#The Limits of Genius | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

deadpresidents · 8 months

Text

I don't read a ton of books about science or scientists, but Katie Spalding's book, Edison's Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History's Greatest Geniuses (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO), which was released in May, is easily one of the most entertaining books I've read in the past couple of years.

When you're sitting down to read a book by someone with a PhD in mathematics, you don't expect it to be fun from cover-to-cover, let alone flat-out funny. In fact -- and I know that the fine folks at Hachette won't be able to use this in a blurb -- but Dr. Spalding's book is fucking hilarious! And that description is especially fitting because Katie Spalding had to have set some sort of record for creative profanity in a book primarily about science and scientists, an achievement that only makes Edison's Ghosts more entertaining by the chapter.

Speaking of chapters, I can't do justice to Dr. Spalding or Edison's Ghosts -- which was published in Harding's native UK under the even better title of The Limits of Genius: How Some of the World's Greatest Minds Were Surprisingly Stupid -- with a couple of quick paragraphs, so I'm just going to share some of the actual titles of the chapters of the book from the table of contents so you can get a hint of how amazing this book truly is:

1. The Mathematical Cult Leader Pythagoras, and His Incredibly Stupid Death 2. Confucius Was an Ugly Nerd with Low Self-Esteem 3. Never, Ever Hire Leonardo da Vinci 4. Galileo Utterly Fails to Read the Room 6. When René Descartes Got Baked 10. Émilie du Châtelet Cares Not for Your Social Mores, and She Will Fight You in Her Underwear to Prove It 13. Lord Byron, the Patron Saint of Fuckboys 16. John Couch Adams Ignores His Mail, Loses Neptune 18. Charles Darwin: Glutton; Worm Dad; Murderer? 20. Sigmund Freud Used Cocaine So Much He Thought Numbers Wanted to Kill Him 21. Arthur Conan Doyle Gets Pranked So Hard He Claims Fairies Exist 23. Real-Life Supervillain Nikola Tesla Takes the Term 'Pigeon Fancying' a Bit Too Literally 24. Marie Curie Defies All the Odds to Accidentally Poison Both Herself and Thousands of Strangers 25. Albert Einstein: Public Nuisance, Love Rat 29. Yukio Mishima and the Shortest, Gayest Fascist Coup in History 30. NASA Forgets about Women, Toilets and the Metric System

And those are just SOME of the actual chapter titles. If you don't want to read Edison's Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History's Greatest Geniuses after that taste, you're as big of an idiot as many of history's geniuses, as Katie Spalding so colorfully reveals in this brilliant book, available now from Hachette Book Group's Little, Brown and Company

#Books #Edison's Ghosts #Katie Spalding #Edison's Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History's Greatest Geniuses #Hachette #Little Brown and Company #Hachette Book Group #The Limits of Genius #The Limits of Genius: How Some of the World's Greatest Minds Were Surprisingly Stupid #Book Suggestions #Book Reviews #Book Recommendations #Science #Scientists #Genius #Geniuses #Biographies #Scientist Biographies

21 notes · View notes

comradekatara · 2 months

Text

yesterday I was explaining the intricacies of lok to my friend who has only seen atla, and he (like the rest of us) just couldn’t get over the fact that they made toph a cop. he was trying to figure out what about toph’s personality (you know, considering that it’s entirely antithetical to becoming someone who acts as an agent of the state to enforce systemic violence) would lead the writers to this conclusion. and it occurred to me that I do think many people, even those who vehemently denounce toph’s copness, do sort of assume that toph loves violence for the sake of violence. she is introduced as saying “I love fighting, and im really really good at it,” and she is shown committing various acts of violence against others (including her friends) with a grin on her face. but I still wouldn’t characterize toph as someone who employs violence for violence’s sake.

toph is, externally, defined by her limits. she is small, she is blind, she is young, she is a girl; she was raised to be soft and delicate and helpless. toph’s first true expression of freedom is when she learns to use her disability as a boon and uses her earthbending not as a weapon, but as an extension of herself. to toph, earthbending is a form of self-expression. it is an artform. I think people tend to forget that when toph says that she loves fighting, she’s not just saying that she loves the thrill of beating arrogant, gigantic, muscled men thrice her size (although of course there is also that), but she’s also saying that she loves practicing a martial art for artistry’s sake.

