From the library
The Life of Samuel Johnson
James Boswell, 1791
In one paragraph
Boswell invented modern biography by following Johnson around and writing down what he actually said. For this library it is a study in how a reputation is constructed by a chronicler, and in conversation as the medium where thinking gets tested. Most useful read in extracts. Least useful as history, since Boswell knew Johnson only in his later years and shaped the record heavily around his own presence.
Also tagged
Where this sits in the operating system
People & Relationships
Compound Leverage
Key insights
Boswell invented modern biography by recording conversation rather than summarising a life.
A study in how a reputation is constructed by whoever writes it down, and in how much the chronicler shapes the subject.
He knew Johnson only in later years. The intimacy is partly a literary effect.
Recognise it early
The failure and the correction sit side by side deliberately. Read the left column asking whether any of it is already true of you.
Expecting quick results instead of sustained effort
Treating people based on what they can do for you
Stopping learning once you achieve expertise
Speaking fashionably instead of truthfully
Developing limiting habits unconsciously
The same idea, argued differently
Ben Horowitz
Peter Drucker
Plato
Ron Chernow
The full breakdown
Before you close this
Naming the specific moment you will act roughly doubles the odds you do.
Reference
- Author
- James Boswell
- Published
- 1791
- Category
- Biography
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