[sbw123]

Well, this is by Charles Murray, so you know all the PC vultures will hate it. He examines 4,000 plus people who have made the greatest impact on the world. www.chapination.blogspot.com

[Wonder Warthog]

"Edison and Watt in technology"

I'd be interested to see how Murray handles Tesla, the impact of whose work in our daily lives equals or exceeds those mentioned in the posted article.

[wizr]

The next overused noun he needs to explore is HERO. When everyone is a hero, none truly stand out.

[beckett]

Soon as I saw this thread was about geniuses I just had to check it out and see what my peers have been up to. ;-)

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Well, the liberals are going to HATE this book- although they are all convinced that THEY are far above average, it is not permissible to discuss diffrences in human cognitive abilities in polite society these days.

There is a really annoying "Public Service Announcement" that goes something like "Stupid kids are really brilliant- they just learn differently".

That pretty much sums it up for me.

[macamadamia]

"Wealth matters, as does the critical mass of talent present only in elite cities."

Talent tends to find its way into cities because that is where the MONEY is. IMO, the West (glorious above all else, hahaha!) has flourished because of, for lack of a better word, capitalism; or, how about the free-market (o.k. more or less free). The bustling, rowdy, competitive market place is intimately tied to the West's fantastic record of geniuses.

[fqued]

the West's rate of achievement has been in serious decline over the past century. In the sciences, whose progress is cumulative, we have simply exhausted many of the possibilities for fundamental advancement; the laws of nature can only be discovered once

Now, THAT is a bizarrely naive statement.
The greatest inventions and advancements have been made in the last century.
True, there can be only one Newton [who should be ranked at the top of the 4,000 with Aristotle (leaving out Jesus, who outranks them all in importance)], but he never dreamed of quantum mechanics, nor of personal computers, nor of quarks, nor of - ad infinitum.

[goldstategop]

I'm pining to buy it along with John Gribbin's The Scientists. Once a year there are books that are a real treat to add to one's collection. Charles Murray's work is a must have next to Paul Johnson's magisterial survey, Art: A New History. Oh and the conservative book lover should definitely NOT miss Jean Francois Revel's little tome just out, Anti-Americanism. Choices, choices, choices... sigh>

[Mr. Jeeves]

When Mr. Murray invokes the "Aristotelian principle" as the measure of artistic greatness--the notion that the highest human pleasures derive from appreciating complexity and refinement--he stands in the tradition of aristocracy and aristocratic connoisseurship.

Then call me an aristocrat. And all of you leftists can kneel now, to receive your bread and stripes. ;)

[Cacique]

btt

[Cicero]

As the article seems to suggest, the key cultural requirements, other than enough wealth to allow a leisure class who aren't working at the plow, are freedom and a sense of purpose.

For most of recent history, those elements have been provided by Christianity. These ideas came down from Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem, but it was Christianity that incorporated them.

Most significant for science, for instance, is the concept of the Logos, whether or not a particular scientist knows the theological term. That is, God is reasonable, and He made the world reasonable and made men reasonable so they could understand it. For Christians, as in the opening of John's Gospel, the Logos is Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity. "In the beginning was the Word."

[hosepipe]

Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.- Albert Einstein

"We know less than 1/1,000,000th of a percent about anything." - Albert Einstein

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."- Albert Einstein

[Hank Rearden]

Wile E. Coyote: Super Genius.

[SamAdams76]

and Beethoven and Mozart in music

What about J.S. Bach? He was the greatest of them all.

[Richard Kimball]

bump for later