unlike the boulder, who only listens to his big muscles, toph waits, listens, innovates, creates, hones her craft. and while her earthbending is indeed a martial art, it is also a site of innovation, a visual art, and most importantly, a disability aid. the earth is an extension of herself; it is her artistic medium. yes, of course toph does love being able to exert power over others as a ragefilled tiny twelve year old blind girl who has been denied agency her entire life, but power is not her primary motivation when honing her earthbending. she cares about craft, about innovation, about being one with the earth. unlike all the other earth rumblers and dai li agents and earth kingdom soldiers, toph is a deliberate, thoughtful, considerate earthbender. fighting is an art, and toph is an artist.

#people really love reducing toph which is kind of ironic considering that toph’s entire struggle is not to not be reduced and limited #alas.#toph #analysis #she’s a genius <3333333 #lok crit #(technically)#hang on im gonna make another post abt asami later as well

1K notes · View notes

explodingstarlight · 1 year

Text

homeboy might be cracking under the stress a little bit

i heard we were doing angst (i was up at 3 am and i hadn't slept oopsie)

more fanart for @snailsnaps fic because i cannot be stopped whoopsie doopsie

#obvi not canon or anything but a prediction for later in the fic #something tells me donnie isn't going to be coping with being 'stuck' and in his mind useless to the team very well #it's hard being a teen genius with a child's physical limitations #<- THIS #keeping in mind his emotional regulation may be just a teeeeensy bit out of wack with the y'know being stuck in a child's body #not that donnie copes with frustration super well anyway (affectionate)#he's just like me fr oof #rottmnt #my art #explodingstar art #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #alphastage rise #rottmnt fic rec #tmnt #rise donnie #turtle tots #kinda #donatello #rottmnt fanart #oh hey these may end up on my other art platforms so if you see them again i promise it's me lmao #something tells me he's tired of being unintentionally infantilized #imagine he says this and then gets YOINKED just GRABBED by a villain cuz he got distracted in a fight #*squints in distance* bye donnie 👋#de aged donnie #rottmnt angst

1K notes · View notes

uhohbestie · 1 year

Text

i absolutely love Cleo's design. Every Cleo skin is perfect and every Cleo outfit is my favourite.

Cleo cleo cleo 💚🧟💚

#hermitcraft #lock hcls fanart #zombiecleo #zombiecleo fanart #live laugh loving every chance i get to draw Big Hair #the return of the aerobics workout skin for Limited Life was a genius move #lock art

428 notes · View notes

tobisiksi · 3 months

Text

the disastrous life of saiki k its only a comedy anime because we see everything from kusuo's pov and the things that's happens in the episode are just a normal day for him so he sees everything like normal and even comedic

I just KNOW that if it was from someone else's pov the anime would turn into psychological horror

#JUST LOOK AT THE TIME LOOP EPISODE OMG #he treats everything as a comedy or just as an annoyance cuz is the everyday thing for him #but damn #ku wont acknowledge his problems #at least he wont acknowledge them as slmething seriously he will just call them a bother #if it wasnt a comedy ppl would also acknowledge more how weird his family is #dont get me wrong btw #i love them but you cannot convince me that kusuke's behaviour is right....#and abt kurumi and kuniharu #you cant convice me that they dont have the fault of kusuke's behaviour #They must have taught Kusuke that it is not okay to modify your brother's power limiters so that when he removes one his darkest secret will #-be revealed to the world #COME ON GUYS #kusuke explained that in front of these two EVERYOEN SAW THAT #WHY NO ONE ACKNOWLEDGES HOW FUCKED UP IT THIS??#these two didnt said anything #they were just surprised for two seconds but nothing else #again dont get me wrong #they have good intentions and everything but i think that theyre not fully capable of having kids #no one is ready to have kids but in this case there is a genius with psychopath tendencies and saitama w pink hair #there is a lot of things that could go wrong #even worse if they cannot pick up some fucked up things like what i mentioned before #theyre trying his best tho #(at least kurumi is)#but its not enough #saiki k #the disastrous life of saiki k #kusuo saiki #kusuke saiki #kurumi saiki

