Almost a century after the birth of a big-headed man who altered our conceptions of light, energy, mass, space, and time, a boy with a similarly large head was born in Ionia, Wyoming. Meet Edward, a self-proclaimed genius who considers the parallels between his life and Albert Einstein’s proof of his exceptional brilliance. Nearly twenty-six (Einstein’s age the year he discovered E=MC2), he is getting nowhere with his wildly expanding dissertation on science’s evolving conception of the void—in short, the modern scientific history of nothing. Convinced that he is on the verge of a major breakthrough, he leaves graduate school and lands an entry-level job at an innovative new company, hoping his intelligence will be put to better use there. Although he’s not sure exactly what the company does, Edward believes that with his keen mind and original ideas he will revolutionize everything from cubicle culture to the global marketplace. Told in Edward’s endearing, delusional voice, The Wages of Genius is not only a hilarious parody of corporate culture a la Walter Kirn’s Up in the Air, but a sympathetic portrait of a hapless young man (think Ignatius J. Reilly) with poor judgment, bad luck, and the best of intentions.
Gregory Mone was born on Long Island and now lives in Massachusetts with his wife and three children. And since he is the one writing this biography, he will stop referring to himself in the third person. I've written three books and a stack of magazine articles. I'm kind of a science writer, but since I also write about pirates (Fish, a children's novel, is out now!) and surfing (some magazine pieces), that's not quite accurate.
My published books are loosely about Einstein, Santa Claus, and treasure hunting, in that order. Guess which one is nonfiction. I've also hacked out a few mediocre books, but I've kept those to myself. At some point, I'd like to write about Irish mythology and the evolution of the universe. Those will probably be two different projects, but it would be kind of funny to combine them.
