The Pocket Guide to Brilliance

Punctuated with both sharp and dry wit, Bart King presents a wealth of fascinating trivia. Brilliant people are those who walk farther, think deeper, and talk louder than the rest of us. They do what it takes to get the job done, and then some. The masters of brilliance include presidential candidate George Wallace, who released chickens into a crowd in order to spur on a debate; the first female journalist, Anne Newport Royall, who forced an interview with John Quincy Adams after catching him skinny dipping; and Benjamin Franklin, who of course coined the phrase "A penny saved is a penny earned," but also offered the lesser known "A man who lives on hope, dies farting."