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Edward Dutton
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The Genius Famine: Why We Need Geniuses, Why They're Dying Out, Why We Must Rescue Them Paperback – 22 Jan. 2016

by Edward Dutton (Author)
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Geniuses are rare and exceptional people. The majority of the great ideas, discoveries and inventions of human history, which have allowed the development of civilization itself, were the products of geniuses.


A genius combines extremely high intelligence with a unworldly, intuitive personality. Geniuses will seldom fit-into normal society, they will seldom want to. And we shouldn’t want them to, because it is their unusual and socially-difficult nature which drives geniuses to come up with original ideas, and solutions to otherwise unsolvable problems. 


But modern society has been hit by a genius famine. There are ever-fewer geniuses and, to make matters worse, modern society has become actively hostile to those few geniuses we still have.
The Genius Famine explores the nature of genius, why the genius famine has happened, how the famine will lead to the decline of civilization, and what we can and should do to overcome it.

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  1. Print length
    232 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of Buckingham Press
  4. Publication date
    22 Jan. 2016
  5. Dimensions
    12.7 x 1.78 x 19.56 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1908684607
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1908684608
  8. See all details
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Product description

About the Author

Edward Dutton is Adjunct Professor of the Anthropology of Religion at Oulu University in Finland and an independent scholar.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Buckingham Press (22 Jan. 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 232 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1908684607
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1908684608
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.7 x 1.78 x 19.56 cm
  • Customer reviews:

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Edward Dutton

Edward Dutton

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
33 global ratings

Top reviews from United Kingdom

James O
5.0 out of 5 stars Global Dumbing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 July 2019
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I've been following Dutton for a number of months on his YouTube channel - The Jolly Heretic. It's tremendous fun and uber un-PC. Serious research crossed with cutting humour delivered in high brow yah yah. Woodley of Menie, who is referenced quite often in the book, is the Wise to Dutton's Morecambe so to speak. I recommend it. Bw warned, not for the sensitive.
And so to the book. Dutton and Charlton are basically hereditarians. The belief that intelligence or G is born not made. Mainstream science seems to believe it's 50/50 environment versus genes. I myself think it's 2 to 1 in favour of nature over nurture. I.E. The experiences of East and West Germany, North and South Korea being the equivalent of economic twin metastudies showing the importance of environment in economic and social outcomes on near identical groups.
Dutton and Charlton are on the periphery of the curve in this respect. They believe the environment is of minimal effect. The genes are everything, not only in transferring intelligence or raw G but also personality, essential for geniuses is what they call, the Endogenous personality type. They argue that the prevalence of men such as these (the solo genius is nearly exclusively a western male) is in serious decline and those that do exist are suffocated by a politically correct bureaucratic polity.
This rings true. The Flynn Effect has most certainly reversed in the West and we are in a time of falling IQs which can only end one way. The Global Dumbing that is coming is going to have far more serious consequences for Mankind than Global Warming.
I do have a criticism of the work however. There is to my mind an insufficient explanation for the technological gains of the 20th/21st centuries. One page only. They maintain the gains are not genius driven but system improvements on a very large scale. That feels wrong intuitively to me. Inventiveness must have been necessary. Armies don't win wars on their own. Generals or geniuses still need to be at the helm. Hopefully, this will be addressed in a later edition.
In conclusion, The Genius Famine is informative, clearly written and most importantly enjoyable.I look forward to further books from Dutton and Co on this and other topics in the future.
Ps. If you're a fan of Carl Jung, be warned, the chaps are not.
5 people found this helpful
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TGrayson
3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating insights let down by authors' unsettling ideologies
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 January 2024
Chronicles the decline ('famine') of the 'endogenous' personality (that which is capable of Genius), & discusses what society can do to revive & nurture it. I'm glad I read this, as there's a lot to learn & some fascinating insights here, but it's tainted by unsettling ideologies (eugenics is seriously floated as a possible, but unlikely, solution - which is as immoral as it is insane).
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Top reviews from other countries

Albert
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read!!!
Reviewed in Canada on 13 June 2019
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This book has been in the coming of age for a long time.
Ignore it at one’s own peril.
In Canada we are already in the throws of the final episode of the Genius Famine, but it can be turned around if there are enough who want it turned.
2 people found this helpful
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Ronald B
5.0 out of 5 stars A very enlightening and disturbing book on the creation, nurture and demise of genius.
Reviewed in the United States on 4 October 2017
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This is a profoundly informative, and also a profoundly disturbing book.

True geniuses are presented as humans who are quite different from normal people, even if the normal person is extremely intelligent.

A genius is driven by his own internal needs and drives to solve a problem or create an entirely new invention. Geniuses, known and unknown, created the civilization and technology in which we live, although their discoveries are extended and implemented by non-geniuses. Without geniuses, all progress would stop, and civilization would likely deteriorate drastically.

But, there is a price to be paid for genius. The true genius is difficult to endure socially, and generally does not conform to social or organizational standards. Thus, to support genius, there has to be an explicit or implicit support by the society for the genius, who is not only often unpleasant to be around, but acts as a short-term liability for the people or organization he is affiliated with. A society without the ability and willingness to support a genius in some way will not see progress.

There are multiple pressures militating against the presence of geniuses today. One is the way society is organized: run by bureaucracies laden by formal rules and by mediocre bureaucratic officials who do not have the ability to act outside the rules for the greater good. Another pressure against geniuses is the general genetic deterioration for intelligence and personality traits necessary for genius. Why is there a genetic deterioration in our society? Because there is a significant mutation rate in all genes, and if there is not an environmental pressure to select against harmful mutations, they accumulate very quickly, lowering the quality of the population over time.

