-illustrated information on the inventions and their implications, as well as an activities section with mini-experiments for the budding inventor, Genius! brings all the excitement of scientific invention alive for children growing up in an increasingly technology-oriented world.