A biography is an account of someone's life written by another person. It is a third-person narrative based on research, interviews, letters, and other sources, and it aims to present a fair and comprehensive portrait of the subject.

Biographies can be scholarly or popular, and they cover figures from politics, science, art, and sports. Famous examples include James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson and Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs. They differ from autobiographies in perspective and from memoirs in scope.

Key points

• Life story written by another
• Third-person, research-based
• Can be scholarly or popular
• Distinct from autobiography