{"product_id":"origins-of-genius-darwinian-perspectives-on-creativity-9780965005265","title":"Origins of Genius: Darwinian Perspectives on Creativity","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Civilizations are often defined by the lives and works of their creative geniuses. The glory that was ancient Greece was built on the achievement of Homer  Pythagoras  Herodotus  Sophocles  Plato  Hippocrates  Phidias  and hundreds of other great creators. Modern European civilization was illiuminated by the likes of Galileo  Descartes  Tolstoy  Rembrandt  and Mozart. The same story may be told of the worlds other civilizations. The histories of Persia  India  China  and other high cultures are to a very large extent chronologically arranged biographies of notable creative minds. As Thomas Carlyle proclaimed in his famous 1841 essay On Heroes  Universal History  the history of what man has accomplished in this world  is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here. Among those he discussed at length as illustrations were Dante and Shakespeare  two of the greatest writers in any language. So obvious is the debt civilizations owe these exceptional individuals that the appearance of such geniuses is often considered an indication of the creative health of a civilized culture. For example  this linking is evident in the 1944 Configurations of Culture Growth by Alfred Kroeber  an eminent cultural anthropologist. Wishing to gauge the emergence  growth  and stagnation of civilizations throughout the world  Kroeber could conceive of no better method than to assess the appearance of famous creators across a cultures history. A civilization enjoyed a golden age when it overflowed with first-rate creative minds  experienced a silver age when the creative activity descended to a less notable level  and suffered a dark age when creators became few and far between. Indeed  this association goes beyond the abstract operational definitions of behavioral scientists. What nation does not take pride when one of its writers or scientists is awarded the Nobel Prize?\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648259383349,"sku":"ByrdShop_0965005267","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780965005265.jpg?v=1781714291","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/origins-of-genius-darwinian-perspectives-on-creativity-9780965005265","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}