Spark

March 22, 2021
Journalist Kalb (Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder) explores what animates geniuses in this entertaining series of vignettes. She asks if successful individuals are born with their talents or are, instead, “lured by passion.” Put another way: ­what, she wonders, “is a genius?” Kalb studies the lives of 13 prominent figures to find out, organizing her subjects “by the age at which genius ignites”: Shirley Temple, for example, earned acclaim in childhood; entrepreneur Sarah Blakley hit her stride in young adulthood; Julia Child is a “mid-lifer”; and Grandma Moses created her “most enduring work” in the final decades of her life. While each of these individuals’ work provides a solid basis for the exploration of creativity, the links between them are tenuous, and though Kalb’s thumbnail biographies are sprightly, she often falls back on cliché—failure is “integral” to success, as are resilience, perseverance, and passion. Instinct, as when Temple used the warmth from studio lights to figure out how to hold her head best, plays a part, as does a large dollop of timing and luck. But in the end, “genius” remains elusive. In the absence of a unified theory of genius or definition of the term, this is best taken as a light series of character studies.