4. Biography What is Biography?: The 100 In the World: Monarchs: Elizabeth I, Peter the Great Political: Autobiography of Malcolm X, Autobiography of a Yogi In the Mind: Scientists: Einstein, Freud (A Life for Our Time) Writers: Bernard Shaw, James Joyce ------===ooo===------ What is Biography? To be great men ourselves, we study those Who would strive, and win, Cleopatra's nose; Scale high the bottomless mountains divine Or sit in a room for line after line. The stuff of heroes is the stuff right here But in a book so there's nothing to fear. Crafted? Colded sculptured? A flowing art? Who knows who will participate the part? But lookee here my feckless feathered friends If you wanna fly, you gotta big spends. Time, effort, tiger tiger burning bright Get it right in the forests of the night. But wait, wait, wait, wait ... oooh ahhh Glenn McGrath A topless table sitting in a bar A legless chimp playing piano duet Gore and GW counting a big, big bet. The life is what you want to know No? No? No? Ho! Ho! Ho! ------===ooo===------ The 100 (A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History): the title says it all. Michael Hart attempts the bold task of stripping fame from deed, of myth from reality. Consisting of short biographical studies (averaging 5 pages each), headed with a portrait, and filled out with illustrations, Hart justifies his selections. Influence is not covalent with fame, and a few selections might surprise some (Ts'ai Lun, the inventor of paper, William Morton, a pioneer in anaesthetics, and Al-Khattab, one of Islam's conquering heroes) but, on the whole, most will recognise these great men. Incisive and well argued, this makes a fine companion to historical studies. Well done! Large format cardboard cover (1992). ------===ooo===------ In the World In the world of the gumnut tree In the world of the bumble bee Inside the cities closed by wall Inside the towns which welcome all In a house where the family lives In a room where the toast she gives In the world of the streaming sun These people live, and have their deeds there done. ------===ooo===------ Monarchs Chosen by God to rule the state Indulged by Man to obey their fate With a crown sitting high on their head Though their feet still dragging the ground like lead The monarchs of the world once reigned supreme But in this cold age they're out of steam The Tudors, Burbons, Romanovs are gone quite gone gone. ------===ooo===------ Elizabeth I: an elegant study by Anne Somerset. Rich contemporary quotations are woven effortlessly into the narrative, marking it with authority and Tudor taste. Even and balanced throughout, a joy to read and learn from. A lovely Phoenix giant paperback (1997, original 1991). ------===ooo===------ Peter the Great: a larger than life study of a larger than life man. In this Pulitzer Prize winning biography, Robert Massie tells the founding of modern Russia, for it was this Czar, more than any other, who pulled Russia from the bog of the past, and directed it towards a modern European state; before 1700 there were no government organs, no schools, no navy; when Peter the Great died in 1725, a solid bureaucracy that would survive 200 years had been established, primary schooling was compulsory, various institutes of higher learning had been founded, and the country possessed an army and navy worthy of her size. Reform indeed! I own a copy of the massive Abacus reprint (1997, original 1981). Get it! ------===ooo===------ Political If you would but survey the past Your would find to your great surprise That the most political figures of all Were not in fact the elected men. Fire and change are brought from without Forced to the stage by the people's heart One man representing a mass's cause One man refusing to obey the laws A political figure to change our ways. ------===ooo===------ Autobiography of Malcolm X: one should divide this book into 2 parts. The first half concerns growing up and early adulthood, insecurity and inexperience the two themes. The second half is about finding purpose and resolve, about creating a life. Growing up black in a white dominated society, Malcolm X gradually drifts into crime. A thief, a pimp, and a dope-peddler is how he survives the streets of Harlem. Caught, and in jail, is when the transformation begins. Converted to the Nation of Islam, an extremist black-power group, Malcolm X undertakes a massive program of self-education. Reading for up to 14 hours a day, he becomes a forceful advocate for the Nation upon his release. And so the story continues, and ends. Told with the voice of a natural storyteller; immediate, personal, engaging; and still relevant today (40 years on), this is a book that should be given all our youth. From Ballantine Books (1965). ------===ooo===------ Autobiography of a Yogi: the eye-opening story of a man in touch with the Truth. Paramahansa Yogananda is one of the great spiritual figures of our age; his training in the East, and wide teaching in the West, make him an ideal bridge. In crisp, though pleasingly warm, prose he traces his life; not full of dry asceticisms, but one full of humour and joy. The interspersed photographs greatly enhance the text; after all, we are visual creatures. Life changing reading. From the Self-Realisation Fellowship, a permanent paperback (1993 print). ------===ooo===------ In the Mind An inward mental journey, ideas Linked, and clinked, and jinked, and binked Stapled together this seemly mass Then hurled out the blackless hole. Hole, whole, hole, whole. Whole worlds pustik and fustik Hammered. Hey smashed, for a thinker's pleasure. ------===ooo===------ Scientists Have but respect for those dogged men sitting in their labs sifting stuff looking and looking for the magician's stone. That's the chemist. What about the bloke hunched over there with a table of logs and integral domains calculating which way the light will fall? That's the physicist. And who's this dude in the nude walking with his head held high looking for the rings of a planetary fly? That's the astronomer. These are the crazy men who make life easy. Scientists. ------===ooo===------ Einstein: the full-length biography by Albrecht Folsing, translated into impeccable English by Ewald Osers (from the German). Almost half a century on, this revolutionary physicist gets his due in this superb study. Drawing liberally upon Einstein's own letters & manuscripts, we get a delicious flavour of his peculiar thought and expression. Folsing is also fully conversant with Einstein's many scientific papers, and blends the technical work with an untechnical life. Incomparably thorough and complete, look for this in the solid Viking hardback (1997). ------===ooo===------ Freud (A Life for Our Time): the magisterial biography by Peter Gay. Craft and perspicacity reveal itself in almost every sentence, and the work as a whole may be considered an exemplary lesson in clear communication. Lay analyses of key works will be useful to those not familiar with Freud's original writings. 4 sets of plates round off this definitive study. A lush Anchor Books softcover (1989). ------===ooo===------ Writers Writers, writers in the air Writing, writing without a care What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? A letter, a word is the starting place A paragraph, a page to fill up space What crazy man or git Would print such worthless sh--? Writers of the world ... unite! ------===ooo===------ Bernard Shaw: oooh! Here we have another groundbreaker in the biographical art. Michael Holroyd is our tour-guide in this theme-park life; for Bernard Shaw lived many lives - music critic, playright, socialist, celebrity - each of them requiring separate treatment if the reader is to understand the complexity of this complex man. And he is the perfect chaperone, our Mr Holroyd; informed, organised, evocative. Condensed from the original four volumes, the definitive one-volume hardback edition (1997). A great work. ------===ooo===------ James Joyce: the majestic biography by Richard Ellman. A true landmark in the art of life writing (1959, Oxford University Press), with its unprecedented thoroughness and candour. We get into Joyce's head; live his life, experience the rocky relationships. Personal yet unsentimental, documented yet unbogged, Ellman has struck the perfect line between cool observer and the admiring writer. A piece of craft.