Being a genius is not an attribute you can own. People around you, or people not even knowing you could only say “You are a genius”.

If you meet a smart person in real life, you won't recognize his or her talent for the first time, because he or she looks pretty normal. As soon as he or she  reveals his or her knowledge, becomes interesting to you. This means most all of the genius people are normal like you and me, but they have a special field of knowledge, that stands out from the crowd, what they love to do.

Real geniuses have defect in other parts of the life, they have no relationships, they are acting like a child, does not like responsibility, have no family life. If you have advantage in knowledge, you have disadvantage in emotions.

You want to be genius? You want to be rich? Learn and go among people who recognize your talent. Do businesses from you have the greatest income.

Life is easy, follow the path of success, if you wanna be successful.

einsteinWas Einstein, Michelangelo or Leonardo geniuses, not in their lifetime. The attribute of “genius” is 90% marketing, other's opinion.

Would you like to know other's thoughts? Listen to them.

In order to become a genius, does one actually need to read a ton of books? Not, but may help if you love to read books. Remember the quote “Learn by doing”, or I would more like “Learn by teaching”. If you are not smart enough teach others. I am not smart enough to answer the question in the title, but this is why I answer it.