View source for Genius Book Club

{{trope}}
{{quote|"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books, and my apartment smells of rich mahogany."|'''Ron Burgundy''', from ''[[Anchorman]]'', trying to [[Invoked Trope|invoke]] this trope, [[Small Name, Big Ego|with mixed results]].}}

One common way to show that a character is exceptionally smart is to portray them reading classical literature or something heavily technical and science-y. Additionally, characters are always reading the heavy bound versions of the book so we can easily see ''what'', exactly, it is that they're reading- otherwise, why even bother putting the book there in the first place?

Expect the titles referenced to be from [[Small Reference Pools]], since again, it's only possible to impress upon the viewer how smart the character is provided they're reading something anyone has ever actually heard of.

Of course, it's not like all such writing [[True Art Is Incomprehensible|is completely beyond the understanding of us mere mortals]], and this trope can be well done provided that the character is, in fact, reading a specific book- and not just a classic that we can all identify as such. It can be quite informative when the book's subject matter becomes something of a plot point. Rather than simply observing the character reading the book, for example, we can watch another character ask what it is they're reading- and why.

For bonus points, an [[Omniglot]] can read it in the original language. The more obscure the original, the more points; Sanskrit is ideal.

Related to [[TV Genius]], specifically the tendency of average-to-dumb characters to [[Screw Learning, I Have Phlebotinum|spout off a whole bunch of knowledge they never actually learned]] if they suddenly become one.

A case of [[Truth in Television]] - people do, in fact, read books like this for the sole purpose of [[Invoked Trope|trying to appear]] intelligent. And an even smaller number of people really do read them for the sake of reading them.

Also see [[Smart People Play Chess]].

{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Evangeline from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' was once seen reading the illustrative ''A Day, a Dog'' by Gabrielle Vincent, whose existential complexity was used humorously because, even though she's [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]], she appears 10.
** Later on, Tosaka, of all people, [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v27/c245/5.html is seen reading] the [[wikipedia:Charles Baudelaire|Walter Benjamin translation of Charles Baudelaire.]]
** Evangeline is also shown citing Russian classics on occasion, such as when she quotes Tolstoy's ''Anna Karenina'' to Setsuna during their tournament match.
* In ''[[Kyou Kara Maou]]'', the Daikenja, Shinou's brilliant [[The Strategist|Strategist]] and Ken Murata's first incarnation, is shown reading a heavy, hard bound book in the middle of a forest of sorts when first introduced. Where he managed to get the said book from is another question altogether...
* A minor running gag in ''[[Haré+Guu|Haré+Guu]]''—the schoolkids read Heidegger and similar works. They don't otherwise seem unusually bright for their ages.
* In the first episode of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', Kaiba is seen reading Nietzsche's ''Also Sprach Zarathustra'' ([[Macekre|at least in the original Japanese]]).
* Subverted in ''[[Naruto]]'' with Kakashi, who is often referred to as a genius but whose literature of choice is erotic fiction. Written by another 'genius' ninja, no less.
* In ''[[Black Butler]]'', the young Joanne Harcourt (age unknown, but probably around 14) chooses to read ''The Logic of Hegel'' and in a flashback Vincent Phantomhive in his late teens reads Aristotle's ''Metaphysics''. In contrast, the main character Ciel Phantomhive, who is most definely also a genius, likes popular fiction and is a fan of ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]''.
* In the [[Beach Episode]] of ''[[Full Metal Panic!|Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu]]'', all the student council president does is read - and he's reading a different book from the Genius Book Club every time we see him.

== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Evelyn Cream from ''[[Miracleman]]''. Among other things, he's read the untranslated works of various French authors and owns an original painting from a famous modern artist.
* Lex Luthor is introduced in the Alternate Continuity ''[[Superman]]: Red Son'' playing chess against 12 people at the same time, while reading Machiavelli's ''Il Principe'' and learning Urdu through an audio tape to which he's listening in the portable tape recorder that he designed in the washroom that morning.
* The Beast of ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' is often seen going through these, though its a case of [[Depending on the Writer]] how deep [[Small Reference Pools|the reference pool goes]]. Usually [[Chris Claremont]] was good at showing him reading obscure, if appropriately deep, works.
** Layla Miller from ''[[X-Factor (comics)|X-Factor]]'' who kept reading some book while sitting on the sidewalk. Strong Guy asks if she's reading the latest [[Harry Potter]] novel, she answers it's ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]''.
* In an issue of ''[[Exiles]]'' when a library exploded the only two books visible happened to be ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'' and the far more obscure ''Ubik''. The [[Genius Bonus]] is that ''Atlas Shrugged'' is about how things are truly objective and ''[[Ubik]]'' is a quintessential subjective world.
* In ''[[Bone]]'', Fone Bone is a great fan of ''[[Moby Dick]]'' - the author's own favorite book. It's a running gag that every other character finds it extremely boring and dry. [[Truth in Television]], since it spends several chapters talking about whaling and numerous pages describing the color white.
** YMMV. The whaling chapters are full of descriptions of violent accidents and left-field philosophical asides, and "The Whiteness of the Whale" is about a lot more than color.

