Genius Biographies

To his colleagues, Richard Feynman was not so much a genius as he was a full-blown magician: someone who “does things that nobody else could do and that seem completely unexpected.” The path he cleared for twentieth-century physics led from the making of the atomic bomb to a Nobel...

A biographical book set in Vienna during the early nineteenth century. Step into the world of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of history's most beloved and complex composers. This biography delves deep into the life of a musical genius, exploring his creative process, personal struggles, and artistic triumphs. With vivid descriptions and anecdotes, the author masterfully weaves together historical details to create an immersive portrait of Beethoven's life in Vienna. From the cluttered workspace where he penned some of his most iconic works to his countryside walks that inspired new compositions,...

John Meriwether, a famously successful Wall Street trader, spent the 1980s as a partner at Salomon Brothers, establishing the best--and the brainiest--bond arbitrage group in the world. A mysterious and shy midwesterner, he knitted together a group of Ph.D.-certified arbitrageurs who rewarded...

Now a docuseries from Ken Burns on PBS! The #1 New York Times bestseller from Walter Isaacson brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is “a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it…Most important, it is a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and...

Join Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell as they bypass pleasantries and promotional banter to deliver raw, unfiltered conversations with some of today’s most influential figures. Featuring titans across a spectrum of professions (from Olympic gold medalists to trailblazing Fortune 500 CEOs and everything in between), The Unusual Suspects with Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell pulls back the curtain to offer listeners unprecedented access to the minds of the world’s most extraordinary individuals and their distinct paths to success.

Winner of the 2008 Audie Award for Biography/Memoir The definitive, internationally bestselling biography of Albert Einstein. Now the basis of Genius, the ten-part National Geographic series on the life of Albert Einstein, starring the Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award–winning actor Geoffrey Rush as...

The remarkable story of an ordinary man who was transformed when a traumatic injury left him with an extraordinary gift. No one sees the world as Jason Padgett does. Water pours from the faucet in crystalline patterns, numbers call to mind distinct geometric shapes, and intricate fractal patterns emerge from the movement of tree branches, revealing the intrinsic mathematical designs hidden in the objects around us. Yet Padgett wasn’t born this way. Twelve years ago, he had never made it past pre-algebra. But a violent mugging forever altered the way his brain works.

Rommel: The Desert Fox — Genius and Tragedy is a gripping and balanced portrait of one of the most fascinating and controversial commanders of the Second World War, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Celebrated as a brilliant tactician and feared by his enemies, Rommel became a legend during the North African campaign, earning the enduring nickname “The Desert Fox.” Yet behind the myth stood a complex man shaped by ambition, duty, propaganda, and the moral contradictions of serving under Adolf Hitler. Drawing on wartime records, personal writings, and modern historical research, this book ...

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), credited as the inspiration for radio, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. Based on original material and previously unavailable documents, this acclaimed book is the definitive biography of the man considered by many to be the founding father of modern electrical technology.

A biography examining the life of Benjamin Franklin and his leadership as a statesman, scientist, inventor, and printer.

Through family interviews, diaries, letters, and workbooks that had been sealed for over 60 years, Barbara Goldsmith reveals the Marie Curie behind the myth - an all-too-human woman struggling to balance a spectacular scientific career, a demanding family, the prejudice of society, and her own passionate nature. Obsessive Genius is a dazzling portrait of Curie, her amazing scientific success, and the price she paid for fame.

"This colorful page-turner puts artificial intelligence into a human perspective. Through the lives of Geoff Hinton and other major players, Metz explains this transformative technology and makes the quest thrilling." —Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker Recipient of starred reviews in...

2015 Audie Award Finalist for Nonfiction Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson’s New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed The Innovators is a “riveting, propulsive, and at times deeply moving” (The Atlantic) story of the people who created the...

Frederick Law Olmsted is arguably the most important historical figure that the average American knows the least about. Best remembered for his landscape architecture, from New York's Central Park to Boston's Emerald Necklace to Stanford University's campus, Olmsted was also an influential journalist, early voice for the environment, and abolitionist credited with helping dissuade England from joining the South in the Civil War. This momentous career was shadowed by a tragic personal life, also fully portrayed here.

Theodore Roosevelt proved that a political figure could also excel in military matters and literary endeavors. This work covers a most interesting list of heroes in American history, from Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark through various Revolutionary War participants, to activities during the Civil War. Daniel Boone will always occupy a unique place in our history as the archetype of the hunter and wilderness wanderer.

Isaac Newton & The Calculus of the Cosmos exposes the man behind the laws: a solitary mind that fused mathematics, physics, and mysticism into a single, dangerous clarity. This is not a hagiography or a dry chronology. It’s an unsparing portrait of obsession—of the fallen apple that became an argument with the universe, and of a discipline so relentless it remade how we measure reality. JD Arden traces the hidden architecture of Newton’s thinking: how algebra became prophecy, how experiments read like incantations, and how a mind that could invent calculus also kept one eye on ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Nathaniel Philbrick is a masterly storyteller. Here he seeks to elevate the naval battles between the French and British to a central place in the history of the American Revolution. He succeeds, marvelously."--The New York Times Book Review The thrilling story of the...

Kafka is one of 161 inspired-and inspiring-minds, among them, novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians, who describe how they subtly maneuver the many (self-inflicted) obstacles and (self-imposed) daily rituals to get done the work they love to do, whether by waking early or staying up late; whether by self-medicating with doughnuts or bathing, drinking vast quantities of coffee, or taking long daily walks.

From the acclaimed author of The Nobel Prize comes this fascinating portrait of four of the greatest minds in the history of science and the impossible turning point they faced. As World War II wound down, and it became increasingly clear that the Allies would emerge victorious, Albert Einstein invited three close friends - all titans of contemporary science and philosophy - to his home at 112 Mercer Street in Princeton, New Jersey, to discuss what they loved best: science and philosophy.

From breakout stand-up comedian Iliza Shlesinger comes a subversively funny collection of essays and observations on a confident woman's approach to friendship, singlehood, and relationships. "Girl Logic" is Iliza's term for the way women obsess over details and situations that men don't necessarily even notice. She describes it as a characteristically female way of thinking that appears to be contradictory and circuitous but is actually a complicated and highly evolved way of looking at the world.