…That is, if one is currently living and is currently doing work. Weird thread title, weirder question, and I’m not even sure that this is the right forum for it, but it fits.
Talk about a legitimate, Einstein/Joyce/Beethoven/etc.-level genius currently working in your chosen field? I don’t mean just someone that you really like or your favorite, but someone whose work is so truly Genius that in time they’ll be revered for their work in the way that the aforementioned are.
My nomination is Grant Morrison, writer of The Invisibles and a million other things, currently writing Final Crisis and Batman for DC comics. I could write a multi-page worship thread as for why, but I’ll let the man’s own words speak for me (From here if you want to read it.):
…and, well, he actually is in fact doing that with his work.
The quote is from his book, “Shadow of the Torturer”, a Science Fiction novel that takes place in a far future where the Sun has become red and expanded. The main character is a lapsed member of the torturer’s guild, exiled for showing mercy to a client.
Jeff Beck as a guitarist. There was a thread a couple of months ago on great guitar leads where I made my case for Beck being the kind of Einsteinian magical genius the OP seems to be looking for - I don’t know how to locate and link to it using the BlackBerry I am limited to right now. But suffice to say that he is the guitarist that guitarists simply can’t figure out.
Well, if my “medium” is library science, you could do worse than to take a look at Sanford Berman, whether you agree with his work or not. He’s something of a radical cataloger (I know, right?) who has argued ceaselessly for natural language in subject headings and accuracy in cataloging language. He’s fought hard against subject heading bias (for example, he’s gotten “Aged” and “Kaffir” removed from the LCSH and “God” turned into “God (Christianity)”.) He’s also gotten subject headings like “Sex Toys” put in there, although LC has made no decisions regarding his proposed “Anal Fisting”. He’s got his own cataloging system going, pretty much, that throws out a lot of the fiddly little punctuation crap and uses these natural language subject headings.
I believe he also did a lot of work with NoveList, which is a database of fiction subject headings. (All of this began with his work as the Hennepin library’s cataloger; he used his own local subject headings and they were incorporated into NoveList.)
At any rate, as much as people don’t like him (and I don’t agree with all of his stuff) I believe future generations of librarians will see the guy as the visionary he really is.
The narrator is resting on a mountanside, gazing at the stars and wondering at the shapes of constellations.
“When these celestial animals burst into view, I am awed by their beauty. But when they become so stongly evident (as they quickly do) that I can no longer dismiss them by an act of will, I begin to feel as frightened of them as I am of falling into that midnight abyss over which they writhe; yet this is not a simple physical and instinctive fear like the other, but rather a sort of philosophical horror at the thought of a cosmos in which rude pictures of beasts and monsters have been painted with flaming suns.”
For those seeking to discover Gene Wolfe. If you want to dive right in go for “The Book of the New Sun”, or “The Book of the Long Sun”. If you want something that is stand alone to get a taste for what Wolfe is like, get yourself, “Pirate Freedom”. A great airplane novel but with lots of depth.
Oh yeah, Gene Wolfe also invented the Pringles oven.
Fellow librarian here. A friend of mine who was going to Simmons College invited me to come see Berman a few years ago when he spoke there.
I’d agree with you about the future generations of librarians seeing him for what he is, assuming that by “visionary” you meant “total head case.” I’m sorry, but the guy just kind of ranted and raved, pulling uncited cases and examples out of his ass for the whole time he was there. It’s one thing to listen to the voices in your head. It’s another thing to cite them while trying to prove your point.
For real, soon-to-be-timeless geniuses in library science, I’d nominate the people at Maya for developing the concept and practice of information commons. *They’re * the ones who are going to revolutionize library science, not Sanford.
ok - I checked out “Pirate Freedom” and the first two books of “The New Sun”. Question - I see the “The Book of the Long Sun” and The Book of the Short Sun." Are these “Sun” books to be read in a certain order?
I am so envious. I don’t play the tuba, but Howard Johnson is just plain amazing.
I’d list Samuel L. Delany. Not only is Chip a great writer, but he also has the ability to throw off brilliant insights without the slightest sign of effort.
Oh, I didn’t say he wasn’t nucking futz. But controlled vocabularies and subject access are IMHO our greatest professional tools (and quite arguably the biggest thing we’ve got over Google) and when we hamstring ourselves in our most important efforts (Cookery, anyone?) we only hurt ourselves. In LC, there are no tombstones. There are no gravestones. There are only Sepulchral Monuments (May Subd. Geog.)
Of course this is cafe society so I’m guessing then that Shu Kobayashi is not what you are looking for. Nevertheless, in the field of chemistry, he is one of the first to truly demonstrate that water could be used as a solvent for some very unexpected chemistry. The thing is, that using water as a solvent, has had some very unexpected results. I don’t know if he is Nobel Prize material, but is definitely in contention.
In law - Richard Posner. Seventh Circuit judge, law professor, incredibly prolific writer. Essentially invented the modern field of “law and economics”. Probably the most influential jurist in the United States - more so, even, than any Supreme Court justice.
Long Sun and then I believe Short Sun. The Book of the New Sun can be read independently. They all work within the same cosmology but at vastly different times. I think Long Sun and Short Sun are closer together and should be read in that order.
That’ll be Sid Meier for $1000, Alex. I can’t think of a crappy game he’s made (though I never did get SimEarth to run on my computer). His games have helped create the notion of a mainstream simulation, dragging more addicts into the computer gaming world.
For sheer whacked-out brilliant insanity, you can’t beat Richard Garriott (though I think his best work is behind him). Still, that’s the guy I want to be when I grow up. He’s everything I ever wanted to be: he’s a video game designer, a swashbuckler (seriously, he’s pretty good with a rapier), world traveler, and a friggin’ astronaut.
Though I’m considering changing my chosen medium to writing, where you can’t beat that… ooh, who’s that British guy everyone’s always going on about who writes those fantasy novels? His name’s on the ptip of my ptongue…
