The Geography of Genius

The Geography of Genius: Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Places is a book by speaker and writer Eric Weiner, published in 2016. The book is an investigation into the effect geographical location has on clusters of creative energy—why certain cities or areas suddenly become hubs of intense intellectual and artistic activity.

Weiner begins with an introduction where he first offers some examples of his childhood exploits with scientific experiments that went horribly wrong, proving that he himself is far from a genius. He then discusses the deflated value of the term genius in the modern day, and looks back at Sir Francis Galton, who invented the Galton Box to demonstrate normal distribution in seemingly random events. Galton believed that genius is handed down like a physical trait, but this has been shown to be utterly untrue. Weiner interviews Professor Dean Keith Simonton, who studies genius and has pioneered the field of historiometrics, which studies societies as a whole. Simonton’s work inspires Weiner to do his work on the geography of genius, seeking to explain the phenomenon.

Weiner begins by studying ancient Athens, once the most creative place in the world. He comes to several conclusions regarding Athens period of intellectual domination. For one, the citizens of Athens were extremely proud of their city, and there was a lot of social status associated with working for the community, inspiring people to compete with their ideas. Athenians also invested in local arts and other projects, continuously adding value that in turn offered resources to others. Athenians were very open to outside ideas, preventing them from becoming insular and blinded. And Weiner also concludes that the fact that physical fitness was very important to Athenians was crucial, as physical activity has been shown to stimulate brain activity.



Weiner then travels to Hangzhou, China, which served as the capital of the Song Dynasty from 969 to 1276 AD, a period during which Chinese society surpassed the rest of the world by orders of magnitude. The Chinese invented things, created incredible works of art, and generally showed an intense group genius, leading to the mystery of why they declined so precipitously in the centuries that followed. Weiner wonders if the era of peace the Chinese entered into is part of the cause, as turmoil tends to inspire genius.

Weiner next explores Florence, Italy, where Weiner concludes that the Church’s invention of purgatory—and the subsequent selling of Indulgences that would give people a way out no matter their sins—inspired the cluster of genius that formed there during the Renaissance. The flood of money into the Church allowed it to sponsor a gold rush of monuments and architectural projects, which attracted the best minds of the era.

In Edinburgh, Scotland, an era of incredible genius occurred a few centuries later, and Weiner’s examination of the culture in Scotland reveals a specific component to the genius cluster that formed there: The Scottish belief that there is always a better way to accomplish something. This inspired great minds to constantly seek alternate routes and solutions. Scotland also saw gatherings of great minds to discuss and argue and compare ideas, which urged on competition between geniuses.



This leads to Calcutta, which experienced the Bengali Renaissance as a direct result of one Scottish endeavor, David Hare, who began a project to print books in Bengalese, leading directly to the formation of gatherings known as addas which mimicked the Scottish gatherings, leading to an explosion of thought.

Weiner explores Vienna twice to demonstrate one of his main take-aways from his study of genius: That genius is not born, but is rather made. First, he explores Vienna during its musical explosion that saw men like Mozart and Beethoven create some of the most incredible music in history. Next, he explores the psychoanalytic revolution that occurred there when Freud and his contemporaries lived there. This underscores the fact that most people do not become geniuses in their place of birth, but flourish only when they become immigrants.

Weiner finally turns to Silicon Valley, studying the launch of Hewlett-Packard and the establishment of the Stanford Industrial Park, coming to the conclusion that there are two more components to these genius clusters. One is ‛successful failure,’ where genius pivots to a new use or application when assumptions are proved wrong. The other is a plethora of ‛weak ties,’ social connections that are not deep but are very broad, bringing people into wide contact with different points of view and resources.



Weiner ends the book with a rumination on what he’s discovered, concluding that it’s not precisely the geography but rather a specific set of conditions that create genius clusters—or, more accurately, attract geniuses to a certain place. This means that in the future, genius clusters could be purposefully formed, if those conditions are created.