Yesterday I mentioned being interested in the life of Gertrude Bell.
Apparently, I am not alone when it comes to being interested in other people’s lives. Because according to several sources, there are between 10,000 and 20,000 new biographies published each year in the United States. This number includes both traditional and self-published biographies. People love to read about people.
I did another search for the “best-selling biographies” of all time. A variation of results came up.
The first list I checked put Matthew McConaughey’s book, Greenlights, at number one, followed by Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime. (Both autobiographies). In the third spot was The Power Broker — Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro. I didn’t think this list could be right. I mean, there have been so many other great biographies written. I’m not a big fan of McConaughey, so this just couldn’t be right. Not in my mind, at least. When my Google search became exhausted with multiple results, I turned to two AI sources. They mostly agreed on the top five.
The Wright Brothers (1953) by David McCullough.
Einstein: His Life and Universe (1997) by Walter Isaacson.
Alexander Hamilton (2004) by Ron Chernow.
Steve Jobs (2011) by Walter Isaacson.
The Life of Winston Churchill (1966) by Martin Gilbert.
A little offshoot here about my results. I do a lot of researching of facts on the internet, due to two things: My blog and my novel writing.
It makes me wonder about other people who view the results of their personal searches. I have found whenever I pose a question, I get multiple hits, as we all do. I typically check the first half dozen or so to see if there is a “consistency” of information. I never simply trust the first thing that pops up. So, yes. I wonder about others and how they find what they find on the net. I’m often surprised by what people “say” as “God’s truth” when they speak on social media.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand: Our interest in people from the past. There is a fascination here. And I wonder what the reasons might be.
Plain old curiosity about someone would be the first. I’m sure that is why people read about Matthew McConaughey, Elon Musk, or Elvira, or the like.
But I think most people also like to learn about the past. Or perhaps to be inspired. Maybe they are trying to gain insights into human nature or to find out what made someone tick. It could be to learn about different cultures or a historical event or era.
Regardless, it seems we like to delve into the past and take a look.
Which brings another thing to mind. So many of the current “wisdoms” of life about instructing us to “stay in the present moment” also tell us we should not dwell on the past.
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
― Buddha
“Living in the present moment creates the experience of eternity.”
– Deepak Chopra
But then we have the flip side of the argument.
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
― George Santayana
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
“The past beats inside me like a second heart.”
― John Banville, The Sea
Personally, I think there are healthy ways to visit the past, present, and even the future.
Sometimes, I believe it is essential for us to recount past events, asking it to help us learn, finding what others have done, which might help what we are doing. Or simply to gain knowledge of this expansive Universe, which is not operating on linear time at all.
As for the present, it is always good to be here, and to be aware of what our life is, in every moment. However, sometimes those moments must include our excursions through history, or our projections about the future.
And yes. The future. It is necessary for us to go there. Not in worry, hopefully, but in planning and awareness. Let’s do lunch next Tuesday, and such. Or, by next month, I want to do “this or that.”
So, I believe our minds, our bodies, and our spirit is always skipping along through all three planes of time, as we perceive it.
And hopefully, we are always exactly where we were meant to be. At just the right time.
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“Time brings all things to pass.”
— Aeschylus
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“Time is the wisest counselor of all.”
— Pericles.
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“If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.”
— Maria Edgeworth
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“Time is an illusion.”
— Albert Einstein
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Past? Future? Present? All the time, time.
