Word: genius
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...grand a vision as seen in The Celtic World by Barry Cunliffe (Mc Graw-Hill; 224 pages; $39.95). But grand they were. Their language and culture spread across the ancient world from Anatolia to Iberia, from the Danube to the edges of the British Isles. They were artisans of genius, yet they fought like madmen, striking a respectful fear in ancient chroniclers by sacking Rome in 390 B.C. In this sweeping, lucid and amply illustrated history, Barry Cunliffe becomes their bard, celebrating the fact that the Celts endure...
...watching a man of high ideals become corrupted by his power," says one personal friend. "He's one of those sad cases of a flawed genius...
...bulk of it, the final 150, as an ill-defined political spokesman, a defender of this and a believer in that. For the middle eighty pages the book soars. This is where we find what we came for: a candid description of the remarkable collaboration between Dyson's mathematical genius and his imagination, or the even more remarkable collaboration of his gifts with the complementary ones of those around...
These demons turn out to be not very amusing. Young Michael, it seems, was reared by a family that overstressed winning. He became so afraid of losing that he developed to near-genius level the ability to find excuses for not competing at all. So now Michael does not have to win the big race at the end. All he has to do is run it full out, and if you are actually wondering if he manages to do so, then you had better run right along to Running...
...does, amassing his devastated drilling sites in a collection of short stories called PROBLEMS. If you read them you will probably become depressed. Updike's over-powering stylistic genius overpowers his reader's better judgment, forces him to wallow in the miserableness of his archetypal suburban man, who wanders "an irreducible unit, visiting one or another of the pieces of his life scattered like the treasure of a miser outsmarting thieves." Updike outsmarts, creating melancholy without proposing how solitary suburbanites can collect these bits to make a life worth living. He collects problems without morals...