Strange Brains

Watching for the first time, yesterday, The Aviator, Martin Scorsese's biopic of brilliant but exceedingly eccentric (and obviously obsessive-compulsive) aviator/engineer/movie producer Howard Hughes I was reminded of a fascinating book by one of my favorite authors, Cliff Pickover.

The book is Strange Brains and Genius, and if you found The Aviator interesting, then this book might also interest you. It covers a span of about two hundred years and details the link between genius and madness in some of our most famous minds. For instance, you might know that Nikola Tesla invented AC current and could run entire experiments inside his own mind, but did you know he was a virgin his whole life whose only true love was a pigeon?