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What is the appeal of reading biography? Personally I’ve never understood it. Biographies of historical figures can be interesting to me not for the person th
by gumby 3y ago
What is the appeal of reading biography? Personally I’ve never understood it.
Biographies of historical figures can be interesting to me not for the person themselves but as a vehicle to describe the society they lived in. Thats what makes Plutarch’s “lives” dull but a biography of Cicero interesting (to me).
But a recent or even contemporary figure? Yawn.
Perhaps there’s something insightful that I don’t get?
- n4r9 3y agoPeople are generally interested in the character, psychology and environmental conditions of individuals who have an outsized impact on the world around them. What made them who they are, and how they achieved what they did.
- serjester 3y agoMusk has had an outsized impact on the world and many people want to know more about the type of person that can pull that off in our current climate. I love historical biographies but they aren’t as relatable as contemporary works.
- paxys 3y agoI kinda agree with this, especially when it comes to people who are not just still alive but also actively involved in the writing of the book and dictating what can and cannot go in it (like it was with Elon Musk and Walter Isaacson). At that point you aren't reading a biography but a PR puff piece. On the other hand well-researched biographies of historical figures who have been out of the public limelight are among the most interesting books you can read, which I'm sure will be the case for Musk as well maybe 30-50 years from now.
- avmich 3y agoThe person could be uninteresting, but the stream of successful and not projects which happen to be united by the participant could be useful as a learning material.
- marcusverus 3y agoIf you want to know how a machine works, you take it apart. You puzzle out what each piece does, and why. Biography is the same idea, but for people.