I have perused a few NatGeo special issues, and this was one of the more interesting. I appreciate that it references several works of ongoing research on the brain and intelligence, but also references several books aimed at popular audiences which could be used for further reading, such as 'The Geography of Genius', 'Divine Fury: A History of Genius,' or 'Group Genius' (Keith Sawyer).

There are several accounts of "geniuses" that are outside what you would expect in such a book. There is some mention of Gardner's multiple intelligences and geniuses in fields such as dancing, law, or interpersonal relations. This was a nice balance to all the technology and science. There is also prominent mention of fascinating intelligentsia from non-Western cultures, including, e.g., Rabindranath Tagore and Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Overall, I enjoyed skimming the pages and learning some new names and some empirical facts about the nature versus nurture debate. But I have some quibbles about the way my faith is represented in these pages, which will be not be surprising to any Christian who has followed NatGeo at all.

The editors seem strangely enamored with Charles Darwin, writing that he "overturned religious doctrine with pigeons and apes" (p. 14)—which he didn't—and that he "solved the mystery of how the splendid diversity of life came into being" (p. 21)—which is ambiguously phrased such that it sounds like he has explained the emergence of the universe and everything. His book is called 'The Origin of Species,' after all, and not 'The Origin of the Universe.' There is also no mention of many other Western "geniuses" of biology such Linnaeus and his apostles, or any of the many parson-naturalists (like Gilbert White, who made a great impression on Darwin) because that would be just too colonial. Darwin has superseded them all.

It would be far too much for NatGeo to mention that Christian faith was integral to the endurance and contributions of great minds such as Martin Luther King, Jr., George Washington Carver, or Samuel Morse; this much is obvious. But this writer is inclined to discredit anything Christian, failing to mention, for instance, that Hypatia (4th c.) was admired by both Christians and pagans, preferring to canonize her (ironically) as a thorough pagan martyr. There is also a two-page spotlight on Buddha which does not relate to any of the other discussions of the book, and is apparently just a shameless plug for any religion that is non-Western. The Dalai Lama on p. 108 and Hammurabi on p. 103 likewise help to liberate us from the shackles of Christ and Moses with which we began on p. 4.

Three stars. ( )