The Top Biographical Books list has been compiled by me, Perth-based coach and author, Tony Inman.
I’ve always been fascinated by the stories of people who have overcome amazing challenges to become famous politicians, sports stars, movie stars, activists, inventors and benefactors. The common thread they all seem to share is that literally none of them simply became ‘overnight successes’ – they all had a human story before that, during that and often, even after that.
The way I look at it, perhaps simplistically, is that they were for the most part, as far as I can see, ‘ordinary people’ who did ‘extra-ordinary’ things. The fact that these people have human stories and human frailties means that we can all identify with them and with their unique struggle, thus feeding us inspiration to grow the courage within us for our own battles.
I hope you enjoy the selection below.
Meanwhile, if you were looking for a different page, here are the other links:
Back to the rest of Tony’s Reading List
Page 1 – Business & Management & Leadership
Page 2 – Self-Help / Motivational; Mindset, NLP & Programming Yourself for Success
Page 4 – Money and Financial Planning
Page 5 – Other Good Books & Classics
Top Biographical Books – Biographies & Auto-Biographies (Listed by Author – see further down if searching by Title)
You can learn a lot from ‘Other People’s Experience’ (OPE)
Alda, Alan – Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself
Axelrod, Alan – Napoleon
Axelrod, Alan – Theodore Roosevelt
Barry, Paul – The Rise and Fall of Kerry Packer
Bartram & Marshall, Steve & Adam – Ryan Giggs, The Man for All Seasons
Beckham, David – My Side
Best, George – Blessed – The Autobiography
Blair, Tony – Tony Blair – A Journey
Blake, Robert – Winston Churchill
Blumenthal, Karen – Steve Jobs – The Man Who Thought Different
Bower, Tom – Branson
Branson, Richard – ‘Losing my Virginity’ – The Autobiography
Britten & Quekett, Rebecca & Malcolm – Undefeated – The Story of Bali Bombing Survivor, Phil Britten
Chandler, David – Napoleon
Clignet & Hovey, Marion & Benjamin C – Tenacious
Clinton, Hillary Rodham – Hard Choices
Clinton, Hillary Rodham – What Happened
Crawford, Michael – Michael Crawford, Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied With String
Cronin, Vincent – Napoleon
Ferdinand, Rio – Rio – My Story
Ferguson, Alex – Managing My Life
Ferguson, Alex – Alex Ferguson – My Autobiography
Ferguson, Alex – Alex Ferguson – My Autobiography One Year On
Fox, Michael J – Always Looking Up
Frankl, Viktor E – Man’s Search for Meaning
Glover – Wellington as Military Commander
Golden, Anna Louise – the Spice Girls
Halliwell, Geri – If Only
Hamilton, Duncan – Immortal – The Approved Biography of George Best
Iacocca, Lee – Talking Straight
James, Clive – Unreliable Memoirs
James, Clive- Falling Towards England
Jordan, Michael – Driven From Within
Keane, Roy – The Autobiography
Kelley, Kitty – Oprah – A Biography
Lauda, Niki – To Hell and Back
Lange, Larry – The Beatles Way
Lazenby, Roland – Michael Jordan: The Life
Law, Jonathan – The Giant Book of 1000 Great Lives
Longford, Elizabeth – Wellington – The Years of the Sword
Mair, George – Oprah Winfrey
Mandela, Nelson – Long Walk to Freedom
Mansfield, Stephen – Where Has Oprah Taken Us? – The religious influence of the world’s most famous woman
Milligan, Spike – Puckoon
Nelson, Craig – Rocket Men – The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon
Norris & Hyams, Chuck & Joe – The Secret of Inner Strength – My Story
Obama, Barack – Barack Obama – The Audacity of Hope
Obama, Michelle – Becoming
O’Toole, Tom – Breadwinner – A fresh approach to business success
Palin, Michael – Diaries 1969 -1979
Parker, John – Sean Connery
Parkinson, Michael – Parky – My Autobiography
Parkinson, Michael – Parky’s People – The Lives, the Laughs, the Legends
Parkinson, Michael – Muhammad Ali: A Memoir
Perry, Roland – Mel Gibson – Actor, Director, Producer
Ramsay, Gordon – Humble Pie – My Autobiography
Rooney, Wayne – My Story So Far
Stephenson, Pamela -Billy (Connolly)
Stephenson, Pamela – Bravemouth – Living with Billy Connolly
Sting – Broken Music
Thatcher, Margaret – The Downing Street Years 1979-1990
Waldron, Suzanne – A Flourishing Mind – Who are you not to flourish?
