Why do some places produce dozens of geniuses, seeming to carry brilliant ideas in their very air? Is there a certain set of conditions (political, artistic, technological) under which genius is guaranteed to flourish? Traveler and self-confessed non-genius Eric Weiner (The Geography of Bliss) embarks on a physical and historical journey to investigate. Traveling to seven great cities of ideas (past and present), Weiner explores the evolving concept of genius and the places where it has thrived.
Weiner begins in Athens, where he consults modern-day philosophers, including one named Aristotle (yes, really) about the revolutionary ideas produced by the city's ancient thinkers. In each city he visits--Western hotbeds like Florence, Edinburgh and Vienna, plus Eastern genius centers like Calcutta and Hangzhou--Weiner talks to locals who have studied the work of their resident geniuses: Mozart, Freud, Shen Kuo and others.
Taking as his motto Plato's maxim, "What is honored in a country will be cultivated there," Weiner delves into the roles of place and culture in creative innovation. He also asks how our modern-day society (including Silicon Valley, where he ends his "genius tour") can seek to foster creativity. Kicking against the myth of the lone, tortured genius, Weiner demonstrates that personal connections can spark creativity and argues for cultivating ingenuity "not as a private indulgence but as a public good, part of the commons."
Informative and dryly witty, Weiner's odyssey is both an insightful examination of genius and a call to readers to explore their own untapped creative resources. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams