6 ms·

Completely unironically, I've been looking for a few thousand pages of biography worth reading.

blinkingled 4y ago
Lol few years ago I got LBJ's from local library and made sincere effort to read through - it was humongous. I could not carry on after a week.
- thejman5200 4y ago
  I dont really care if George RR Martin ever finishes Winds of Winter. But I will be immensely disappointed if Robert Caro dies before finishing the last LBJ book. He already somehow wrote 3,000+ pages in 40 years and hasn't even reached LBJ's passage of Medicare, Civil Rights, and Vietnam. He's 87 but still working on it apparently.
  - boppo1 4y ago
    What inspires a person to dedicate their lives to such an intricate biography of someone else?
    - aphyt 4y ago
      LBJ did some great things and he did some bad things. I can see that understanding and explaining how someone who had a life of immense consequence came to do both would be immensely valuable. That explanation could help drive the culture towards considering how we can get the former and avoid the latter as much as reasonably possible. If one was successful in that project, it is possible that their work would be more impactful in the long term than the person that they are writing about. Also, some people are just compelled to do really deep work because they like it.
    - gverrilla 4y ago
      Demand.
      - throwoutway 4y ago
        Is there a high demand for 3,000 page biographies?
    - Spooky23 4y ago
      Caro dedicated his life to the study of contemporary power. He’s a fascinating figure in his own right. IIRC, his wife is a scholar of medieval French literature/history and they do each others research.
- ted_bunny 4y ago
  "it was humongous" Yeah, I've heard that too.
purephase 4y ago
https://www.amazon.ca/Lyndon-Johnson-American-Dream-Presidential/dp/0312060270 https://www.amazon.ca/Lyndon-Johnson-American-Dream-Presiden...
zachrose 4y ago
The audiobooks are also good.
- favorited 4y ago
  I got a notification that the first one is on sale on Audible today for $8.

Lol few years ago I got LBJ's from local library and made sincere effort to read through - it was humongous. I could not carry on after a week.

thejman5200 4y ago
I dont really care if George RR Martin ever finishes Winds of Winter. But I will be immensely disappointed if Robert Caro dies before finishing the last LBJ book. He already somehow wrote 3,000+ pages in 40 years and hasn't even reached LBJ's passage of Medicare, Civil Rights, and Vietnam. He's 87 but still working on it apparently.
- boppo1 4y ago
  What inspires a person to dedicate their lives to such an intricate biography of someone else?
  - aphyt 4y ago
    LBJ did some great things and he did some bad things. I can see that understanding and explaining how someone who had a life of immense consequence came to do both would be immensely valuable. That explanation could help drive the culture towards considering how we can get the former and avoid the latter as much as reasonably possible. If one was successful in that project, it is possible that their work would be more impactful in the long term than the person that they are writing about. Also, some people are just compelled to do really deep work because they like it.
  - gverrilla 4y ago
    Demand.
    - throwoutway 4y ago
      Is there a high demand for 3,000 page biographies?
  - Spooky23 4y ago
    Caro dedicated his life to the study of contemporary power. He’s a fascinating figure in his own right. IIRC, his wife is a scholar of medieval French literature/history and they do each others research.
ted_bunny 4y ago
"it was humongous" Yeah, I've heard that too.

purephase 4y ago

https://www.amazon.ca/Lyndon-Johnson-American-Dream-Presidential/dp/0312060270 https://www.amazon.ca/Lyndon-Johnson-American-Dream-Presiden...

zachrose 4y ago

The audiobooks are also good.

favorited 4y ago
I got a notification that the first one is on sale on Audible today for $8.