My father used to tell about an athlete at college who had a major in "biographies." For my father, this showed how low a college would stoop to keep an athlete eligible to play. Recently, reading a fine account
Download file of encounters with Julia Child over the years , I revisited my dad's dismissive remark. It is really helpful to know what all Julia Child was interested in, and especially what attitudes she took toward food. It is interesting and helpful to know what attitudes are natural for human beings, how one interest leads to others, how one interest shapes a life. I think that is partly because it is so hard to see, in advance, where any path human beings start off on will ultimately go. If I begin to take food seriously, will I end up huge and dysfunctional and self-absorbed. Not necessarily; Julia didn't. Biographies teach us something about what our choices might mean. That's not a bad subject to major in.