Du Sautoy’s reliance on this familiar roster of human creativity has a nervous quality to it. He sets it up almost as a kind of stockpile of early wins for humans because, as the book progresses, it is evident that this is a narrative about winners and losers. With subheadings “The Human Fights Back,” “Man versus Machine,” and “The Limits of Our Human Hardware,” the reader is reminded again and again that du Sautoy sees humans as pitted in a battle with computers for dominance. This vision of creativity as winner takes all is inextricably linked to a patriarchal preference for dominance over collaboration or hybridization: Picasso versus Matisse, death match! Or, in this case, AI versus White Dudes, with the reader assumed to be on team White Dudes.