Genius Biographies

When Victor Villaseñor stood at the podium and looked at the group of teachers amassed before him, he became enraged. He had never spoken in public before. His mind was flooded with childhood memories filled with humiliation, misunderstanding, and abuse at the hands of his teachers. With his heart pounding, he began to speak of these incidents. To his disbelief, the teachers before him responded to his embittered recollection with a standing ovation. Many could not contain their own tears.

This collection of essays and stories spans a wide variety of topics. There's the open letter to Charles Manson, the report of a brave archeologist's journey into a suburban man cave, and a long overdue missive from Leif Erikson to Christopher Columbus. Walt Whitman even teaches a spin class. Nate Dern's razor-sharp eye examines modern society and technology, man buns, dating apps, and juicing crazes.

The findings from wide-ranging interviews and careful historical research, Black Genius explores the roots of Black achievement in America. The results are surprising and inspiring. Interweaving past and present, beginning with this country's inception, Russell covers the importance of continuity and tradition in nurturing Black artists, scientists, and leaders. Here are memorable portraits of Wynton Marsalis, Ralph Ellison, Louis Armstrong, Toni Morrison, Duke Ellington, James Baldwin, Paul Robeson, Muhammad Ali, Lois Mailou-Jones, and other Black notables.

Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper delves deeply into Michael Jackson's music and talent. From the artist's early days with the Jackson 5, to his stratospheric success as a solo artist, to "Beat It" and "Thriller", "Bad", and "The Man in the Mirror", to his volatile final years, his attempted comeback, and his untimely death, Knopper explores the beguiling and often contradictory forces that fueled Michael Jackson's genius.

Toby Lester, author of the award-winning The Fourth Part of the World, masterfully crafts yet another century-spanning saga of people and ideas in this epic story of Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic drawing of a man inscribed in a circle and a square. Over time, the nearly 550-year-old ink-on-paper sketch has transformed into a collective symbol of the nature of genius, the beauty of the human form, and the universality of the human spirit.

He’s a doctor whose patients have a way of dying; a lawyer, who uses his skills to squirm out of criminal convictions. He’s a scholar, but other scholars have no idea what he’s talking about. He’s a family man, but one day, his wife and baby disappear forever. Only two things are clear: Edward Rulloff is a mystery, and everywhere he goes, death and destruction follow. While the criminal justice system has its hands full trying to keep and convict Edward Rulloff, the world will argue whether he’s a genius, a scam artist or a madman. Even Mark Twain has an opinion.

Arriving at the port of New York in 1882, a 27-year-old Oscar Wilde quipped he had "nothing to declare but my genius." But as this sparkling narrative reveals, Wilde was, rarely for him, underselling himself. A chronicle of his sensational eleven-month speaking tour of America, Declaring His Genius offers an indelible portrait of both Oscar Wilde and the Gilded Age. Neither Wilde nor America would ever be the same.

When John Campbell was hired in 1996, Michael Dell’s company was already a hyper-efficient technology upstart. By the time he left Dell in 2017, Michael’s little Texas-based catalog computer company had grown from 5,000 to 138,000 employees and evolved into one of the largest technology providers on the planet!

To understand how the macabre death of Francis Mawson Rattenbury could have happened, you have to study his life. He was a murdered genius. A victim of love. He was an architectural virtuoso who designed some of Canada's most memorable structures. Rattenbury dreamed on the grandest of scales and created edifices that remain incredible sonnets in wood and stone a century after his blueprints were penned. His buildings remain landmarks, but he was truly a forgotten Canadian hero.

