Aaron Clarey

* Nope. Don't even bother.

The book, as the title presupposes, touches on the woes of living with a high IQ. Prompted by the title, I set to reading this prolonged blog post (that's what it felt like), which could've used a final edit before publication. Quite ironic when writing a piece about not being able to live up to your full potential. However, these were only minor annoyances and gave no cause for a lower rating.

Recommended by goodreads after reading [b:Outliers: The Story of Success|3228917|Outliers The Story of Success|Malcolm Gladwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344266315s/3228917.jpg|3364437], the title piqued my interest. It started off in a similar manner, touching on the basis of statistics in describing what outliers high IQ people are. The book then continued with a summary of how the smart are disadvantaged and held back from their true potential by the general populace in education, their careers and whilst dating, while also mentioning the potential correlation between high IQ and mental illness. However, none of his claims were supported by some much-needed evidence, of which the author showed some capability only in the mental illness chapter.

The end of the book lifted the spirits a little by offering insights in how to deal with the addressed points, but all that stuck with me were the three options offered: drowning your sorrows in alcohol, doing drugs or become an adrenaline junkie looking for your next novelty fix. The final premise remaining that there's no 'fix' for the bored kind of depression you're feeling. The whole read felt like a prolonged blog post, which could've used a final edit before publication. Quite ironic when writing a piece about not being able to live up to your full potential. However, these were only minor annoyances and gave no cause for a lower rating.

Now on to my opinion. Whilst cleverly written, the author takes you on a train of thought set out from the beginning, slowly building up to his premise that a high IQ is something one just has to accept and that the mediocrity of society is what it is. He even states that you might come to resent people and could just live on wellfare when you're done with society. Every negative remark he makes towards those of lesser IQ is preceded by an apologetic sentence, as a way of saying sorry before you be mean. It doesn't really make you less mean.

At some points the author attempts to insert certain ways of dealing with a high IQ, all based on intrinsic motivation in your work and any other intellectual pursuits (although you'd have to read the intrinsic motivation between the lines, he basically says to stop giving a shit about the rest of society). These feel like half an attempt at making the grey, depressed picture he paints a little brighter.

The bottom line is that this book offers some anecdotal insights which everyone has to deal with at some point, albeit written from the point of view of someone with a high IQ. The author makes very little attempt in keeping his neutrality and bulldozes with brute force over things called respect and compassion, something which an actual society is built on. This strikes with his confession of being a libertarian halfway through the book, which opened my eyes to the depressed, almost nihilistic story it is: someone who has to come to terms with himself on the fact that he has a high IQ and that the world isn't fair. If you're interested in the topic, do give it a read, as it was of some interest and it's not that long, but all I wanted to say when I turned the final page was: get over yourself.… (plus d'informations)