In other words, if someone is born without the ability to perform even a simple productive task, such as plumbing, he is still able to live and reproduce through welfare or disability payments. Before about 1800, an individual unable to contribute would likely not live very long, and certainly would not have children, or at least children who would live very long. The genetic defects accumulate very quickly if the individuals with the damaged genes are able to procreate.

So, the thesis of the Genius Famine is that the general decline in intelligence and productive personality traits, makes the appearance of genius less likely over time.

The section of the book on religion is actually the weakest and least factually-supported part of the book. The idea is, religion encourages traits likely to support the genius in his quest to solve a problem, and that the society which has rejected religion encourages unhealthy distractions likely to interfere with either the ability of the genius to produce his solution, or the desire of the genius to engage in productive, rather than destructive, work. This thesis concerning religion is certainly plausible, but is not supported by evidence as the other parts of the book are.

If the trends described in the book are true, we can expect to see a rapid, dramatic, and possibly irreversible deterioration in Western civilization with respect to science, technology, social organization, and possibly the ability to even maintain its people with enough food. This is why I say the book is disturbing. However, without knowledge, there is no ability to remedy a problem. I say, read the book, understand the abyss we are facing, and get to work on finding some part of the solution.
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The Late Reviewer
4.0 out of 5 stars Pondering the implications of an intellection famine
Reviewed in Australia on 26 March 2019
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Malthus became famous for his view that an exponential growth in population would outstrip linear improvements in the production of food; a grand famine was on the horizon. It never eventuated but that was largely because we had some very clever people helping out with food production techniques (and an energy supply never really imagined by Malthus.)
The author of this book evaluates a modern famine and one that, he believes, has equally significant implications. Specifically, why is their such a dearth of genius in the modern age and what are the implications for society. It's an interesting position to take and the author outlines a case that highlights various issues that have led to our current position and ways in which we might encourage respect for intellectualism and genius as these are the forces behind our most significant advancements.

Almost the entirety of the first half of the book substantiates what we mean by genius - it's valuable but, by its conclusion, I really wanted to move on to the questions posed by the title of the publication; half way in and I'm still learning what a genius is. This is my biggest complaint with the book: it's written by an academic (anthropologist) and it's written in an academic style that fails to really get the reader to buy into the content. The book would - in my view - have been better structured around the key questions with the primary definition and characteristics of genius more interwoven into that content so that things didn't get quite so bogged down.

For those who might lament the loss of 'classical music', 'modern art' and our almost profound indifference to classics and a relishing of the postmodern 'no objective truth' world, there'll be some consolation here. For those who perhaps feel the best days of the West are behind it, there'll be plenty of nodding along as its very success has created an almost unbearable weight that holds it back from further advancement.

Are there solutions? The authors highlight a number of areas where we can aim to re-celebrate and re-calibrate around intellectualism and, in doing so, create the great minds that are necessary to keep the impetus behind our cultural drive. Others, wanting the simpler answer, will again return to "Idiocracy" as a glimpse into a post-genius future and weep.
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Stephanie Romer
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing holy miracle of a book.
Reviewed in the United States on 2 December 2021
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One of the most important books ever written. I immediately read chapter 12 and 13 and I have never read anything so important for the future of life. And I only read 2 chapters on a whim (not going to let a book structure affect my thinking, I just realized LOL - a major characteristic of the subject of the book). It was like they were speaking my life. I have said many times that I came here to be myself and everything unfortunately has been set up against people like me. Society made no place for me. I don’t live in a shack in the woods, but I do live in my car and have lived in my car for 2 years now while I continue to write ideas which ARE world-changing. World-saving. One of the reasons I left graduate school in behavioral neuroscience and evolutionary psychology after 4.5 years is because they were wrong: not just my school, everyone. What can you do when the masses are the litmus of what is “smart”? They don’t understand you, and they don’t understand why they should. They project how they see the world on you, when the difference across these levels is like a logarithmic scale. It’s seismic. An appropriate metaphor. They are planetary personalities orbiting the sun of creation. So delicate in sensitivity and vision and so important for everyone. They should be considered as the only true wealth, manifestations of the human life-force itself.

I took a picture of the book in my car where I work to save humankind from themselves. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. This is a holy book. You are saviors of the world. I will write more once I read the rest of the chapters. Thanks again.
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Stephanie Romer
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing holy miracle of a book.
Reviewed in the United States on 2 December 2021
One of the most important books ever written. I immediately read chapter 12 and 13 and I have never read anything so important for the future of life. And I only read 2 chapters on a whim (not going to let a book structure affect my thinking, I just realized LOL - a major characteristic of the subject of the book). It was like they were speaking my life. I have said many times that I came here to be myself and everything unfortunately has been set up against people like me. Society made no place for me. I don’t live in a shack in the woods, but I do live in my car and have lived in my car for 2 years now while I continue to write ideas which ARE world-changing. World-saving. One of the reasons I left graduate school in behavioral neuroscience and evolutionary psychology after 4.5 years is because they were wrong: not just my school, everyone. What can you do when the masses are the litmus of what is “smart”? They don’t understand you, and they don’t understand why they should. They project how they see the world on you, when the difference across these levels is like a logarithmic scale. It’s seismic. An appropriate metaphor. They are planetary personalities orbiting the sun of creation. So delicate in sensitivity and vision and so important for everyone. They should be considered as the only true wealth, manifestations of the human life-force itself.

I took a picture of the book in my car where I work to save humankind from themselves. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. This is a holy book. You are saviors of the world. I will write more once I read the rest of the chapters. Thanks again.
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Epimetheus
5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating to say the least
Reviewed in Canada on 9 July 2018
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I'm an avid reader of Dr. Charlton's blog, so I when I finally got around to reading this book I was blind-sided by fascination. It has positively changed the way I think about myself, in a way few other books have. Highly recommended, especially for those who enjoyed Colin Wilson's Outsider series.
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