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  1. Genres
  2. ›Biography

Best Biography Books

Life stories of notable people

451 summaries

Showing 49–72 of 451

  1. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

    Christopher McDougall

    ★ 4.3 (168k) average on GoodreadsLifestyle

    A journalist's quest to understand his running injuries leads him to Mexico's Copper Canyons, where he uncovers the secrets of the Tarahumara runners and challenges common beliefs about the human body's natural ability to run.

  2. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

    Susannah Cahalan

    ★ 4.1 (168k) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    A young journalist's terrifying descent into a mysterious mental illness is chronicled as she and her family fight for a diagnosis and her very identity.

  3. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

    John Carreyrou

    ★ 4.4 (167k) average on GoodreadsBusiness
  4. Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir

    Jenny Lawson

    ★ 3.9 (165k) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    Jenny Lawson hilariously recounts her bizarre life, from a talking squirrel to sneaking a dead alligator on a plane, proving that our most awkward moments define us.

  5. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

    Ishmael Beah

    ★ 4.2 (163k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    A twelve-year-old boy's innocence is shattered as he transforms from a refugee into a child soldier, forced to commit unspeakable acts in the brutal civil war of Sierra Leone.

  6. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

    Erik Larson

    ★ 3.9 (161k) average on GoodreadsPolitics
  7. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

    Marjane Satrapi

    ★ 4.3 (158k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    In a vivid black-and-white graphic memoir, a spirited young girl navigates the bewildering contradictions and brutal realities of the Islamic Revolution and war with Iraq, all while trying to find her place in a country rapidly losing its own.

  8. Walden

    Henry David Thoreau

    ★ 3.8 (158k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    Thoreau's Walden chronicles his two-year experiment in simple living by Walden Pond, offering insights into nature and human existence.

  9. Under the Banner of Heaven

    Jon Krakauer

    ★ 4.0 (157k) average on GoodreadsHistory

    Krakauer examines the 'divinely inspired' double murder by two fundamentalist Mormon brothers, showing the intersection of faith, polygamy, and violence in America's religious fringes.

  10. Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea

    Chelsea Handler

    ★ 3.9 (154k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    From convincing her third-grade class she's Goldie Hawn's daughter to navigating a boyfriend's affair with a Peekapoo, Chelsea Handler hilariously recounts her absurd life, proving vodka is her only true confidante.

  11. This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

    Adam Kay

    ★ 4.4 (153k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    A junior doctor shares a chaotic, funny, and sad account of life-or-death decisions, bodily fluids, and exhausting hours in this honest diary.

  12. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

    Doris Kearns Goodwin

    ★ 4.3 (152k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Abraham Lincoln united his fiercest political rivals into a cabinet of extraordinary talent to navigate the nation through the Civil War and preserve the Union.

  13. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen

    Julie Powell

    ★ 3.7 (150k) average on GoodreadsLifestyle

    A thirty-something struggling writer finds culinary salvation and a new life by cooking every single recipe in Julia Child's legendary cookbook over the course of a year.

  14. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE

    Phil Knight

    ★ 4.5 (147k) average on GoodreadsBusiness

    Phil Knight's memoir tells how he started Nike with fifty dollars and a trunk of imported Japanese shoes, showing the hard work, risks, and unique team that made it a global company and changed sports and business.

  15. The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

    Gretchen Rubin

    ★ 3.6 (145k) average on GoodreadsPsychology
  16. Seabiscuit: An American Legend

    Laura Hillenbrand

    ★ 4.2 (144k) average on GoodreadsHistory

    This is the true story of Seabiscuit, a crooked-legged racehorse, and the unlikely trio who made him an American sports legend, captivating a nation during the Great Depression.

  17. Schindler's List

    Thomas Keneally

    ★ 4.3 (144k) average on GoodreadsHistory

    Amidst the horrors of the Holocaust, a German industrialist risks everything to turn his factory into a sanctuary, saving over a thousand Jews from the gas chambers through bribery and deception.

  18. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

    Bryan Stevenson

    ★ 4.6 (143k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Bryan Stevenson, a young lawyer, confronts the racial injustice of America's legal system through the fight for Walter McMillian, a man wrongly condemned to death row, showing how mercy can improve a broken justice system.

  19. Sh*t My Dad Says

    Justin Halpern

    ★ 4.0 (143k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    After a breakup, a 28-year-old moves back home to record his 73-year-old, unfiltered, Socrates-but-angrier father's hilariously profane wisdom on everything from dating to Nazis, transforming their chaotic kitchen conversations into a viral memoir.

  20. The Year of Magical Thinking

    Joan Didion

    ★ 3.9 (142k) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    After her husband's sudden death and her daughter's critical illness, Joan Didion examines the raw, disorienting experience of grief, showing how the mind tries to make sense of the irrational.

  21. Half Broke Horses

    Jeannette Walls

    ★ 4.1 (141k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    At six, Lily Casey Smith broke wild horses; later, she piloted planes and managed a large Arizona ranch. Her life showed grit, resourcefulness, and a spirit that met every frontier challenge and personal tragedy.

  22. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

    Barack Obama

    ★ 3.8 (141k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Barack Obama shares his vision for a united America, blending personal reflections with calls for a politics rooted in shared optimism and a pursuit of the American Dream.

  23. The Complete Maus

    Art Spiegelman

    ★ 4.5 (138k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    Through the stark, unforgettable allegory of mice and cats, 'The Complete Maus' unflinchingly chronicles one family's harrowing survival of the Holocaust, exposing the deep, generational scars etched by unspeakable history.

  24. Einstein: His Life and Universe

    Walter Isaacson

    ★ 4.1 (134k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    Walter Isaacson's biography illuminates how Albert Einstein's rebellious spirit fueled his groundbreaking scientific discoveries and shaped his extraordinary life.

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