Shared Genius Culture Characteristics
Geography of Genius:
Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Places
Eric Weiner
Athens, Greece
Hangzhou, China
Enlightened leaders
Trading cities
Crossroads for goods and ideas
Destination for visitors
Athens had its agora.
The Athenian agora “was the original everything store.”
Anything in the ancient world could be found at the Athens agora, including:
Figs
Fresh produce
Dried fruit
Flowers
Porridge
Honeycombs
Legumes
Lambs
Fish
Spices
Perfumes
Footwear
Horses
Water clocks
Witnesses to summonses
Givers of evidence
Lawsuits
Allotment machines for random jury selection
Laws
Indictments
Thieves market for stolen goods
Hangzhou was a pleasure ground.
Visitors could…
Learn to play the Chinese transverse flute
Take acting classes
Watch tightrope walkers, jugglers, sword swallowers, comedians, wrestlers, and performing ants
Pages 31, 69
Athens, Greece
Florence, Italy
Brilliant minds
Good ideas
Functional art
ideals
aspirations
collective consciousness
Florence
propaganda for Christianity
Page 98, 120, 121
Influential Supporters
Athens
Aspasia brought disparate people together
Florence
Verrocchio gave new talent a chance
Bicchellini allowed da Vinci to do dissections on cadavers at night
Pages 36, 104-110, 112-114, 122-123
Florentine artist Filippo Brunelleschi visited Rome with friend Donatello to examine ancient ruins, looking for ancient knowledge. The Pantheon convinced Brunelleschi to build the Duoma, the dome over the Church of Santa Maria del Fiore.
Page 127
Athens, Greece
Hangzhou, China
Florence, Italy
Old order crumbling, new order not yet cemented
Page 128
Athens, Greece
Hangzhou, China
Florence, Italy
Restless
Page 138
Athens, Greece
Edinburgh, Scotland
Rough
Stingy
Smell of filth
Page 143
Edinburgh, Scotland
Silicon Valley, California USA
Practical endeavors with theoretical components
Page 148
Athens, Greece
Florence, Italy
Edinburgh, Scotland
Small cities
More intimate
More likely to look outward
Accumulate the varied stimuli that lead to creativity
More likely to ask questions
Try harder
Page 157
Athens, Greece
Florence, Italy
Edinburgh, Scotland
Intimacy and trust
Page 168
Athens, Greece (in Socrates’ time)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Cities of gab
Page 170
Florence, Italy
Edinburgh, Scotland
Teachers learned from students
Page 180
Athens, Greece
Florence, Italy
Edinburgh, Scotland
Calcutta, India
Conversations
Athens
Philosophical musings at symposia
Florence
Give-and-take in art workshops
Edinburgh
Humiliation and verbal violence of “flyting”, followed by pints of beer at a local pub to erase bad feelings
Calcutta
Meandering question-based conversations with no transitions
Pages 173, 212-214
Athens, Greece
Musical Vienna, Austria (@1800)
Did not reject the foreign or accept it unquestioningly.
Absorbed and synthesized the foreign into something new.
Page 220
Florence, Italy
Birth-of-the-Modern Vienna, Austria (@1900)
Access to new information
Coffeehouses with companionship and conversation
Page 254
Musical Vienna, Austria (@1800)
Birth-of-the-Modern Vienna, Austria (@1900)
Crossroads of culture
Page 256
Calcutta, India
Silicon Valley, California USA
Kinetic energy
Taking ideas from elsewhere and processing them faster and smarter
Pages 300, 302
Birth-of-the-Modern Vienna, Austria
Silicon Valley, California USA
Outsiders moving in
Page 303
Athens, Greece
Florence, Italy
Silicon Valley, California
Beautiful weather
Tradition of tinkering
Brilliant and persistent mentor
Financial backer
Page 305
Athens, Greece
Edinburgh, Scotland
Silicon Valley, California USA
People motivated by something other than financial gain
Athens
Making the world a better place
Edinburgh
Tinkering to make improvements
Silicon Valley
Finding a better way
Pages 307 to 308
Athens, Greece
Silicon Valley, California USA
Borrow ideas from foreigners to perfect
Page 312
Athens, Greece
Florence. Italy
Musical Vienna, Austria
Silicon Valley, California USA
Discerners who distinguish good ideas from bad ideas
Page 312
All Great Places
Alone together
Doesn’t matter if by design or coincidence
Page 215
Every Golden Age
Mentor system
Page 310
Collect dots in the company of others.
Connect dots by ourselves.
Pages 310, 255
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© Paula M. Kramer, 2025
All rights reserved.
