Yeah, this pattern of many academics in this heterodox space. Steve Pinker, Jonathan Haidt, and Nicholas Christakis are people who had great insights in a narrow domain who then embraced the image of a generalized genius as a brand. Incidentally they all share one thing in common. They all have the same literary agent named John Brockman. So, not to sound too like a conspiracy theorist, but my guess is that this type of pivot sells a lot of books because it fits with a cultural frame/stereotype that "elite" academics are general geniuses (instead of specialists).