I've learned to be wary of biographies. All too often, when I find a biography of an interesting person, I start it only to find myself landed in a childhood that, however unique, doesn't have anything to do with what motivated me to read the book. And then, if I'm still reading after the childhood, I'm left in a young adulthood that also only has a few clues to whet my by-now-starving motivation. Chronologically, of course, this makes sense. As a way of sympathizing with the person I'm reading about and understanding their motivations, of course, this also makes sense. But still, something's missing here. After all, if any novel started with several chapters of our protagonist's childhood long before the main plot started, we'd drop it.
The Extravagant Details of Biography
The Extravagant Details of Biography
The Extravagant Details of Biography
I've learned to be wary of biographies. All too often, when I find a biography of an interesting person, I start it only to find myself landed in a childhood that, however unique, doesn't have anything to do with what motivated me to read the book. And then, if I'm still reading after the childhood, I'm left in a young adulthood that also only has a few clues to whet my by-now-starving motivation. Chronologically, of course, this makes sense. As a way of sympathizing with the person I'm reading about and understanding their motivations, of course, this also makes sense. But still, something's missing here. After all, if any novel started with several chapters of our protagonist's childhood long before the main plot started, we'd drop it.