The hilarious, regrettable and downright baffling lesser-known achievements of the men and women who somehow managed to bungle their way into our history books. Includes:

· Why Leonardo Da Vinci was the original rogue trader

· Why the teenage Émilie du Châtelet stripped to her underwear to fight the king's guard

· Why Sigmund Freud lived his life like Scarface

· Why Ernest Hemingway was the worst KGB agent ever

'Katie Spalding is one of those annoyingly talented writers. Funny, and with an absurd amount of obscure knowledge, The Limits of Genius is a must-read on how everyone is much, much stupider than they make out.'
James Felton, author of 52 Times Britain Was a Bellend