Albert Einstein lived a very interesting life. When he was young, his teacher said that he would never be anything great because he was stupid. We all know how wrong his teacher was because Einstein grew to formulate the most complex of all theories. Einstein’s story would tell us to never give up. Listen to and learn from his biography today!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Die zwei Seiten eines Genies. Eva Gesine Baur erzählt Mozarts dissonantes Leben, ohne zu beschönigen, dass der Schöpfer unfassbarer Musik auch eine schwarze Seite hatte: Sich seines göttlichen Talents bewusst, log, trickste und intrigierte er. Er verschenkte Glückseligkeiten und verteilte Bösartigkeiten. Die Biografie versucht, diesen Abgrund auszuloten. Mozart selbst hat das Problem in die Welt gesetzt, mit der sich seine Verehrer und seine Biografen herumschlagen: Er schrieb Briefe, die seine menschlichen Schwächen bloßlegen.

It is widely believed that Jimi Hendrix was one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time...and quite possibly, the greatest. All you have to do is compare what rock guitar sounded like before Jimi burst on the scene in the late ‘60s and what it sounded like after. And in addition to trailblazing new sounds and approaches, his influence reached beyond just the guitar community.

Monologist Mike Daisey presents a dazzling new work: four "bio-logues" about megalomania and desire constructed from the interleaved life stories of Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla, and L. Ron Hubbard. Over four nights Daisey explores the nature of genius and wrestles with the pride, insanity, and chauvinism that bind these men together, and reveals how the heights and depths of their gifts have much to teach us about ourselves.

Have you ever felt like giving up? Have you ever felt like you have given it everything you have, but you still haven’t broken through? Remember You’re a Genius Again, gives you an inside look at how North Carolina native, Greg E. Hill, went from almost committing suicide to being a leader in the forefront of the culture change movement. Greg gives you a first-hand look at his family life, self-doubt, and success. From making 100 dollars a day selling sodas in high school, to making over 100,000 dollars in a four-year span in college, and losing it all.

In this provocative biography, Mary Sarah Bilder looks to the Age of the Constitution to investigate the rise of a radical new idea in the English-speaking world: female genius. Bilder finds the perfect exemplar of this phenomenon in Eliza Harriot Barons O'Connor. Female Genius reconstructs Eliza Harriot's transatlantic life, paying particular attention to her lectures and the academies she founded, inspiring countless young American women to consider a college education and a role in the political forum.

Armed with unprecedented access to Edison's workshop diaries, notebooks, and letters, Israel brings fresh insights into how the inventor's creative mind worked. For the first time, much attention is devoted to his early family life in Ohio and Michigan, where the young Edison honed his entrepreneurial sense and eye for innovation as a newsstand owner and editor of a weekly newspaper. These experiences underscore the inventor's later successes with new resonance and pathos.

The Moron at the End of This Book is an insightful, self-scrutinizing memoir about the highs and woes of a life, perhaps not well-lived, but, well, lived. With a collection of short stories and love letters to the living and the dead, author Andrew Couch calls upon nearly 40 years of impulsive actions, unusual friendships, odd jobs, and a careworn moral compass to deliver a mercifully one of a kind account of a man in search of approval from his child self.

On October 5, 2011, the news of the death of technology innovator Steve Jobs rocked the world. The failing health of the Apple cofounder and Pixar CEO was no secret. Jobs had given up his role as Apple's CEO just a few months prior because of his struggle with pancreatic cancer. But his death still drew a huge reaction. From Apple employees and fans to political and business leaders, people honored Jobs' passing by reflecting on his prolific life that greatly influenced the way technology is used.

Uno de los talentos musicales más importantes de la historia. Nacido en 1770, rebelde, infatigable, genial y ¡sordo!, es considerado el último gran representante del clasicismo vienés (después de Haydn y Mozart). Su obra imperecedera (donde destacan colosales sus inmortales nueve sinfonías) ha sido aclamada por los críticos de todas las épocas.

Sin dudas, un audiolibro que servirá para conocer a este genio norteamericano, un hombre al que la humanidad le debe mucho. Prolífico inventor que patentó más de mil inventos, contribuyó como nadie a darle, tanto a Estados Unidos como a Europa, los perfiles tecnológicos del mundo contemporáneo: las industrias eléctricas, un sistema telefónico viable, el fonógrafo, las películas, etc.