In the mythology of giftedness, it is popularly believed that if people aretalented in one area, they must be defective in another, that intellectuals areimpractical, that prodigies burn too brightly too soon and burn out, thatgifted people are eccentric, that they are physical weaklings, that there's athin line between genius and madness, that genius runs in families, that thegifted are so clever they don't need special help, that giftedness is the sameas having a high IQ, that some races are more intelligent or musical ormathematical than others, that genius goes unrecognised and unrewarded, thatadversity makes men wise or that people with gifts have a responsibility to usethem.
