What is your storyline?

The need for a biography and it's paradigms.

In this age of information overload, it can be hard for a seeker of knowledge to determine what to prioritize.

The biography of a person highlights their goals, works, culture and other significant events in their life. This makes it easier for others to relate with the person, which in turn gives clarity to the thoughts in the seeker’s mind.

Is biography a narrative or something more?

Biographies symbolize several things, depending on who is reading them and why.

A monumental biography is not just a chronological list of events that happened to someone. Rather, it should weave a narrative and tell a story in almost the same way a novel does. In this way, biography differs from the rest of nonfiction.

As biographer Richard Holmes, once wrote that his work was: 

writing about the pursuit of that fleeting figure in such a way as to bring them alive in the present

Biographies are an essential study and aid us to contextualize the world we live in the following ways: 

• In our ability to comprehend and empathize with the experiences, struggles, and successes of others. 
• Providing us with a window into how someone lived their life and how they perceived the outside world. 
• Discovering more about ourselves and how we can make a difference in the world by looking into the lives of others! 
• One of the most important things that helps us progress from one step to the next is biography.                                                                                                 

Among the many questions we ask - metaphysics and content involved in a biography.

   When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Is there a teacher that you remember having been particularly influential? What is your definition of “happiness”? What are the key lessons you’ve learned in life?

    These kinds of questions will help us understand what shaped them into who they are now—and maybe even give some insight into why they act or think the way that they do.

The least that is expected of a chronicler of any significant life and movement is fidelity to truth and a sympathetic understanding. The biographer, though consciously aware of his or her personal emotions and reactions to the subject, acknowledges that the telling of the story is primarily defined by the subject in relation to the reader.

Biographical research may be conceived in many ways; however, typically the topic constitutes the study of a single life, focusing primarily upon an individual who in some way is worth studying.

No definitive listing of biographical types can ever be constructed. Fortunately, novel forms, content, and processes—are continually being conceived and explored.

There are five typical forms of biographical research: 

• Scholarly chronicles- focus on the historical portrayal of an individual life.
• Intellectual biography- forsakes the need for basic chronological structure and develops a narrative of a life through the conceptual analysis of the subject’s motives and beliefs within the world of ideas.
• Life history writing- case study paradigms emerge as life history writers address issues of generalizability, social interaction-social structure.
• Memoir biography- an interpretive narrative of the writer, alongside the presentation of the biographical subject, becomes part of the research.
• Narrative biography- represents a dynamic portrayal of a life without the need for absolute facticity or a comprehensive account from birth to grave.

These orientations may take the form of articles, vignettes, chapters, monographs, and full-length books. At no point in our lives do we stop needing to write a biography or read others’ biographies. While biographies help us to see that we are not alone in our problems, and that there are ways through them, it plays a vital role in discovering one’s identity. 

This is the reason why it is important to know who we are and where we come from by reading and writing biographies. 

Let the journey of self-discovery begin by reading a few memorable biographies.

Ramakrishna: A biography- Advaita Ashrama

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl
Wings of Fire, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, 1999
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

Vivekananda: A Biography, Swami Nikhilananda
The Man Who Knew Infinity, Robert Kanigel, 1991
Satya ke Prayog, Mahatma Gandhi, 1925
Endurance - Alfred Lansing
Playing It My Way, Sachin Tendulkar, 2014
Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss
Waiting for a Visa, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, 1990
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt.
Surely, You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! - Richard P. Feynman

[1] https://www.aera.net/SIG013/Research-Connections/Introduction-to-Biographical-Research, the five types and methods of presentation as pointed out in the writeup.