106 notes · View notes

ghasted-alien · 1 year

Text

#had this genius idea during episode one yet i couldnt bring it to fruition due to academics. woe is me #limited life #limited life smp #skizzleman #my art #speedfreakfm

444 notes · View notes

millipedefarmer · 6 months

Text

This is Crouton btw. She is a cat-faced spider. & also my friend

#shes been here for months and become such a fixture. every time i leave or come home and see her still there it makes me happy :)#& i swear spiders deserve more credit cuz this web is in the frame of the garage door #but she always builds it away from the moving part so it doesnt get destroyed #& shapes perfectly so my car doesnt hit it on the way in or out #i know with it turning to winter her time is limited but for now shes alive and i will remain in awe of her and her architectural genius #spiders #arachnids #bugblr

98 notes · View notes

mcytgirly · 1 month

Text

Non talked about opinion, but ‘Cool About It’ by Boy Genius is so desert duo coded and I haven’t seen anyone talk about it. So please take part in me analyzing the lyrics of ‘Cool About It’ to show you why it’s desert duo.

Met you at the dive bar to go shoot some pool (Found each other always, even if unintentionally. Always there to play the games.)

And make fun of the cowboys (ie. ranchers??) with the neck tattoos (I like to think soulmate marks in double life were on their necks.)

Ask you easy questions about work and school (every single small talk they’ve had in the life series since 3rd life)

I'm trying to be cool about it (the two of them literally haven’t mentioned what happened in 3rd life since like double life. I know as actual people their lives didn’t change obviously, but as characters they did. They were completely changed because of that desert, and yet they’re expected to be ‘cool about it’)

Feelin' like an absolute fool about it (idiots in love?? Need I say more.)

Wishin' you were kind enough to be cruel about it (Scar has never once gotten mad at Grian for all the times he’s hurt him. Outside of double life Scar hasn’t even really confronted Grian about it. Yes, Scar said the “you stab a man in the back” and “it’s for your secret soulmate” but he’s never fully been mad at Grian.)

Tellin' myself I can always do without it (I like to think that yes, both Grian and Scar never left the desert. But Grian tried to and failed, just like him trying to convince himself that he doesn’t need Scar. Well Scar never left the desert out of choice, he always goes back to Grian.)

Knowin' that it probably isn't true (Neither of them can do this without each other. Just Grian still tries to get away and Scar hasn’t. They need each other.)

I came prepared for absolution, if you'd only ask (The entirety of third life was the two of them literally against the world. The two of them would go anywhere with each other if the other asked. Literally all of their deaths in double life was an adventure they went on either separately or together.)

So I take some offense when you say, "No regrets" (They both hurt each other, and made each other lose lives. Though Grian pushes away Scar because he doesn’t want to hurt Scar again. Well no matter what Grian does, Scar still goes back! Scar doesn’t regret any of it.)

I remember it's impossible to pass your test (The entirety of every scam Scar has committed. Grian has never fallen for one, it was always Scar who fell for Grians. For example, Scar giving Grian a life in last life, and the entirety of their cactus trade in secret life.)

But I'm trying to forget about it (GRIAN WANTS TO FORGET, SCAR DOESN’T. NEITHER OF THEM EVER DO)

Feelin' like I'm breaking a sweat about it (“Scar put your clothes back on!”)

Wishin' you would kindly get out of my head about it (Grian being the one to tell Scar, “She’s dead Scar. You won.” in Secret life. And the entirety of “the voices want a fight” in third life)

Tellin' myself one day I'll forget about it (Once you win all the tiny details come back, but during the games you remember everything. So Scar remembers third life in last life but not on Hermitcraft. So every single season Grian always hopes he’ll come back and he’ll have forgotten what happened, he’s stuck having every single detail swallow him whole. He wishes he could use his hands again without seeing blood on them. But forgetting meant forgetting those lilacs and poppies, and Grian couldn’t live in a universe where he didn’t remember what those flowers smell like. Scar wishes he could remember everything yearns to never have to forget again, until he then wins secret life and realizes winning is to much to carry. Not when the memories haunt him everywhere and everyday for the rest of his life. He yearns to wake up one morning and forget everything, to never feel that loneliness again, but that would mean forgetting the desert, Scar can’t live in a universe where he doesn’t miss the feeling of sand underneath fingernails.)

