Best biography/autobiography

[Dick Dastardly]

Looking over the stacks of books in my home office, almost half of them are biographical, which suprises me. I must be a sucker for a true story.

The ones that stand out to me are:

- Titan, the John Rockerfeller book
- The Kid Stays in the Picture, from Robert Evans the infamous movie producer
- Life by Keith Richards

What biographical and autobiographical books have you read that you happily recommend?

Right now my wife is reading the Lance Armstrong one and thinks its great.

[Papa Hotel]

A Fortunate Life, Paddy Ashdown.

Fortunate?? Truly remarkable. The tale gets a little duller towards the end when he gets deeper into the political stuff but it's a riveting read. I generally don't like autobiographies but this one had me from the start.

[McHaggis]

Life at the Limit: Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One (Sid Watkins)

Enjoyed The Reagan Diaries as well, although quite light.

[robmlufc]

Mud, Sweat and Tears - Bear Grylls, was a good read. His pre Discovery Channel life was pretty action packed, his Everest story is pretty inspirational.

Slash - A proper rock and roll lifestyle, not entirely sure how he is still alive.

[Dick Dastardly]

robmlufc said:

Slash - A proper rock and roll lifestyle, not entirely sure how he is still alive.

That is one I forget and is great.

The other one for anyone into rock music is The Dirt, about Motley Crue. Probably the most entertaining book I've read.

[Fishtigua]

David Niven - The Moon's a Balloon and Bring on the Empty Horses.

Spike Millingan - Adolf Hitler, My Part in His Downfall and all the others.

Both very funny writers.

[Malx]

Dick Dastardly said:

The other one for anyone into rock music is The Dirt, about Motley Crue. Probably the most entertaining book I've read.

Agreed, The Dirt is a superb book. One of a few i will read more than once.
The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx is also quite eye opening

[davepoth]

"The Passing of the Armies" by Joshua L. Chamberlain is one of my favourites. It's a US Civil War memoir rather than a full autobiography, but the description of the end of the war, when nearly the whole Union Army came to Washington and marched past the president before being demobbed is wonderful.

[Uriel]

If you have an interest in motorsport, then you owe it to yourself to get a copy of All Arms and Elbows by Innes Ireland.

[tenohfive]

robmlufc said:

Mud, Sweat and Tears - Bear Grylls, was a good read. His pre Discovery Channel life was pretty action packed, his Everest story is pretty inspirational.

I thought it was a too saccharine for my taste - he had an interesting life, yes, but he just comes across as a bit naive and very wary of doing anything to undermine 'Bear: the brand.' It got me onto some other Everest and mountaineering books on the plus side though.

An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor was a decent biography of a bloke most people have never heard of. Was involved in various Antarctic expeditions, including a pretty amazing crossing of South Georgia (the final part of an epic survival story.)

[anonymous-user]

Dear Boy - Bio of Keith Moon
Rich - Bio Of Richard Burton

[Eric Mc]

On My way to the Club - Ludovic Kennedy

[Sprouts]

Harpo Speaks!
Brilliantly beautiful.

[epom]

Slash.... again can't believe he survived it and is relatively coherent to this day.
Keith Richards.... as above except for the coherent bit...
Andre Aggasi... superb read, hard to believe he hated tennis so much !!

[paul0843]

No angel... Bernies book...for any wannabe dealmaker..

[Dick Dastardly]

I read Chickenhawk on the weekend, the recounting of the Vietnam war by a young helicopter pilot. Not 100% sure it counts as an autobiography but it was a damn good read and taught me a lot about the conflict.

[Trophybloo]

Diary of a rock and roll star - Ian Hunter
How Mott the Hoople briefly flirted with superstardom then blew it!

[anonymous-user]

Another recommended one is I, Partridge.

[otherman]

epom said:

Slash.... again can't believe he survived it and is relatively coherent to this day.
Keith Richards.... as above except for the coherent bit...
Andre Aggasi... superb read, hard to believe he hated tennis so much !!

These are the type of autobiogs that make me feel ill. Ghost written, and very carefully only tell what they're prepared for you to know, glammed up and with lots of wildly exaggerated stories.

Bill Drummond's 45 is cute because while he's very selective about what he tells, he's absolutely up front that this is what he's doing.

Then Coetzee wrote Summertime, the 'fictional' autobiography of a South African writer called JM Coetzee. Calling it fictional means he can say whatever he likes, plus of course making the point that its what all auto bios are anyway.

[coppice]

Martin Amis - 'Experience' is brilliant.But it would be because he writes so bloody well. On a motoring theme most biogs are dire- an exception is Speed with Style by the late Peter Revson - he was a driver who could do joined up writing unlike some I could mention. Mudge Pond Racer by Sam Posey is supposed to be superb but is near impossible to find at a decent price