Reading Biography

Please post a critical question or comment about biography.

The words of the book are not difficult so the book is understandable.If it is too much vocabulary, I believe it will reduce reader's interest. Besides, adding some conversations can make the book more interesting and lively. Besides, there are some famous person's well-known saying ,such as Bismarck ,his words clearly show us how worse of Polish at that time and help us to understand the background of Marie.

I seem to be having some problems locating another children's verison of the Marie Curie's biography, by a different author than the professor. Does any one have any suggestion on where to get such a book?

I have to agree that the vocabulary of the book is not too complicated but at the same time it is so meaningfull and deep. Every time you reread the sentence or the paragraph you discover new ideas, which strengthen the biography as a whole.

Biography and History. No one can separate these two concepts. They both are a past preserved in human memory. They both are a chronological record of events and an explonation of their causes. In fact, biography is a someone's history.

After reading Chapter One: Between Hope And Despair, I finally understood what active reading meant. The carefully chosen words gives the reader a visualization of a scene and also room to expand their imagination. However, an idea crossed my mind regarding the simple, but yet deep passages. Written as a biography for children, would such an audience be able to understand the meaning behind the chosen words?

I had a chance to compare extracts (from Barbara Goldsmith's & Mr. Rollyson's biographies) depicting the scene in Polish school. Really impressed how choice and use of words can change your perception of a situation. Definately, Mr. Rollyson's variant is more vivid, emotional and 'alive'.

Biographies are intended to recap the lives of famous people who in some way or the other touched peoples’ lives. When writing a biography intended for young readers how do you determine who your subject will be? Or, can you write it on just about anyone?

I've just finished reading the book "Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity", by Naomi Pasachoff. This book totaly observes all the life facts of Marie Curie, such as scientific,scoveries, private life, motherhood.

I like Marie Curie: Honesty in Science though I just read 3 chapters. It seems to have a great power which attracts me to keep reading. When I began to read, there is a timeline which gives me a clear situation, and it help me to understand the content. I really enjoy the content when I am reading.

Within the first 2 chapters, there is alot of important information about Marie Curie that doesn't necessarily focus on chronogical events, but more of some of the important parts of her life. The dialect and the imagery adds life to the novel, but I felt that there should've been a little more about her relationships with the important people in her life; like her ather and her sister that she made the pact with.

I'm not a big fan of reading biographies. Throughout my lifetime, I read a few biographies. They weren't engaging due to small text and thickness of the books. As I heard your reading of Marie Curie: Honesty in Science, I could visualize what is happening to Marie Curie. I found it vibrant and outstanding. It made me wondering if any children's books are comparable to yours. I found the 2 children's biographies have a mundane beginning. Both stated Marie and her husband recieved a nobel prize for their discovery.

Actually, i really want to ask you a similar question that Partris Molligan already post upon this. As his question, are there any kind of standards for determinding who your subject will be and who can write a biography about someone? If the answer for both questions is Yes, please tell us little bit about those qualifications. If the answer is No, can i start to write my own biography about anyone just right now?

The beginning of ~{!0~}Marie Curie: noble prize winning physicist~{!1~} by Lisa N. Burby tells the basic facts of Marie Curie, so the reader knows very clearly about the background of Marie Curie. I think it~{!/~}s a good way to start a biography for chilldren.

Hi Professor, after reader your essay about Plutarch I am now fully aware of the difference between Biography and history. Biography seems much more intriging and does not deal with what events occured in the past. As you also stated it deals with personalities, ethical values and political values. Those topics are of more interest to me than dealing with just historic facts and events.

After reading chapter 3 of "Marie Curie: Honesty In Science", the language seems a little complex for a children's book. Maybe a notebox of defining some of the words would help the young reader a little more. Otherwise, the chapter was insightful

I read almost half of 'Marie Curie and the Discovery of Radium.' There are historical facts in it that makes me understand Marie Curie better. Historical facts can have big influence on people. Biography should contain historical contents to help the reader understand the person better. However, to understand someone completely, we should also concentrate on the individual's inner side.

After the English class on Thursday, I found out that there are biographies for adults and also for children. Children version biographies are tended to be shorter and have much more simpler vocabularies. On the other hand, adult version biographies have more details but harder to comprehend. I think I should borrow children version biographies with "pictures" so that I can get more details from it.

On pg.11 of "Essays in Biography," the author wrote, "for plutarch¡¦s aim was not merely to describe lives but to judge them, to weigh their ethical value and to measure their political effectiveness.¡¨ I think the difference between biography and history is that the biographer will put his/her own views toward people they wrote about, and the history is all about the facts without the author¡¦s opinions inside.

I am astonished to find how captivating Marie Curie: Honesty in Science was. I never expected myself to be able to finish reading the whole book in one sitting. But on another note, what exactly did Marie Curie do with the gram of radium she obtained in the United States? Why did she want it?

After reading Marie Curie's biography, I'm getting little interest on her fantastic work, and also how you describe her. The "Essays in Biography" has little complicated words, but if you get though those words, then I'll bet you would like/want to read his books...and if you want to understand better than get the children version book as Shing Yuen said on she/he comment.

Honestly, biography is not something I would reach out my hand and pick up from the book-shelf. Prof.Rollyson's Marie Curie's biography and his lecture on close reading made the reading more interesting than before. Thinking about a purpose of the words and phrase author use changed the biography from torture of boredom into somewhat exciting detective story. Well, it's an exaggeration but I believe this is the best explanation I can present.

Reading the few biographies on Marie Curie were very interesting though similar. The society where I come from never found it necessary to "press" students to know anything about the inventor of Radiant therefore, coming into this Writing class I knew nothing about Marie. I must say learning about her inventions, her personal life, and her humble character was found rather fascinating.

I too encountered difficulty in finding a library with a selection of biographies to choose from. I finally struck gold after looking around several New-York public libraries. There are several around the city and you can lend up to 30 books at a time free of charge. You can look up the library closest to you by logging into the web site.

The biography about the life of Marie Curie I chose to read was one by Naomi Pasachoff. The opening paragraph captured me immediately and I was left with no other choice but to pick up the book and take it home with me. The author begins the book by giving a romantic description of Marie and Pierre's first blind date. Being the romantic that I am I couldn’t wait to sit down and continue reading. Unfortunately, I regret to say that I didn’t find the rest of the biography as capturing. I will not elaborate in case some of you are still reading it; I wouldn’t want my personal view to ruin it for anyone. But just in case you were considering beginning it, you might want to re think your decision.