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The Genius Test: Can You Master The World's Hardest Ideas?
What is the Higgs Boson? Where did life come from? And what are you looking at when you're looking at Modern Art?
Put your knowledge to the test - and learn to think and talk like a genius.
Put your knowledge to the test - and learn to think and talk like a genius.
Hardcover
Published January 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 4, 2017
A number of different idea / theories are presented in this book.
Some of the ideas featured are interesting but overall I found this book too dry / academic plus the idea of ‘knowing a few ideas making you a genius’ left me cold.
Some of the ideas featured are interesting but overall I found this book too dry / academic plus the idea of ‘knowing a few ideas making you a genius’ left me cold.
March 16, 2018
I bought this book together with "30 Second Maths" from a store in Cambridge. Onstensibly, I was at the time drawn to compressed bundles of facts. "The Genius Test" is exactly this, but little more. While I feel vaguely disappointed, I had approached the book with much skepticism so it is not really a letdown.
Every topic is covered in 4 pages, and includes a short priming quote, a paragraph summary plus author commentary, 10 "things", more in-depth quotes, 5 True-False questions, and a final "bluffer's" summary. I am very slightly on the side of being satisfied by the structure, and do give the author credit for extracting the essence out of a wide breadth of topics effectively. I also appreciate how the 10 extended facts often lead into each other, forming narratives.
At first, I was a little dismayed at how the questions are not always answerable given only the other information written, but eventually came to view them as extra facts. Also, I grew to enjoy the ways they would try to be tricky, even if at first I found these tricks cheap.
One thing that dampened my experience was the presence of a couple noticeable typographical errors (in a hard-copy). Another was the somewhat patronizing tone to the writing.
I got the most out of the sections on art, economics and politics, while finding most of the other sections to be review for me. Of course, since this book contains many assertions without evidence, I will hold any new knowledge weakly.
Every topic is covered in 4 pages, and includes a short priming quote, a paragraph summary plus author commentary, 10 "things", more in-depth quotes, 5 True-False questions, and a final "bluffer's" summary. I am very slightly on the side of being satisfied by the structure, and do give the author credit for extracting the essence out of a wide breadth of topics effectively. I also appreciate how the 10 extended facts often lead into each other, forming narratives.
At first, I was a little dismayed at how the questions are not always answerable given only the other information written, but eventually came to view them as extra facts. Also, I grew to enjoy the ways they would try to be tricky, even if at first I found these tricks cheap.
One thing that dampened my experience was the presence of a couple noticeable typographical errors (in a hard-copy). Another was the somewhat patronizing tone to the writing.
I got the most out of the sections on art, economics and politics, while finding most of the other sections to be review for me. Of course, since this book contains many assertions without evidence, I will hold any new knowledge weakly.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews