> From the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. >> This is George Thuronyi of the Library of Congress. Saturday, September 24th will mark the 16th year that book lovers of all ages have gathered in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the written word at the Library of Congress National Book Festival. The festival, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Hours will be from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. For more details, visit www.loc.gov/bookfest. And now it is my pleasure to introduce author Eric Weiner, whose latest book is titled Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley . A former correspondent of the New York Times and NPR, Eric is also the author of the best-selling Geography of Bliss and of Man Seeks God . Thank you so much for joining us. >> Eric Weiner: My pleasure. >> So you've gone around the world looking for genius. So let's talk about what genius is. Can genius be measured by an IQ test or SAT scores, or is there a smartphone app to find genius? How do you know it when you see it? >> Eric Weiner: Well, no, I don't think genius can be measured by an IQ test. In fact, the sort of genius I'm talking about has surprisingly little to do with intelligence; I'm talking about creative genius, the sort of creative leaps that a few people throughout history have made to earn them the title of genius. You know, the German philosopher Schopenhauer put it this way when talking about the difference between mere talent and genius: Talent, he says, hits the target no one else can hit; genius hits the target no one else can see. So it's that sort of conceptual creative leap, that's the kind of genius that I went seeking in my book. >> Some of the places you talk about were pretty grim in their heyday. For example, homes in ancient Athens were shoddy and the streets were full of sewage; does that kind of atmosphere encourage genius? >> Eric Weiner: You know, surprisingly, that sort of atmosphere does encourage genius. You know, genius is a messy business and actually tends to thrive in vibrant, messy, and even chaotic places. If you look at the cities -- and it's almost always cities where these genius clusters as I call them form -- if you look at them, they are places like, as you said, Athens, which was even by the standards of its day a bit of a dump -- dirty, messy, and very, very smelly. The same could be true said of Renaissance Florence or Vienna during Freud's era of roughly 1900. These are teeming, chaotic places. And if you think about it, it makes sense. Because if you have -- if you think about it in terms of, like, a lot of molecules bouncing off of each other, the more molecules you have in that container bouncing around, the more likely they are to interact with one another. And that's I believe when genius happens, when you have these new combinations formed. And you need a little bit of messiness in order for that to happen. >> And you mentioned about clustering, so is it also the combination of people that helps the genius grow? >> Eric Weiner: Well, it definitely is people. Ultimately what I'm talking about when I talk about the geography of genius is really the sort of culture that cultivates genius. When you're talking about culture, you're talking about people -- more than one person -- groups of people getting together, like-minded people, yes, cooperative to some extent but also competitive. And if you look at the seven or so genius clusters I examine in my book, a lot of them were competitive. Most of all, I would say Renaissance Florence where you had a fierce competition between the likes of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. But it was the sort of competition that actually brought out the best in both men. >> I notice in your book you mention alcohol and caffeine in connection with genius; does altered states have a role to play? >> Eric Weiner: So both alcohol and to some extent caffeine played a role in creativity but not exactly in the way you think. Let me explain. A little bit of alcohol does reduce our inhibitions. And psychologists believe that it is this reduction in inhibitions known as the disinhibition hypothesis that leads to creative thinking. It's when we let our guard down that creative ideas flow. And that happens with a little bit of alcohol but not with a lot. Now, when it comes to coffee, coffee, you know, may be helpful if you're trying to finish your tax returns or do a mathematical problem. It's actually not that helpful rather when you're trying to be creative. The one positive role that coffee does play is the social aspect. And I write about Vienna of 1900 and how there was so much creativity happening in the many coffee houses of Vienna. And to this day you see people getting together in coffee shops, such as Starbucks and others, and if they're not online they might be talking to one another, and it's always this interaction among people, among creative people that I think leads to what I call genius clusters. >> And if I were to travel today, where are today's geniuses? >> Eric Weiner: That's a good question. I think they're all at the Library of Congress. Don't you? >> Absolutely. >> Eric Weiner: Yes, there's certainly a lot of geniuses on the shelves of the Library of Congress. But I chose one place in the US to represent 20th and 21st century genius, and that place is Silicon Valley. And some readers might take exception. They might question does Silicon Valley belong up there with ancient Athens, Renaissance Florence, and some of these other places I write about? I think it does. It may be too early to have a definitive verdict. You know, these genius clusters take time. We need to have the benefit of hindsight to look back at them and declare them genius clusters or not. But I think you have a lot of the makings of it in Silicon Valley. Certainly they're producing creative things or at least I would argue fine-tuning creative products that change our life. They meet that one criterion, which is impact, you know? A creative breakthrough is only a creative breakthrough if it has impact. Either a piece of art that makes an impression on people or an invention like the steam engine or like this thing, the iPhone -- the smartphone -- that changes our lives. And, you know, it may not be ancient Athens or Renaissance Florence in terms of its interdisciplinary nature -- it tends to be mainly about technology -- but I think you see a lot of similarities, in fact, between Silicon Valley and some genius clusters of centuries past. >> Thank you. I noticed that you like to travel. Your books have a lot of different interesting destinations, and that's quite appropriate to our book festival theme, which is journey to the unknown. I wonder when you're having a bad day, what's your happy place that you like to travel to? >> Eric Weiner: That's a good question. You know, I like to go for walks. And I'm in good company when it comes to walking. Sigmund Freud went for walks in big circles on what was called and still is the Ringstrasse, this sort of circular Boulevard in Vienna. Beethoven would go for walks in the Wienerwald of the Austrian forest to come up with his ideas. Charles Dickens would walk through the streets of London in the middle of the night when he was stuck on a particular book he was working on. Mark Twain was a big pacer but still walked -- didn't get anywhere. And I think there's something to this. I think there's something about the act of walking when we're having a bad day or even when we're having a good day that lets the creative juices flow. Our conscious mind is occupied with putting one step in front of the other, one foot in front of the other while on some subterranean level ideas are marinating. And in fact, Stanford University recently did a study looking at the connection between walking and creativity. They put some people on a treadmill, some people walking outside in the woods, and some people just sitting down in a chair, not walking at all, and then gave them a test designed to measure creative thinking skills. So there's some empirical evidence, as well as anecdotal evidence that walking is very good for creativity whether you're having a bad day or a good day. >> Very good. What excites you about appearing at the National Book Festival and what do you have in store for readers? >> Eric Weiner: This will be my second time at the festival. And I love it. I mean, there really is nothing else like it. Sponsored by the Library of Congress -- you don't get bigger than that. And just so many book lovers come out. And it's kind of heartening, to be honest, to learn that the book is alive and well and that people still love to read. I'm always amazed at the turnout at this event. It is phenomenal. And just to be in the company of phenomenal writers. I'll tell you a story of when I was at the last book festival. I had the honor of meeting the author of the Wimpy Kid books, Diaries of a Wimpy Kid . And his name escapes me right now, but my daughter, who was then about 7 years old, I had her in mind, and so I got an autograph and a little drawing for her. And I think it impresses her more than anything I've written is that I got the Wimpy Kids author to write something for her. That's just some of the serendipity that goes on. In terms of what I have in store for readers, well, you'll travel with me around the world from ancient Athens to Hong Zhou, China, to Silicon Valley. You'll travel from 450 BC to last Tuesday. And you'll do it all without a passport, without any shots needed, without any jetlag. And it's going to be an awful lot of fun. >> We're really looking forward to it. >> Eric Weiner: Thank you, George. >> We've been hearing from Eric Weiner, who will appear on Saturday, September 24th in the Science Pavilion at the National Book Festival at the Washington Convention Center. Mr. Weiner, thank you for joining us today. >> Eric Weiner: It's been my pleasure. >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.