In his latest book, The Geography of Genius, Eric Weiner engages his reader as a companion during “a search for the world’s most creative places, from ancient Athens to Silicon Valley.”

Here are a few excerpts that correctly suggest the thrust and flavor of Weiner’s extraordinary mind.

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“For me, cafés are a kind of second home, a prime example of what sociologist Ray Odenburg calls ‘a good place.’ The food and drink are irrelevant, or nearly so. What matters is the atmosphere — not the tablecloths or the furniture but a more tangible ambience, one that encourages guilt-free lingering and strikes just the right balance of background din and contemplative silence.” (Page 16)

“Every place of genius contains the seeds of its own destruction. The Greeks, I think, were aware of this. While they didn’t know precisely when their day in the sun would end, surely they knew that just as ‘human happiness never remains long in the same place,’ as Herodotus said, neither does human genius. Sure enough, after the fall of Athens, genius drifted several thousand miles east, where a very different, but no less brilliant, golden age blossomed.” (63)

“ In Chinese cosmology, thought, the universe, the Tao, has no beginning nor is there a creator. There has always been something and always will be. The creative act, therefore. is not one of invention but one of discovery. The Chinese way is creatio in situ. Creation in context. Confucius himself said, ‘I transmit but do not create,’ and warned people way from the novel and unusual, lest they fall into the trap of ’strange doctrines.’” (85)

“Even the most brilliant minds need role models, shoulders of giants on which to stand. In an extensive study of ninety-four Nobel laureates, sociologist Harriet Zuckerman found that most attributed their success to a key mentor in their lives. When asked, though, how exactly they benefitted from these relationships, scientific knowledge ranked at the very bottom. So what did they learn from their mentors? The answer could best be described as thinking styles.” (110)

“Leonardo da Vinci was a problem finder. Problems also found him. He was an ‘illegitimate child,’ born out of wedlock to a notary named Ser Piero. A remarkably large number of Renaissance writers are illegitimate, in luring Alberti and Ghiberti.” They personify sprezzatura. “It means, literally, a “squirt of something special. Sprezzatura is what separates a good meal from one that you will remember for the rest of your life.” (111 and 115)

“Risk and creative genius are inseparable. Sometimes the genius risks professional ridicule, and sometimes much more. Marie Curie worked with dangerous levels of radiation up until her death, and she was well aware of the risks. Genius always comes at a price. Some people, and some places, are more willing to pay that price than others.” (120)

“The Scots could have stopped with agriculture, I suppose, but that’s not the way creativity works. Once launched, it acquires a momentum of its own; breakthroughs in one field inspire breakthroughs in others, and before you know it, you’re living in a golden age. Sure enough, the Scottish urge to improve — the Doctrine of Improvability, it might be called — soon spread to other disciplines, including the one that, for all of us, is a matter of life and death.” In a word, medicine (145)

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Here is a link to my review of The Geography of Genius.

Eric Weiner is author of the New York Times bestseller The Geography of Bliss, which has been translated into eighteen languages, as well as the critically acclaimed “Man Seeks God. His latest book, The Geography of Genius, was published by Simon & Schuster (January 2016). A former foreign correspondent for NPR, he has reported from more than three dozen countries. His work has appeared in the New Republic, Slate, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The New York Times Magazine, and the anthology Best American Travel Writing. For more information about him and his work, please click here.