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Hard Knox with Amanda Knox

How the Genius Myth Misleads Us (Helen Lewis)

Hard Knox with Amanda Knox

Knox Robinson Productions

True Crime, Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Society & Culture

4.61.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Helen Lewis is a journalist and author whose new book The Genius Myth dismantles how achievement really works. In this conversation, Amanda and Helen ask how the stories we tell about brilliance shape our culture and why our fixation on lone, exceptional individuals so often misleads us. They explore how luck, collaboration, and power create the illusion of “born geniuses,” and why understanding the real mechanics of success can make our own lives more grounded, resilient, and meaningful. The Genius Myth https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/803542/the-genius-myth-by-helen-lewis/ Reach out to us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.amandaknox.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠amandaknox.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: @amandaknox IG: @amamaknox Bluesky: @⁠⁠amandaknox.com⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free: My Search for Meaning⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Waking Up Meditation App ⁠⁠⁠https://www.wakingup.com/Amandaknox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey Harry.

0:00.7

Hello mate.

0:01.5

Got any tips for the football?

0:02.8

Your best bet is to head over to Bet Victor.

0:04.9

They're giving new customers a terrific welcome offer. If you bet a minimum of £10, they'll give you £30 in three bets. Oh, that's a steel of a deal. It's a good darn deal that'll make your squirrel for real. Neil? My name's not Neil. I know, bet it rhymes. Listen to Harry and make your best bet on the football at Betvictor.

0:23.4

18 plus opt in best bet on the football at BetVictor.

0:23.3

18 plus opt in and bet on any football marketing at odds of evens or greater no, cash out seven-day expiry terms and conditions apply.

0:28.8

Gamblerware.org.

0:32.7

I'm Amanda Knox and you're listening to Hard Knox.

0:45.9

The Amanda Knox, and you're listening to Hard Knox. Today on Hard Knocks, I interview Helen Lewis, who is a journalist, broadcaster, and author of The Genius Myth, the dangerous all Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule Breakers.

0:57.6

Her new book about why we worship geniuses, or so-called geniuses, and how that myth blinds us to the damage they often cause.

1:05.9

She shows how brilliance is rarely a solo act, how it can come at a steep human cost, and why we need

1:12.4

more honest stories about creativity and achievement. This is a really fun conversation.

1:18.6

For all my Taylor Swifties out there, we have a discussion about Taylor Swift quite a bit.

1:24.4

We talk about how we can have honest, but how we can like shift the myth from the

1:31.5

lone genius to a person who cultivates a team of excellence around them, how we can, how the, how this idea of, and this destructive idea of a lone genius who then, you know, burns his legacy of people around him, how that is reflected also when we are experiencing the lows of our life and, and become hyper fixated and narcissistic in our own hurt kind of way and how destructive

2:04.5

that is. So a lot of really interesting parallels and conversations about making sense of the world

2:11.1

and how we define success. So enjoy.

2:28.6

I really loved the piece you did for us at the Atlantic about the guy who was convicted that you campaign for and then changing your mind on him.

2:31.1

I thought that was really brave and beautifully done.

2:37.0

So I was very delighted to get this invitation. Oh, wonderful. Well, I'm so glad that you, that you, that you, that you read that because that was a big,

2:42.7

I mean, that was a huge growing moment for me as a person. And I felt like we need growing moments

...

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