Knowin' that it probably isn't true (Though contrary to the prior statement, both of their biggest fears is the other forgetting everything)

Once, I took your medication to know what it's like (After Scar won Scar was able to understand why Grian was so avoidant and never spoke about the life series outside of the games)

And now I have to act like I can't read your mind. I ask you how you're doing and I let you lie (Never apologized outside of 3rd life. They just don’t bring it up, they lie. Just like when Grian asked Scar if he wanted to be friends and Scar HAD to say no because he had to LIE)

But we don't have to talk about it (They never actually talked about what happened outside of the games!! They’ve never fully brought up 3rd life since the beginning of last life. They were never going to talk about it. )

I can walk you home and practice method acting (The both of them act like it doesn’t matter, but it does. It does matter. It eats them alive. It’s what brings them back to each other in every life, is every game, in every universe. They’re just ACTING)

I'll pretend being with you doesn't feel like drowning (Whenever they’re around each other they just have the memories of everything before this. They would forever be trapped by the memories of every moment they’ve ever been together. They will always go back. They will always feel like they’re drowning.)

Tellin' you it's nice to see how good you're doing. Even though we know it isn't true (They just want life to go back to how it was before. They’re just idiots in love. They just want to be a part of each others lives. They hate each other, they love each other more than anything. They want to be a part of each others days, yet they’re going to betray each other in ever lifetime. They’re going to avoid each other for the rest of their existence, they’re going to find each other again in EVERY SINGLE LIFETIME.)

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

#desert duo #life series #secret life #third life #last life #double life #limited life #boy genius #cool about it

20 notes · View notes

lryghe · 9 months

Text

SVSSS thoughts; perspective

Perspective and the change of it is a major part of the story telling in Scum Villain. I think it’s used in such a genius way, because through Shen Qingqiu’s horrifically unreliable narration, the novel is distorted in such a way that makes characterisation a very difficult topic, alongside drastically altering the concepts and themes explored.

Through Shen Qingqiu’s eyes, everything is rather black and white. “Luo Binghe will be blackened, Liu Qingge will die, Liu Mingyan, Sha Hualing, and Ning Yingying will marry Luo Binghe, and I’ll just try not to get pickled. Easy right?” But because Shen Qingqiu sees everyone through this extreme lens, the drama of the novel is downplayed significantly. Transmigration novels will always have a moment where the main character realises that they’re in a novel, that the people here all have thoughts and feelings just like they do, and it’s done in such an interesting way with Shen Qingqiu, because it’s one of the four (4) times he’s like entirely serious throughout the novel. He realises that he’s alive and breathing, and that the actions he takes affect those around him, and suddenly the world has a bit more of grey added to the spectrum. He rather quickly accepted he was in the novel originally, so this is essentially a world-shattering realisation for him, having to actually think about his feelings beyond speed running a sexuality crisis.

But because the novel is through SQQ’s eyes, we don’t see the other side of the coin, we don’t see Luo Binghe, or Liu Qingge, or even Yue Qingyuan’s view on everything (which haunts me because it would be SO COOL AND INTERESTING). And they would all be such interesting topics to explore, because having Scum Villain from entirely Luo Binghe’s perspective would be a legitimate nightmare. Young and vaguely traumatised Luo Binghe being abused by his teacher, then suddenly he wakes up one day in his little woodshed and his Shizun is nice to him? And he continues to be nice to him for years? And then he pushes him into Actual Hell for no apparent reason (because at the end of the day, SQQ had gone around saying that demons were cool for years, before quick-step changing his mind the second his beloved student was one, which was ridiculous and he should be lucky LBH was only murderous for a few years because I would have done a lot worse honestly)? And then his teacher dies for him? And then comes back? And continues to sacrifice himself despite all the wrong he’s done, and you never get an explanation for it? Luo Binghe doesn’t need nor want an explanation for SQQ’s actions though, he’s content to just have his Shizun by his side.

