Book review written by Melissa Miller
This paper reviews:
Weiner, E. (2016). The geography of genius: A search
for the world's most creative places
from ancient Athens to Silicon Valley. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
In the Geography of Genius Eric Weiner travels the world to
explore the past in the present time at places where legendary creative
geniuses lived. He explores the places where creativity occurred to gain
insight into what influences the creative person. This book provides a unique
perspective as a historical travel book about creative people and the places
where they lived.
Weiner provided the following quote by Pablo Picasso, which
captures the timeless work of the creative geniuses:.
“There is no past or future in art. If the work of art cannot live always in
the present, it must not be considered art at all. The art of the Greeks, of
the Egyptians, of the great painters who lived in other times, is not art of
the past, perhaps it is more alive today than it ever was.” (p. 35). This quote
represents the perspective taken by Weiner as he explored in the present time
to look into the lives of timeless creative geniuses of the past.
As Weiner traveled to various cities around the world, he
fantasized about what it was like in Athens when Aristotle was alive, Florence during
Michelangelo’s time, Calcutta during Bose’s time and many others. He also
fantasized about how the geniuses might have responded in a conversation with
him. I am not one for fantasy or
rambling speculation and would have greatly appreciated if Weiner would have
gotten to the point. Weiner met with an acquaintance living in each city to
discuss their perspective on the history of the city and the creative geniuses
who called the city home. As Weiner contemplated the daily activities of
historical creative geniuses, he stated, “History is the untallied sum of a
million everyday moments.” (p. 15).
A main theme of this book is provided by a quote from Plato,
“What is honored in a country will be cultivated there.” (p.
62). Weiner connects the development of the field of medicine in Edinburgh to
the development of technology in Silicon Valley to explain that the demand for
and/or tolerance of certain types of creativity in an area promotes the development
and emergence of specific types of creativity in those areas. This connection
provided me with some insight into why certain types of creativity are
concentrated in various places. Creativity is more likely to occur in places
where ideas are well received. Weiner contends that the creative person must be
a good fit with their environment in order to recognize their full potential in
their chosen domain, which explains why tech gurus are drawn to Silicon Valley.
Weiner makes frequent reference to current creativity
scholars such as Dean Keith Simonton, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Howard Garder
to substantiate some of his speculations about the creative person. Creative people in creative cities tolerate
diversity of thought, diversity of cultures and celebrate ambiguity. Exposure
to diversity affords the creative person with opportunities to connect
seemingly unrelated things. Weiner
believes imperfect conditions and a level of chaos inspire creativity. Weiner further explains how we are most
innovative when a challenge is present. He makes reference to Michelangelo
carving David from a piece of marble that other artists had discarded of as
defective to validate his point. The book highlights the link between
creativity and openness of the individual to experience, various domains of
knowledge, and perseverance in their quest to create.
Some great quotes from the creative geniuses mentioned in
this book include:
“Recognizing your ignorance is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Socrates (p. 289)
“If we knew what we were doing, we wouldn’t call it research.”
Albert Einstein (p. 158)
“Chance favors the prepared mind.” Louis
Pasteur (p. 209)
As a student at the International Center for Studies in
Creativity, I strongly disagree with Weiner’s perspective on teaching
creativity and brainstorming. Weiner stated, “The straightjacket of a
curriculum tends to bind the imagination.” (p.
179). He firmly believes creativity cannot be taught and makes no attempt to
substantiate his position. Weiner stated, “Brainstorming sounds like a great
idea, but it doesn’t work. Dozens of studies have demonstrated this
conclusively.” (pp. 254-255). Weiner does not
reference a single study to support his opposition to the efficacy of brainstorming
and he does not mention Alex Osborn even once in the book.
I would not recommend this book as a valuable contribution
to the field of creativity. Most of the
book consisted of dialog between Weiner and his acquaintances around the world
as well as fantasies about what each city he visited might have been like when the
creative geniuses were there. It would have been more interesting if Weiner would have substituted his fantasy with relevant information about
the cities and the creative geniuses who lived there.
