Explore our collection of biography books. Discover key insights and summaries from the best titles in this genre.
Showing 24 of 451 books
by Christopher McDougall
4.3(168,304)
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.
by Susannah Cahalan
4.1(167,527)
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.
by John Carreyrou
4.4(166,999)
by Jenny Lawson
3.9(164,790)
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.
by Ishmael Beah
4.2(163,098)
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.
by Erik Larson
3.9(160,937)
by Marjane Satrapi
4.3(158,488)
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.
by Henry David Thoreau
3.8(157,871)
Thoreau's Walden chronicles his two-year experiment in simple living by Walden Pond, offering insights into nature and human existence.
by Jon Krakauer
4.0(156,956)
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.
by Chelsea Handler
3.9(153,584)
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.
by Adam Kay
4.4(153,123)
A junior doctor shares a chaotic, funny, and sad account of life-or-death decisions, bodily fluids, and exhausting hours in this honest diary.
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
4.3(151,931)
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.
by Julie Powell
3.7(150,215)
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.
by Phil Knight
4.5(147,163)
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.
by Gretchen Rubin
3.6(145,268)
by Laura Hillenbrand
4.2(144,419)
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.
by Thomas Keneally
4.3(144,236)
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.
by Bryan Stevenson
4.6(143,058)
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.
by Justin Halpern
4.0(142,571)
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.
by Joan Didion
3.9(141,728)
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.
by Jeannette Walls
4.1(141,012)
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.
by Barack Obama
3.8(140,803)
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.
by Art Spiegelman
4.5(137,596)
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.
by Walter Isaacson
4.1(134,361)
Walter Isaacson's biography illuminates how Albert Einstein's rebellious spirit fueled his groundbreaking scientific discoveries and shaped his extraordinary life.