Thinking on Reading
Tonight I picked up Lords of Finance: the Bankers who Broke the World for some weekend reading. The first page has only this written on it:
Read no history — nothing but biography, for that is life without theory – Benjamin Disraeli
Tis a pretty interesting thought.
It seems that biography forces writers to deal with topics they would prefer to ignore. John Adams was full of death and sickness in ways that I would have skirted if I was simply trying to write a compelling tale.
Biographies also always link broader historical themes to concrete events in individual lives. Much better from my perspective.
I think I’ll start reading more of the genre.
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