The Fool and the Genius

About this book

A supposed fool and a celebrated genius are drawn through holes in space and time while searching for an ideal city that may expose the absurdity of both labels. Samir Al-Sherbini blends speculative science, philosophical satire, and literary adventure, using impossible travel to test familiar claims about intelligence and progress. Each society the characters encounter offers a different solution to human disorder, and each solution conceals a new form of vanity or control. Their opposing temperaments become mutually necessary as the journey grows stranger. The novel asks whether brilliance without humility is merely another kind of foolishness and whether perfection can survive contact with actual human beings.