The Man of Genius

Swift, as a cleric, mocked religion; Cardano accused himself of lying, slander, and a passion for gambling; Rousseau, flaunting his lofty feelings, showed complete ingratitude toward the woman who showered him with blessings, abandoned his children to fate, often slandered others and himself, and became a renegade three times; Schopenhauer both opposed women and was at the same time their ardent admirer…

Forensic psychiatrist and criminologist Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909) was not the first to notice the many parallels between great people and those obsessed with certain character traits, viewpoints, actions, and habits. But perhaps no one before him collected such a convincing number of examples, evidence, and facts of this similarity.

Modern science has long proven that mental illnesses not only do not promote the development of a person’s creative abilities, but on the contrary restrain or even gradually destroy them. Yet interest in this book has not waned—primarily thanks to the many fascinating and often unexpected facts from the lives of great people.