== [[Film]] ==
* In the ''[[Matilda (film)|Matilda]]'' movie, the eponymous character was reading [[Charles Dickens]] in her first day of school (granted, she started a bit late, but still...). When she mentions this to her teacher, she's dumbstruck.
** And the book her dumb-as-bricks father tore up was ''[[Moby Dick]]''. She's five at the time.
*** He thought it was some kind of dirty book.
{{quote|"Moby ''what?!''"}}
* ''[[The Art of War]]'' is also seen in John Mason's collection in the movie ''[[The Rock]]''.
** The chapter on observing enemy behaviour would be pretty useful for a British intelligence agent.
* Subverted by White Goodman in ''[[DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story]]'', who pretends to read a book to seem smart. The book in question? The dictionary.
* Lorelei, villain Ross Webster's assistant and girlfriend in ''[[Superman III]]'', appears to be a standard [[Dumb Blonde]]. However, while alone she reads Immanuel Kant's ''Critique of Pure Reason'' and disputes one of its arguments, thus showing [[Obfuscating Stupidity|her stupidity is a facade]] she puts on to manipulate others.
* The live action ''[[Death Note]]'' film has a scene with [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Light]] reading ''Thus Spake Zarathustra''.
* ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]'' draws from ''[[Moby Dick]]'' (which Khan quotes extensively), ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', ''[[The Divine Comedy|The Inferno]]'', and ''[[King Lear]]''. When we see Khan's bookshelf, there they all are.
** Near the beginning of ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Wrath of Khan]]'', Spock gives Kirk a copy of ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' as a birthday present. Kirk is shown reading it, or quoting it a few times during the film.
* Played with in the film ''[[Dr. Who and the Daleks]]'': We are introduced to the title character and his family through a panning shot showing them sitting and reading. Granddaughter Susan (age 12) is reading ''Physics for the Enquiring Mind'', granddaughter Barbara is reading ''The Science of Science'', and the Doctor is reading [[Dan Dare|a comic book]].
* Referenced by Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) in ''[[Anchorman]]''. In this case, he is not shown ''reading'' a large book (perhaps [[Small Name, Big Ego|not surprisingly]]), but merely refers to the fact that he ''owns'' such books in a rather pathetic attempt to [[Invoked Trope|invoke this trope]].
* At the beginning of ''[[Finding Forrester]]'', the pile of well-worn books Jamal has been reading includes works by noteworthy authors like [[Anton Chekhov]], [[Ken Kesey]], [[Yukio Mishima]], [[Søren Kierkegaard]], [[Marquis de Sade]], and [[Ray Bradbury]]. Of course, even an intellect like Jamal's hasn't cracked the spine of [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Finnegans Wake]]''.

