I have sentimental attachments to Man Out of Time, the Tesla biography.
No Man Knows My History is about Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church. It is naturally controversial to the LDS, for its depiction of Smith as a polygamist con man who fell sideways into a religious racket and never quite fell out. I found it very readable, full of color. It might depend on your interest in the period and the subject matter.
Stephen King's On Writing is about half biography, half writing manual. I thought it was terrific. It's had several rereads already.
I forgot another all-time favorite. I must've read this one when I was about 10 and a couple of times since. Genghis Khan: Emperor of All Men, by Harold Lamb.
This guy is awe-inspiring in almost every sense of the word.Despite reading all biographies you still feel a sense of enigma about his personality. Try understanding why the american government revoked his top secret clearance despite being "da man" at Los Alamos. He could walk into any deep technical discussion and lead them through their blocking situations.He can write poetry and amazingly well read about other cultures and still finding time to deliver more than expected results. Thats one heck of a biography to write..
The Man Who Knew Infinity, about Ramanujan, is a biography that I reread regularly, if only as an example of somebody who continued to do what he loved against all odds. Whenever I get overly frustrated with a math or programming problem that I can't seem to overcome, I go through some of my favorite passages in there, if only to remind myself how lucky I am to be able to what I love with the support of the people in my life.
Also, I can now safely say that reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X in high school was a key moment in my personal development.
Craig Venter's autobiography was intriguing. It would be especially good if you were already familiar with Biology and DNA. I ripped through it and reading it was quite enjoyable.
I liked 'Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction' interesting read. It wasn't a cover to cover for me, more something I could pick up during lulls
Also Jan Swafford's biography of Charles Ives is amazing (genius American composer who was also an early 20th century multimillionaire insurance tycoon)
The most entertaining and useful biographies are of people whose most interesting features are flaws. You could read about JFK winning elections despite his crippling levels of charm, and the fact that his dad was one of the richest people in the world; or you can read about Mao, who (according to the last biography I read) was disgusting and dull, but still managed to rule a large country despite the threat of coups. For similar reasons, Shockley is probably more interesting than Noyce, Jobs more fun than Woz, etc. But that depends. After thinking about the question for a little while, I realized that I don't notice that much variation in biography quality. It's there, but I'm mostly using the book to visit a historical period in the company of some interesting characters, so the author/tourguide is not such a big deal.
I think I would have to disagree. I think the quality of biographies can vary greatly. Some do not bring the person "to life." An author may only highlight and write about the events of the subject's life, without delving deeper into the personal qualities or characteristics that make someone so intriguing.
I want to be able to understand the subject as thoroughly as possible. Some authors are able to do this more effectively than others, in my opinion.
I highly recommend Born Standing Up by Steve Martin if you're at all into comedy. One of the more enjoyable books I read recently. I'd say it was entirely unrelated to Hacker News, but pmarca did paraphrase it in his talk at SuS.
I second this - I've never really found Steve Martin funny, but I thought his book was very interesting and different from most biographies in that it was about success achieved not through prodigious talent but just years and years of grinding it out and slowly improving.
He was an idealist with huge character flaws, which makes him pretty interesting to start with. But he lived in a time when Rome was descending from Republican rule into autocracy - and both resisted and accidentally advanced the change.
On top of that it is pretty interesting reading for a geek - a poor reserved law scholar with speaking problems became one of the greatest orators of history and clawed his way to the top of one of the Roman system, partly due to his command of the minute details of the law.
Though I know it may not be a single biographical book, Founders at Work is a great series of short biographies/interviews. If you're more interested in any one of them, you can probably find a biography on them or even their personal blogs.
The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie- there's an unmistakably personal feel to it, as if Carnegie is sitting right there imparting the lessons and stories of his life to you and you alone. He's an incredible writer and it shines through in every page.
Richard Branson's autobiography, Losing My Virginity, is also a great read even discounting the perfect title- together, Branson and Carnegie really drive home the importance of taking risks and leveraging up at every opportunity.
Not that it's an actual autobiography, but "Journey to the End of the Night" by Louis Ferdinand Celine was based closely on his own life and was really something to read, albeit a tough something to get through at times.
I was warned that it would be difficult to relate to as a "modern-day young democrat" and in my case at least, they were right. I've since bought two more of his books though (all of which seem to be fairly autobiographical) and can't wait to read them as well now.
A word of caution: Not very inspiring material, just interesting literature. And it definitely had a profound influence on many subsequent authors.
Assuming you're looking for a slightly hacker oriented biography then I can heartily recommend "The Man Who Knew Too Much: The Inventive Life of Robert Hooke" by Stephen Inwood.
