Culture | Linguistics
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Chapter one
Outside the Lab
Biology | Animals
The Intelligent Life of the City Raccoon
Adapting to the urban jungle has made Rocky smarter.
Culture | Cryptography
The Artist of the Unbreakable Code
Composer Edward Elgar still has cryptographers playing his tune.
Culture | Fiction
The Art of Painting
Stanley Kubrick and Johannes Vermeer try to see eye-to-eye.
Chapter two
Hunting for Genius
Biology | Genetics
Super-Intelligent Humans Are Coming
Genetic engineering will one day create the smartest humans who have ever lived.
Culture | Archaeology
Our Neanderthal Complex
What if our ancient relatives did “human” better?
Numbers | Math
The Twin Prime Hero
Rags, riches, and fame in mathematics.
Ideas | History
Top Ten Unsung Geniuses
For these scientists, success and fame did not come in equal measure.
Ideas | History
From Isaac Newton to the Genius Bar
Why it’s time to retire the concept of genius.
Chapter three
Together
Matter | Physics
Who Really Found the Higgs Boson
The real genius in the Nobel Prize-winning discovery is not who you think it is.
Culture | Technology
How Crowdsourcing Turned On Me
One team of strangers helped me with the Darpa Shredder Challenge. Another sabotaged me.
Biology | Psychology
Cooperation Is What Makes Us Human
Where we part ways with our ape cousins.
Ideas | Neuroscience
San Francisco Is Smarter Than You Are
The city is a big brain that can solve big problems.
Culture | Music
Rhythm’s the Thing
Pianist Vijay Iyer gives us a master class in the science of rhythm.
Chapter four
Outliers
Numbers | Artificial Intelligence
Why the Chess Computer Deep Blue Played Like a Human
Randomness may be key to both human and computer creativity.
Biology | Neuroscience
How Jocks and Mathletes Are Alike
Seven sports that come down to how well your neurons play.
Ideas | Psychology
If You Think You’re a Genius, You’re Crazy
Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore.
Culture | Music
Ingenious: Vijay Iyer
On the science and talent of music.
Ideas | History
The Common Genius of Lincoln and Einstein
The president and the physicist teach us a lesson about moral genius.
Related Facts So Romantic
“Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them.” —Jules Verne
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