== [[Literature]] ==
* The young adult novel ''[[Millicent Min, Girl Genius]]'' presents the eponymous character (who, for the record, is eleven) as a fan of [[Shakespeare]].
* While most of the books Klaus has read in ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' are made-up nonfiction with titles like ''What Happens to Wet Metal'', he's also a fan of Herman Melville and Leo Tolstoy. The villains invert this trope (and massively subvert [[Dumb Is Good]]) by being cultural philistines.
* Bella of ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' rereads ''[[Wuthering Heights (novel)|Wuthering Heights]]'' "for fun", [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|something not many people do]].
** This one suffers from [[Small Reference Pools]].
** Earlier in the series, it's implied that she's a [[Jane Austen]] fan, too.
* In Ruth Rendell's novel ''[[Gallowglass]]'' (but not in the TV adaptation), Sandor reads Solzhenitsyn's ''[[Cancer Ward]],'' which shows how educated and smart he is, unlike the uneducated and below-average-intelligence Joe. (Maybe it's also to give him complexity, since Sandor seems to be borderline [[Heroic Sociopath|sociopathic]].)
* In a humorous story by [[Woody Allen]], "A Little Louder, Please" the narrator shows off how sophisticated he is by bragging that he read ''[[Finnegans Wake]]'' on a roller coaster at Coney Island.
* [[Philip Roth]]'s ''[[Goodbye, Columbus]]'' has the protagonist's cousin reading ''[[War and Peace]]'' every summer and it grows increasingly obvious that she only brings the book along so she can display how intelligent she supposedly is. Given that the book is about a Jewish boy from Newark, visiting with his Aunt in Livingston and chasing after a girl who lives in (and goes to a country club in) Short Hills (local NJ geography is semi-necessary for reading), class differences are huge and he's probably making some sort of point.
* Played oddly in ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]''. A few [[Fictional Document]]s are cited to describe how normal culture is failing, and reading them is used to demonstrate who is a fool. Several good characters, like Dan Conway, are portrayed as smart but neither own books nor read at all. Played straight with the pirate, Ragnar Danneskjöld, who reads his last line in the book from [[Aristotle]]'s ''Metaphysics''.
** [[Ayn Rand]] used a similar tactic in ''[[The Fountainhead]]''. One legitimately funny scene features villain Ellsworth Toohey and his quasi-intellectual friends deciding which god awful book or play will become part of the Genius Book Club next.
* In [[P. G. Wodehouse]]'s [[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]] novels, [[Upper Class Twit|Bertie Wooster]] likes to read mystery novels, while [[The Jeeves|Jeeves]] prefers the works of the philosopher [[Spinoza]].
* For some utterly inexpliable reason, Door from ''[[Neverwhere]]'' is repeatedly seen reading a copy of ''[[Mansfield Park]]'' that she's apparently pulled from [[Hammerspace]]. Whether it's supposed to tell us something about Door's personality or simply remind us that London Below is [[Planet Eris|just weird]] [[Mind Screw|like that]] is not made clear.

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* Subverted the "All-England Summarise Proust Competition" from ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]''.
* Subverted in ''[[Father Ted]]'': Ted leaves several novels - ''[[War and Peace]], [[Crime and Punishment]]'', etc. - on the table to impress a writer who has come to stay. Dougal says to him, "Ah, you're throwing out the ones you couldn't get through?"
** Also subverted when Father Ted goes to pick up a book he had lent to another priest. As the priest goes through his library, he mentions various heavy-weight works of philosophy and theology, until he reaches a book called ''"Tech Wars"'' - which is, of course, the book Ted lent to him.
* Shakespeare, Poe, Washington Irving et al. frequently have guest spots in ''[[CSI]]''{{'}}s [[Quip to Black]]. Clearly, Grissom is a fan of the more popular, accessible classics, which he presumably read when he was 12 and had spare time.
* Tony Stonem in ''[[Skins]]'' is a bit of a literature and philosophy fan, seen reading Nietzsche and Rand on separate occasions, the latter when he's still recovering from a brain injury.
* Hiroto Suto in ''[[Engine Sentai Go-onger]]'' doesn't just read philosophy books, he reads ''English'' philosophy books.
* Lazy, bone-idle and work shy Onslo, the slovenly, perpetually unemployed brother-in-law of the main character in ''[[Keeping Up Appearances]]'' is seen reading several books on highly technical subjects such as quantum mechanics over the course of the series.
* Used in a more specific way in the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffyverse]]''. To emphasize Angel's guilty brooding he is seen reading Sartre and other bleak existentialists.
* Used often enough on ''[[Lost]]''; [[Con Man|Sawyer]] is shown to be reading a lot in early seasons, though he reads basically anything he can find. A straighter example is [[The Chessmaster|Ben]], who has been seen reading ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]'', ''[[VALIS]]'' by [[Philip K. Dick]] , and of course, James Joyce's ''[[Ulysses]]''.
* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'': John Sessions has read more books than you, and he'll make sure you [[Sophisticated As Hell|KNOW IT, GODDAMNIT]].
* In a recent{{when}} ''[[Numb3rs]]'' Charlie Eppes is show packing a copy of ''[[Lawrence of Arabia|Seven Pillars of Wisdom]]'' to read while teaching at Cambridge.
* In one episode of ''[[Andromeda]]'', Tyr is reading [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s ''Beyond Good and Evil.''
** Well, considering his people call themselves [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Nietzscheans]], that's hardly surprising.
* [[Gilmore Girls|Rory Gilmore]].
* [[Played for Laughs]] on [[The War at Home]]:
{{quote|'''Vicky:''' This book sucks!
'''Dave:''' You know what I do with books that suck? I wait for them to come out as [[The Film of the Book|movies that suck.]]
'''Vicky:''' Unfortunately, I have to read this. It's for my stupid book club.
'''Dave:''' If it's stupid, why do you go?
'''Vicky:''' I like to tell people I'm in a book club. }}

