I’ve reading way more non-fiction the last few years, but I’ve never a biography. It’s time that I picked one up. Finding an interesting biography is hard, because the ones that I do find interesting are mostly autobiographical, which is not what I want for this goal. I want an outsider perspective on a person.
Looking through a few lists and the store fronts, noticed two books which caught my attention: Totto-chan: The Little Girl At The Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi and Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance. Both books are very different and would probably be shelved in different categories if the shop used subcategories.
Totto-chan is about a young girl who didn’t fit in with the standard school system, but eventually finds a school master who can help her. What I find the most interesting is that her story begins before WWII, in Japan. It’ll give me a new perspective on the Japanese school system, growing up as an outliner and gives me a glimpse of Japan pre-war.
Elon Musk is more straight forward. Journalist Ashlee Vance shows us the life of the visionary business man and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. I admire people with strong visions, people worth following. I believe Elon Musk is such a person. Reading his biography will either confirm that or crush my hopes. All in all, I hope that this book will give me the motivation to move forward and inspire change.
For now I’ll read Elon Musk for this goal, but I won’t forget about Totto-chan, because I can still read it for fun or for my ‘Read 20 non-fiction’ goal.
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