A new approach (for me) to study

Much of my thinking over the past month has been directed to the question of biographical writing - assessing whether I have what it might take to write a biography, how long such a book might take, and various practical points related to publication, etc. But one of the key insights of this process has also been the discovery of how this results in my approach to my own study changing.

Emma did most of her revision with her boyfriend who, due to rowing commitments, was not at Emma's level. So part of her revision had a teaching focus and this seems to have had a markedly beneficial effect on her own work. Similarly, for me, thinking about how to write about something in a biographical manner has also been something of an eye-opener. For I am now focused both on the structure of the overall narrative and also how to fit each part of the story together. So now the papers I read by Westman on early Copernicianism reveal a different role to me - something in respect of the establishment of the pre-Kepler scene. Similarly, I now look on Heath's Aristarchus of Samos or Kusukawa's The Transformation of Natural Philosophy or books by Voelkel and Methuen in a different light - what can they do for the overall work?

So take something like retrograde motion. I am thinking about a section of the main work called something like "what is to be explained" in which retrograde motion is clearly one such issue. But how best to describe it? Maybe via some really good photos or the use of modern astronomical software programmes like Redshift. But it should be possible to make the story clear and compelling. Such is my thinking at the moment, a different bias to just thinking about a final exam.

I am reminded of the detailed chronologies that Safranski produced for his biographies of Nietzsche and Heidegger. Maybe I should start to prepare such a document - particularly as I start to read more biographical material in the coming weeks.

And my plan for a 1000 word explanation of why I want to do what I am planning is also beginning to come together. I can now make a very good case for it. But as always, much more thought is required.


Mars in retrograde motion, over the period of several months in early 2005. The Pleiades are in the top left of the picture. A beautiful multi-exposure photo.

Mars during a different retrograde period. Another nice picture