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The Genius Myth

The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

*A Guardian, Financial Times, New Statesman and GQ Book for 2025 *

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

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.

Along the way, she uncovers the secret of the Beatles’ success, asks how biographers should solve the Austen Problem, and reveals why Stephen Hawking thought IQ tests were for losers (before taking one herself). And she asks if the modern idea of genius — a class of special people — is distorting our view of the world.

© Helen Lewis 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

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Critic reviews

A brilliant, timely and compulsively readable book. With her characteristic combination of deep reporting and lightness of touch, Helen Lewis shows how the idea of genius has warped our understanding of human creativity – and why people of vast accomplishment in one domain can prove so destructively clueless in others. (OLIVER BURKEMAN)
This is the book we need right now. Smart, funny and full of surprises, The Genius Myth takes aim at our cultish worship of Great Men. An indispensable companion to our times. (CAROLINE CRIADO PEREZ)
Typically lucid, funny and fascinating. Not so much a debunking of "genius" as a highly entertaining exploration of why we want it to exist. (Adam Buxton)
Helen Lewis argues that "genius" lies in the eye of the beholder. Well, my own eyes saw genius when they read this book. (Lucy Worsley)
Lewis issues an effective call for a more carefully tempered understanding of genius in our precarious times, one that celebrates creativity, innovation, and achievement rather than idolizing a maker’s rarity and eccentricity. By degrees unsettling, amusing, and prescient; a much-needed audit of a consuming idea.
[A] witty book… Lewis is brilliantly perceptive
[A] provocative, witty book… [Lewis shows that] Genius is no longer synonymous with impunity. The myth is changing
[A] hugely entertaining book
Original and painfully timely
Lewis is such a well-read guide to intelligence… she is insightful on the loneliness of the very intelligent
All stars
Most relevant
Loved every section of this book. Lots of insight into what intelligence is and how it has and still is misconcieved.

Brilliant

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This was enjoyable. Arguments were neat and well made. I've gone for 4 out of 5 because maybe there could have been more examples and stories - but you can't blame a writer as good as Helen Lewis for leaving us wanting more.

Helen's performance is excellent too. It was great to spend time in her warm, witty and intelligent company!

One of Britain's finest writers and commentators

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The structure and pace is well thought out, binding together complex detail into simple, easy to understand points.

brilliant book

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Although I found the focus on science and maths a little difficult to grapple with at first (being an arts student), the walk through different 'great men' and how they've been mythologised over the centuries was so interesting!

Fascinating debunking of great man theory!

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Interesting overview of how we label and stand in awe of what is widely deemed genius. Helen Lewis writes and narrates in a style that’s easy to follow as well as to listen to

Kept me listening intently

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