Strange as it may seem, these amazing personalities, endowed with almost supernatural abilities, are almost not studied as a phenomenon.
The book by the famous historian Peter Burke is a successful attempt to fill this gap.
According to his definition, polymaths are not just polymaths with broad interests, but scientists who have encyclopedic knowledge of a subject or its essential segment.
What is their uniqueness and can they be classified?
Which traits – innate or acquired – contribute to polymath?
How important are the socio-cultural and economic conditions in which they live and work for these people? How do they affect technological progress and the information explosion?
Will polymaths as a "species" survive in conditions of deepening specialization? Peter Burke seeks answers to these and other questions by exploring the history and "habitat" of polymaths, from Pythagoras to Jared Diamond, from Leonardo da Vinci to Susan Sontag.
