- Familiar things happen, and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious. [Alfred North Whitehead, “Science and the Modern World” (1925).]
A genius is someone who has transcended the previous limits of thought. Geniuses are responsible for much of the progress in human affairs, especially science and technology, music and art, but we have encountered geniuses in every field of endeavor. Daniel Boorstin and others have written excellent narrative accounts.
Real
True Narratives
Biographies of Einstein
- Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe (Simon & Schuster, 2007).
- Jürgen Neffe, Einstein: A Biography (Polity Press, 2007).
Some of Einstein's writings:
- Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions (Modern Library, 1994)
- Albert Einstein and Leopold Infeld, The Evolution of Physics: From Early Concepts to Relativity and Quanta (Simon & Schuster, 2008).
- Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory (Ancient Wisdom Publications, 2010).
- Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism (Philosophical Library, 1950).
Because geniuses transcend practically everyone else, in the domain of their genius, often they go unappreciated for decades or longer.
- Hugh Eakin, Picasso’s War: How Modern Art Came to America (Crown, 2022): “Even after the 1913 Armory Show, which is usually credited with introducing modern art to this country, it took another several decades before it was possible to mount a full-scale Picasso exhibit, and years to get the Museum of Modern Art off the ground, much less turn it into the formidable institution it is today.”
Other geniuses:
- Sam Wasson, The Big Goodbye: “Chinatown” and the Last Years of Hollywood (Flatiron, 2019): “Whatever unfathomable traumas engendered his worst compulsions also fueled his genius. It was a package deal. No Polanski, no 'Chinatown.'”
- Ananyo Bhattacharya, The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann (W.W. Norton & Company, 2022): “The mathematician John von Neumann was an undeniable genius whose many accomplishments included an essential role in the development of quantum mechanics, computing and the atom bomb.”
- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Private Notebooks, 1914-1916 (Liveright, 2022): “These journals offer a view of the philosopher’s preoccupations, his sexual anguish, his struggles with work and his time in the military.”
Narratives on the dark side of genius:
- Edward Renehan, Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould (Basic Books, 2005).
MacArthur Fellows: genius awards
Technical and Analytical Readings
- Kevin Hartley, The Advanced Genius Theory: Are They Out of Their Minds or Ahead of Their Time? (Scribner, 2010).
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Poetry
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Historically and developmentally, the string quartet rests on Franz Joseph Haydn’s broad shoulders. His Op. 33 quartets (1781) mark the period when he made the genre his own, paving the way for others. Excellent recordings of the entire opus are by Quatuor Mosaïques (1, 4 & 6; 5, 3 & 2), Cuarteto Casals in 2006, Buchberger Quartet in 2009, and Doric String Quartet in 2020.
- String Quartet No. 31 in B minor, FHE 70, Hob. III:37, Op. 33, "Russian," No. 1 (approx. 22-26’)
- String Quartet No. 30 in E-flat major ("The Joke"), FHE 71, Hob. III:38, Op. 33, "Russian," No. 2 (approx. 16-18’)
- String Quartet No. 32 in C major ("The Bird"), FHE 72, Hob. III:39, Op. 33, "Russian," No. 3 (approx. 18-20’)
- String Quartet No. 34 in B-flat major, FHE 73, Hob. III:40, Op. 33, "Russian," No. 4 (approx. 15-16’)
- String Quartet No. 29 in G major, "How Do You Do?", FHE 74, Hob. III:41, Op. 33, "Russian," No. 5 (approx. 16-19’)
- String Quartet No. 33 in D major, FHE 75, Hob. III:42, Op. 33, "Russian," No. 6 (approx. 16-18’)
These composers and these works are represented elsewhere on this site but they belong here, too, because they exemplify the novel rising-above that is the hallmark of genius. Each of them expanded the range of its genre.
- Johann Sebastian Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I and II, BWV 846-893 (1722 and ca. 1740) (approx. 235-270’): “Writing for the newfangled piano, Bach nailed it.”
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 (1824) (approx. 68-82’): “The Ninth Symphony seemed to go out of its way to flout established conventions. It was so difficult as to be almost impossible to perform, and so long as to be almost impossible to programme. It introduced voices into the symphony, words into the flagship genre of absolute music. It lurched from the sublime to the farcical and back again, counterpointing the 'Turkish' music of contemporary street entertainment with the most strict and elaborate fugal techniques.”
- Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 3 in D minor (1896) (approx. 96-100’) is a “A Universe Unto Itself”, with successive movements about summer, flowers, animals, night, love and angels.
Raga Madhuvanti is a late afternoon Hindustani classical raga. Performances are by Shahid Parvez Khan, Ajoy Chakraborty, Ali Akbar Khan, Bhimsen Joshi and Malini Rajurkar.
Albums:
- Trina Basu & Arun Ramamurthy, “Nakshatra” (2023) (61’), is performed by two violinists who are steeped in the Indian classical tradition, yet make the music sound contemporary without offending the tradition. “The album is described as a lush and spiritual collaboration that bridges traditions and defies genres . . .”
Music: songs and other short pieces
- Philip Glass, “Einstein on the Beach”
- Eric Whitacre, "Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine" (lyrics)
Visual Arts
- John Gibbs, The Weight of Genius
- William Blake, The Genius of Shakespeare
- Eugene Delacroix, Frédéric Chopin (1838)
- René Magritte, The Face of Genius (1926)
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Film and Stage
- Amadeus: though most directly about Salieri’s jealousy, the film is most striking for its portrayal of Mozart’s quirky genius