‘The Genius Myth’ unpacks brilliance as branding and cultural bias

By Helen Lewis
c. 2025, Thesis
$30, 308 pages

And just like that, you saw the solution.

You fixed an issue at work and solved the day. Yay you! You deserve every pat on the back, every hurrah, all the accolades you get. Everyone says you’re brilliant, and you’re starting to think, yeah, they’re kinda right. And in the new book “The Genius Myth” by Helen Lewis, you have lots of good company.

In the beginning, there was Elon Musk.

Not really, but that’s how Lewis starts her book. Some think he’s weird. Others think he’s a genius, and both sentiments may be tied: Once the g-word is conferred on him or anyone, it “becomes a licensing scheme for… eccentricities.”

So how does this fit into history?

Genius, says Lewis, is an old concept.

Take Shakespeare, for an example. We’re dazzled by his brilliance because “a group of people worked to… celebrate his achievements.” There were other writers during the Bard’s day, just like there are now, but because of its long overhype, “the word genius has been utterly devalued by its use as a branding tool.”

Seventeenth-century scientists were sometimes hailed as geniuses but they were often just racists who promoted crackpot ideas, or classists, or misogynists. In the early 20th century, IQ tests were devised, but they’re flawed; IQs have slowly risen in the past hundred years, probably because we have more access to information now than our forebears did in their time. Says Lewis, “We can never properly appreciate the geniuses of the past, if we can’t understand the world before they changed it.”

If you want to be a genius, she says, mimic what others have done. Be a bit of a “rebel.” Suffer for your craft. Open your mind, but not so much that “your brains… fall out.” Have a great partner.

“And,” says Lewis, “if all else fails, work as hard as you can, and then hope for sheer dumb luck to save you.”

Feeling smug? Kind of a smartypants, like the wisest person in the room? Maybe you are — but in just one category or two or, well, it’s complicated, as you’ll see when you read “The Genius Myth.”

Complicated and deep, as you’ll discover when you tackle this book, which won’t generally be anyone’s idea of a beach read. Still, author Helen Lewis tries to make light of the subject as she shows how “genius” isn’t really what we’ve come to think of it as being. Genius is a slippery thing, in fact, with moving definitions that ignore peripheral information. Look for that info and you’ll be spurred to say, “huh.” Wow. You never thought of that.

Take it further, as Lewis wonders if man-made inventions and ideas that awe us would’ve come about without the “geniuses” we recognize as creators. Readers who can follow along that far will be astounded at her answer.

“The Genius Myth” is a thinking person’s thinking book, and it’s going to take some attention to get through. If the meaning of and cultivation of brilliance fascinates you, though, here’s the solution.

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