Genius Biographies

For decades, Adam Gopnik has been one of our most beloved writers, a brilliantly perceptive critic of art, food, France, and more. But recently, he became obsessed by a fundamental matter: How did the people he was writing about learn their outlandish skill, whether it was drawing a nude or baking a sourdough loaf? In The Real Work, Gopnik apprentices himself to an artist, a dancer, a boxer, and even a driving instructor (from the DMV), among others, trying his late-middle-age hand at things he assumed were beyond him.

In 2006, an oddball group of bankers, traders and brokers from some of the world's largest financial institutions made a startling realization: Libor - the London interbank offered rate, which determines the interest rates on trillions in loans worldwide - was set daily by a small group of easily manipulated functionaries, and that they could reap huge profits by nudging it to suit their trading portfolios.

Kristine Barnett’s son Jacob has an IQ higher than Einstein’s, a photographic memory, and he taught himself calculus in two weeks. At 9 he started working on an original theory in astrophysics that experts believe may someday put him in line for a Nobel Prize, and at age 12 he became a paid researcher in quantum physics. But the story of Kristine’s journey with Jake is all the more remarkable because his extraordinary mind was almost lost to autism. At age 2, when Jake was diagnosed, Kristine was told he might never be able to tie his own shoes.

Vince Ciacci wanted to be a "Made Guy". From the time he left the brutality of upstate New York's Coxsackie Reformatory, he worked for "Wiseguys", committing armed robberies, collecting for the Mob, and dreaming of the day that he would "get his button". He never made it into the Mafia's inner sanctum. Why? He was too crazy and too violent. Hooked on drugs and alcohol, Vince was a loose cannon, so dangerous that his own crew considered taking him out.

We view the long, horrifying struggle from the vantage of the White House as Lincoln copes with incompetent generals, hostile congressmen, and his raucous cabinet. He overcomes these obstacles by winning the respect of his former competitors, and in the case of Seward, finds a loyal and crucial friend to see him through. This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln's mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation's history.

In 1895, two young men destined to make their mark on American life, Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, discovered they shared a common interest in the remarkable way ordinary Americans demonstrated the real character of the young nation. They were convinced that the brilliance of American liberty could best be found in the lives of everyday people, rather than in accounts of the famous and powerful.

Gerard Lee Bevan was the black sheep of one of London's most respectable banking families. A high-living womanizer and upper-class shyster of almost pantomime proportions, he exploited a glittering range of social connections. After a long run of success in City dealings he perpetrated a massive fraud which ruined both the City Equitable Fire Insurance Company and his stockbroking firm, Ellis & Co. He fled the country and was eventually arrested, tried, and jailed.

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

Harry Freedman uncovers the spiritual traditions that lie behind Leonard Cohen's profound and unmistakable lyrics. The singer and poet Leonard Cohen was deeply learned in Judaism and Christianity, the spiritual traditions that underpinned his self-identity and the way he made sense of the world. In this book Harry Freedman, a leading author of cultural and religious history, explores the mystical and spiritual sources Cohen drew upon, discusses their original context and the stories and ideas behind them.

The high-energy tale of how two socially awkward Ivy Leaguers, trying to increase their chances with the opposite sex, ended up creating Facebook. Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg were Harvard undergraduates and best friends - outsiders at a school filled with polished prep-school grads and long-time legacies. They shared both academic brilliance in math and a geeky awkwardness with women. The Accidental Billionaires is a compulsively listenable story of innocence lost - and of the unusual creation of a company that has revolutionized the way people relate to one another.

In The Life of John D. Rockefeller: Biography of a Genius by Orison S. Marden (based on Orison’s book, How They Succeeded), you'll embark on a captivating journey through the life of one of history's most influential figures. John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil, wasn't just a businessman–he was a visionary who revolutionized an industry.

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry, Robert Lowell put his manic-depressive illness (now known as bipolar disorder) into the public domain, creating a language for madness that was new and arresting. As Dr. Jamison brings her expertise in mood disorders to bear on Lowell’s story, she illuminates not only the relationships among mania, depression, and creativity but also the details of Lowell’s treatment and how illness and treatment influenced the great work that he produced (and often became its subject).

A comprehensive guide to all of Robin Williams' movies, with facts about plots, performances, and cast, as well as notable trivia and behind-the-scenes details about each film.

يعدُّ ابن زيدون من أهم شعراء الأندلس في عصره حيث تمتع بمكانة عالية في المجتمع القرطبي بفضل ما أنفق في تعليمه من عناية، وما وهبه الله من ملكة طيبة، وقد تجلّت شاعريته وسنه تقارب العشرين، ذلك أنه عندما توفي القاضي الفقيه ابن ذكوان، ألقى على قبره مرثية بليغة.

يعدُّ يعقوب صروف أحد الأعلام اللبنانيين، فهو عالمٌ وأديب وصحفي، كان واسع الاطّلاع موسوعي المعرفة، أسّس مجلة "المقتطف" الأدبية والعلمية الشهيرة ورأس تحريرها حتى وفاته.

على خطى والده الشيخ ناصيف اليازجي، عشق ابراهيم كتابة الشعر منذ صباه وقد لازمه هذا العشق حتى ريعان شبابه... ويقال إن إبراهيم، قد تتلمذ على يدي والده، الذي أخذ عنه العلم وسعة الأدب والثقافة والتفقه في اللغة، فضلا على حفظه للقرآن الكريم، باعتبار أن والده، الشيخ ناصيف، كان من حفظة كتاب الله العزيز، مما مكنه من الغوص في بحر اللغة واكتساب فصاحة لم تكن عند أحد غيره من أدباء عصره، رغم أنه كان مسيحيا.

يعدُّ ابن قتيبة من النماذج المشهود لها بمكانتها الأدبية والتاريخية في ذلك العصر، كما أنه أحد فقهاء الدين المُلمين بعلوم الفقه وتفسير الحديث المختلفة، وقد مدحه ابن النديم قائلاً عنه: "هو عالم باللغة والنحو وغريب القرآن ومعانيه والشعر والفقه وكثير التصنيف والتأليف".

لم تكن نهضة اللغة العربية والاهتمام بها حكرا على المفكرين المسلمين، فقد كان لفرسان التجديد اللغوي المسيحي دور بارز في تهذيب اللغة العربية الفصحى ونشرها والمحافظة عليها، في القرن التاسع عشر، الذي شهد انحطاطا كبيرا للغة الضاد وتدهورها وتراجع استعمالها، أمام الإقبال على اللغات الأجنبية، خاصة الإنجليزية والفرنسية، في ظل صعود أوروبا وهيمنتها على العالم العربي.

True Genius is the definitive family-backed account of his remarkable career published to coincide with what would have been his 75th birthday. The games, the goals, the glory. This is the untold story. Written by celebrated Manchester United author Wayne Barton, this biography goes into unparalleled depth to tell the complete story for the first time of how the lad from Cregagh, Northern Ireland, became the game's first superstar. Barton has trawled the archives and spoken to a host of former team-mates, managers, friends and close family to tell his story.

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.