== [[Video Games]] ==
* Wheatley tries to do this in ''[[Portal 2]]''
{{quote|'''[[GLaDOS]]:''' ''[Chell and [[GLaDOS]] exit the elevator to find a harpsichord piece by Bach playing on the speakers]'' Ohh... no, he's playing classical music. ''[they enter the testing room to hear the sound of pages being turned]''
'''Wheatley:''' Oh sorry sorry sorry; Hope that didn't disturb you too much there. It was the sound of books... pages being turned. So, that's just what I was doing, just reading, uh... books. So not a moron. [[Feigning Intelligence|Anyway, just finished the last one, just now, the hardest one. Machiavelli. Do not know what all the fuss was about - understood it perfectly.]] Have you read that one?
'''[[GLaDOS]]:''' ''[disdainfully]'' Yes.
'''Wheatley:''' Yeah, decked it. Well, on with the test! Wished there was more books! But there's not. }}
* Grunt from ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' enjoys reading [[Ernest Hemingway|Hemingway]]. ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls]]'' and ''[[The Old Man and the Sea]]'' seem to be his favorite, but he doesn't like ''[[A Farewell to Arms]]''.

== [[Web Comics]] ==
* One of the heroes of ''[[Narbonic]]'' spinoff ''Lil Mell'', child genius Sergio Mendoza, has a severe case of this combined with [[Little Professor Dialog]].
* In ''[[The Dreamer]]'', Nathan is often seen reading the play Cato which also acts as a [[Genius Bonus]] for those who know that his historical counterpart's famous quote is sometimes attributed as based on a part of the play.

== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In a moment of intentionally [[Hypocritical Humor]], Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer said on ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' season one [[DVD Commentary]] that the network thought a lot of their work was too smart for the average viewer, then started talking about a script for an episode they had written that was all about Proust.
* Given a [[Double Subversion]] in ''[[Doug]]''. In "Doug's Brainy Buddy", it is revealed that Skeeter managed to get a perfect score on an intelligence test. Doug, skeptical that his ditzy friend could really be a genius, goes to Skeeter's house and says that geniuses, among other things, "read lots of books!" Skeeter objects, pointing out his library. Doug counters that these aren't real books (they're elementary and middle school humor fiction), until running into Immanuel Kant's ''A Critique of Pure Reason''. Skeeter proceeds to make Doug dizzy and ''fall down'' with his complex (if accurate) explanation of why Kant is so interesting.
* Stewie in ''[[Family Guy]]'' starts by reading ''[[The Prince]]'', but he throws it away in disgust.
{{quote|'''Stewie:''' Oh, Machiavelli, you've taught me nothing I don't already know! Ah, Sun Tzu's ''[[The Art of War]]''!}}
** Parodied in a ''Family Guy'' episode, in which we find that the bookshelf of Peter Griffin, who is legally retarded, contains "two ''[[Garfield]]'' books and the [[Novelization]] of the movie ''[[Caddyshack]]''."
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "Homer's Mother", Mona Simpson is reading Abbie Hoffman's ''Steal This Book''.
* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' has a lot of literary influence, so it's not surprising it invokes this. Goliath is seen reading Dostoyevsky (leading Elisa to joke "Really? Who's it by?"). Also, Fox spent time in prison reading Sartre, leading to this exchange:
{{quote|'''Hyena:''' ''(While shooting paperclips at cockroaches)'' Why do you read that stuff?
'''Fox:''' Because Nietzsche's too butch, and Kafka reminds me of your little friends over there. }}
* ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' tended to use this not just to show how smart Gromit is, but also as a vehicle for [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]s. For example, in ''A Close Shave'', when Gromit gets framed for sheep rustling and imprisoned, he's shown reading ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'' in his cell—and the author's name is misspelled on the cover as Fyodor ''Dog''stoevsky.
* ''[[Daria]]'' often begins a scene with the title character reading, and if you look closely it's usually something along these lines (but with a fairly deep reference pool).

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[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]
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