Edison's Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History's Greatest Geniuses by Katie Spalding 342 pp.
Does genius cover all aspects of a genius's life? It is apparent in this book that it does not. Often it seems that great intelligence precludes common sense. Nicola Tesla, the electrical genius responsible for our power system being AC current, lived in multiple hotels, getting evicted when he didn't pay his bills. He also fell in love with a pigeon. Albert Einstein loved to sail but was very bad at it and often capsized and needed rescuing because he also couldn't swim. Isaac Newton stared into the sun and blinded himself for three days. The Curies carried Radium around and kept it in their bedroom and desk drawers leading to Marie's death. These and many more examples of what could be called the stupidity of genius are featured in this book. Spalding pulls no punches in relating these stories in what is a hilarious account of our "best and brightest". . . or not. The only problem with this book is the frequent comparisons to popular culture which is going to limit the book's relevance ten years down the road.
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