BY FAR THE most common portrayal of Shakespeare's genius is that of a man who notices and absorbs everything around him, spinning all the momentary stuff of life into timeless works of art. Part of this is based in the plays themselves—the richness and specificity of the language suggests that Shakespeare must have had a great deal of information about a large range of subjects at his fingertips. Hamlet's remark about the skull the Gravedigger throws up is just one example of this “Why might not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? … his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries” (Hamlet 5.1.90–93, 95–96). This view of genius is enormously attractive, since it is a genius that the average person can aspire to. It is a view that takes traits common to everyone, and insists that simply amplifying those traits is enough to create genius.

Especially since the late twentieth century, there has been a strong belief that training oneself to pay attention to and be interested in everything will inevitably lead to increased brain power, which will then inevitably lead to creative or innovative thoughts and works. Advice about how to “become a genius” litters the Internet; one article states, “a genius is someone who is capable of achieving things the average person can't because a genius sees the world in ways the average person can't process” and offers three tips to “become a genius in just 30 minutes a day.” The idea is to “interact with something new every day” to see the world in ways that are substantially different from the average person. Another article offers: “get curious about life” “be open to opportunities” and “find your passion” as important elements to becoming a genius. Some academic works echo this popular belief, with Darold Treffert talking about how to tap into “the little Rain Man” within us all. Berit Brogaard and Kristian Marlow never mention Shakespeare in their book The Superhuman Mind, but they describe the way some people, from birth or injury, “acquired the ability to manipulate information in new, ingenious ways…and they have much to teach us about how we can unlock our own hidden talents and abilities.”