It gives an interesting insight to what it might have meant to have something of the hacker mindset in the 17th Century, and his connection with some of his contemporaries (Newton, Halley, and Wren notable amongst them) add to the general interest. Plus he was a supremely odd and cranky person.
[+] [-] msg|18 years ago|reply
I have sentimental attachments to Man Out of Time, the Tesla biography.
No Man Knows My History is about Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church. It is naturally controversial to the LDS, for its depiction of Smith as a polygamist con man who fell sideways into a religious racket and never quite fell out. I found it very readable, full of color. It might depend on your interest in the period and the subject matter.
Stephen King's On Writing is about half biography, half writing manual. I thought it was terrific. It's had several rereads already.
[+] [-] msg|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dedalus|18 years ago|reply
This guy is awe-inspiring in almost every sense of the word.Despite reading all biographies you still feel a sense of enigma about his personality. Try understanding why the american government revoked his top secret clearance despite being "da man" at Los Alamos. He could walk into any deep technical discussion and lead them through their blocking situations.He can write poetry and amazingly well read about other cultures and still finding time to deliver more than expected results. Thats one heck of a biography to write..
[+] [-] antiform|18 years ago|reply
Also, I can now safely say that reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X in high school was a key moment in my personal development.
[+] [-] diego|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rms|18 years ago|reply
http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/ or
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/148
[+] [-] kingkongrevenge|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DTrejo|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonb05|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dmharrison|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] colortone|18 years ago|reply
Also Jan Swafford's biography of Charles Ives is amazing (genius American composer who was also an early 20th century multimillionaire insurance tycoon)
[+] [-] byrneseyeview|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stevenboudreau|18 years ago|reply
I want to be able to understand the subject as thoroughly as possible. Some authors are able to do this more effectively than others, in my opinion.
[+] [-] mattmaroon|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trajan|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] notauser|18 years ago|reply
He was an idealist with huge character flaws, which makes him pretty interesting to start with. But he lived in a time when Rome was descending from Republican rule into autocracy - and both resisted and accidentally advanced the change.
On top of that it is pretty interesting reading for a geek - a poor reserved law scholar with speaking problems became one of the greatest orators of history and clawed his way to the top of one of the Roman system, partly due to his command of the minute details of the law.
[+] [-] kingkongrevenge|18 years ago|reply
On the subject of evil people, Mao's biography is great. It's hard to believe people so nuts exist, and that people will follow them.
Albert Speer's autobiography is also good.
[+] [-] markm|18 years ago|reply
It's not about the bike, my journey back to life. - Lance Armstrong
Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman! - R. Feynman
Into thin air - J. Krakauer
[+] [-] gruseom|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tgdavies|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] herdrick|18 years ago|reply
http://www.biographicon.com/view/lypys/Democritus
http://www.biographicon.com/view/r8r22/Hypatia_of_Alexandria
http://www.biographicon.com/view/4yf4i/Ethan_Allen - a good start on the New England rebel. One of my favorite books is this entertaining work on the amazing life of Allen: http://www.amazon.com/Ethan-Allen-Charles-Albert-Jellison/dp...
http://www.biographicon.com/view/hhnvz/Johnny_Ramone
[+] [-] ahsonwardak|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] colinplamondon|18 years ago|reply
Free download link (don't you love the public domain?): http://manybooks.net/titles/carnegiea1797617976-8.html
Richard Branson's autobiography, Losing My Virginity, is also a great read even discounting the perfect title- together, Branson and Carnegie really drive home the importance of taking risks and leveraging up at every opportunity.
[+] [-] lux|18 years ago|reply
I was warned that it would be difficult to relate to as a "modern-day young democrat" and in my case at least, they were right. I've since bought two more of his books though (all of which seem to be fairly autobiographical) and can't wait to read them as well now.
A word of caution: Not very inspiring material, just interesting literature. And it definitely had a profound influence on many subsequent authors.
[+] [-] dcminter|18 years ago|reply
It gives an interesting insight to what it might have meant to have something of the hacker mindset in the 17th Century, and his connection with some of his contemporaries (Newton, Halley, and Wren notable amongst them) add to the general interest. Plus he was a supremely odd and cranky person.
[+] [-] rglovejoy|18 years ago|reply
Richard Feynman: "Genius" by James Gleick
"The Passion of Ayn Rand" by Barbara Brandon
"John Adams" and "Truman" by David McCullough
"Lincoln the Unknown" by Dale Carnegie
[+] [-] mhartl|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vena903|18 years ago|reply