This Week: Genius is Not What You Think It Is

A rundown of some of the surprisingly smart ideas we came across this week.

There are brilliant minds all around us—not just in ivory towers or Silicon Valley boardrooms, but in the kitchen next door, on the city bus, in the comments section of a Reddit thread. This week, we learned that those we put on a pedestal as self-generated geniuses almost always rely on other people — or other substances — to accomplish their great works.

This Week on the Next Big Idea Podcast

The dangerous allure of rule-breakers

Arthur Schopenhauer said, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.” Thomas Edison famously claimed, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

Helen Lewis

has a different take entirely. To her, the term genius licenses noxious eccentricities, exasperating ego trips, and downright bad behavior. Sure, plenty of things qualify as acts of genius — Shakespeare’s sonnets, penicillin — but when we pin the genius badge on a person instead of an achievement, we grant them membership in a supposedly superior class. That, Helen says, is the genius myth. She wants to demolish it and, in its place, tell the real story of how breakthroughs happen and who deserves credit. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

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In case you missed it last week: Our Member Spotlight is on founding member Adam Sandell. His newsletter, Great Work, is about how to have a better working life doing work you care about. Check out this recent post on getting through a tough week. You can sign up for his free newsletter here.

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Book Bite of the Week

How drugs shaped the minds that shaped the world

It turns out the Founding Fathers may have been more “lit” than we thought, and Shakespeare’s quill might’ve been fueled by more than just imagination. In Human History on Drugs, writer and historian Sam Kelly rewrites the history books with a heady mix of science, storytelling, and stoner logic. From ancient oracles high on fumes to astronomers high on weed, he shows us that drugs—far from being a modern scourge—have shaped the ideas, art, and revolutions that built the world we live in. Check out Sam’s book on Amazon or listen to Sam’s summary in the Next Big Idea app.

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This week, Book of the Day is brought to you by sales strategist Rob Langejans, founder of AlwaysStrategic and author of Representing Products. In a world where B2B product presentations all sound the same, Langejans offers a fresh, research-driven approach to help your team break through the blur. Using the ReP Method™, this book teaches you how to reach the buyer’s brain, reveal true product value, and relate with authentic presence—especially in high-stakes, competitive deals. If your presentations are blending in, this book shows you how to make them count. Get your copy today.

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Happy Pub Week!

Some great new books went on sale this week. Check out After the Spike by Dean Spears and Michael Geruso, How We Grow Up by

Matt richtel

, Human History on Drugs by Sam Kelly, and The West by Georgios Varouxakis.

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Author Q&A

Are you ready to live longer?

Mark your calendar and submit your questions for a Q&A with medical researcher Eric Topol about his latest book, Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity. The Q&A will be hosted by NBIC's Editorial Director Panio Gianopoulos, and will be available for you to join live on July 16th at 12pm ET.

Upgrade to a paid subscription to RSVP: