I’ve been getting into reading more biographies, and for the most part, it’s been great, but there’s always a lingering thought in my head asking: how much of this is real? I remember large phases of my life, and I get that a biographer would interview people around them/take countless hours trying to remember the past, but how can you remember so many things in such great detail?
There’s a lot of research involved in a good biography.
Interviews with the subject or with other people, cross-checking with historical records, sometimes access to things like diaries or letters…