I found while writing my Luo Binghe analysis on his MBTI that it was seriously difficult to find good instances of characterisation simply because SQQ made everything difficult by being a blockhead about anyone and everyone. I really wanted to talk about this because SVSSS is my favourite of MXTX’s works and it deserves to be equal parts criticised and applauded for this narrative perspective. The unreliability presents a challenge to her audience, and also gives depth to the extent to which you can characterise and the extent one's head canons can prevail. I thought people would talk about this more, but I’ve only seen like 2 people ever talk about this </3

Words: 571

Reading time: 3 mins

#svsss #mxtx svsss #mxtx #shen qingqiu #luo binghe #liu qingge #yue qingyuan #scum villains self saving system #ren zha fanpai zijiu xitong #i just have so many thoughts about mxtx and her absolutely genius use of third person limited perspective its so ingenious it makes me ill

61 notes · View notes

enlighten3d · 5 months

Text

liml!grian should be called jrian because the other members of the bad boys all had j as the first letter of their names (joel, jimmy)

i am correct, i think

#this is some g team bullshit #this is also a random thought that i had while trying to sleep #im a genius (lying)#limited life #the bad boys #grian #trafficblr #life series

33 notes · View notes

maidoftheday · 10 months

Photo

Today’s Maid of the Day: Rona from Time-Limited Genius Dark Knight

#webtoon #rona #Time-Limited Genius Dark Knight #maid of the day

66 notes · View notes

explodingstarlight · 1 year

Text

all thoughts, head full

(psst you should check out this de!aged Donnie au by @snailsnaps 👉👈)

1K notes · View notes

modernsuperhero · 1 year

Text

Idk if it's too early in the season to get hella angst heavy but... am i the only one interpreting the whole timer thing as in everyone is slowly dying? Like, they can feel it, their bodies shutting down. But killing someone - it's like the opposite of /givelife, it's TAKING life, it's invigorating, even if a good portion of the life you stole bleeds out with the other person. How terrifying. How fascinating.

#limited life smp #trafficblr #lmlsmp #lml #life series smp #life series #traffic series #i wasn't gonna post this cuz it kinda hits close to home for me but. idk putting this out there lol!#limited life spoilers #also re: the watchers apparently feeding on fear before death (if you're a lore person like me)#this is a genius move. like double life was genius because no matter what happens the fear before death will be doubled #fear for yourself and your partner #or ig technically quadrupled because your partner is also panicking #but like this? slowly dying? ANY fear counts as fear before death. because they are all dying. constantly. just slowly

129 notes · View notes

yourpalwhale · 7 months

Text

3rd life is like a green life. It's naïve. It's throwing around trust and loyalties like it's nothing. It's taking unnecessary risks for the fun of it because you have nothing to lose. It's the beginning.

Last life is like a yellow life. The paranoia sets in. There are worries about betrayals and people have to choose sides. Conflict is starting to get violent and people are starting to understand the consequences of their actions. It feels like reality has slapped you in the face.

Limited life is like a red life. You have your group and it's too late to switch sides now. The us against the world mentality sets in. Violence is in every action and herd mentality takes over. The goal is survival and everything is coated in a haze of red. It's desperation.

#i hope you guys understand what im on #double life doesnt fit into the narrative so im not mentioning it #something something accidental literary devices and genius writing in an improv series #life series #3rd life #last life #limited life

21 notes · View notes

fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic · 1 month

Text

idk how it happened but my rec post for BNF is 792 words long and that's before reading the last chapter. I will try to contain myself and not add too much more. I am so excited for the finale tonight!!

#bnfinale #WAHOOOOOO!!!!#and that is me really limiting myself #like I did not go into detail about scenes that I loved #bilv you're a genius tbh #and the level of WORK you put in #I'm constantly impressed

16 notes · View notes

n7punk · 10 months

Text

lol. lmao. rofl, even

#we'll see how ''temporary'' this is lmao #truly fucking incredible #like tumblr has the post limit but at least thats just on what you personally post to prevent spam #this is incredible #unparalleled genius clearly #words and things #im only posting this because i haven't seen any posts about the Answer to what's going on yet and i need this documented #ill add it to the implosion tag later cuz i dont want it to end up in the real tags 😂#btw the background of that rate limited screenshot is i was trying to read a catradora comic #and it cut me off #luckily on page 7/7 lol

30 notes · View notes