Wallace & Erickson, James & Jim – Hard Drive Bill Gates & the Making of the Microsoft Empire
White, Jim – Manchester United, The Biography – The Complete Story of the World’s Greatest Football Club
Williams, AL – All You Can Do is All You Can Do but All You Can Do is Enough
Williams, Robbie – Somebody Someday
Top Biographical Books – Biographies & Auto-Biographies (Listed by Title – see further up if searching by Author)
A Flourishing Mind – Who are you not to flourish? by Suzanne Waldron
Alex Ferguson – My Autobiography by Sir Alex Ferguson
Alex Ferguson – My Autobiography One Year On by Sir Alex Ferguson
All You Can Do is All You Can Do but All You Can Do is Enough by AL Williams
Always Looking Up by Michael J Fox
Barack Obama – The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Billy (Connolly) by Pamela Stephenson
Blessed (The Autobiography) by George Best
Branson by Tom Bower
Bravemouth – Living with Billy Connolly by Pamela Stephenson
Breadwinner – A fresh approach to business success by Tom O’Toole
Broken Music by Sting
Driven From Within by Michael Jordan
Falling Towards England by Clive James
Hard Choices by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hard Drive – Bill Gates & the Making of the Microsoft Empire by James Wallace & Jim Erickson
Humble Pie – My Autobiography by Gordon Ramsay
If Only by Geri Halliwell
Immortal – The Approved Biography of George Best by Duncan Hamilton
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
‘Losing my Virginity’ – The Autobiography by Richard Branson
Managing My Life by Sir Alex Ferguson
Manchester United, The Biography – The Complete Story of the World’s Greatest Football Club by Jim White
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl
Mel Gibson – Actor, Director, Producer by Roland Perry
Michael Crawford, Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied With String by Michael Crawford
Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby
Michael Palin Diaries 1969 -1979 by Michael Palin
Muhammad Ali: A Memoir by Michael Parkinson
My Side by David Beckham
My Story So Far by Wayne Rooney
Napoleon by Alan Axelrod
Napoleon by David Chandler
Napoleon by Vincent Cronin
Oprah – A Biography by George Mair
Parky – My Autobiography by Sir Michael Parkinson
Parky’s People – The Lives, the Laughs, the Legends by Sir Michael Parkinson
Puckoon by Spike Milligan
Rio – My Story by Rio Ferdinand
Rocket Men – The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson
Roy Keane, The Autobiography by Roy Keane
Ryan Giggs, The Man for All Seasons by Steve Bartram & Adam Marshall
Sean Connery by John Parker
Somebody Someday by Robbie Williams
Steve Jobs – The Man Who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal
Talking Straight by Lee Iacocca
Tenacious by Marion Clignet & Benjamin C Hovey
The Beatles Way by Larry Lange
The Downing Street Years 1979-1990 by Baroness Margaret Thatcher
The Giant Book of 1000 Great Lives by Jonathan Law
Theodore Roosevelt by Alan Axelrod
The Rise and Fall of Kerry Packer by Paul Barry
The Secret of Inner Strength – My Story by Chuck Norris & Joe Hyams
The Spice Girls by Anna Louise Golden
Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself – by Alan Alda
To Hell and Back by Niki Lauder
Tony Blair – A Journey by Tony Blair
Undefeated – The Story of Bali Bombing Survivor, Phil Britten by Rebecca Britten & Malcolm Quekett
Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James
Wellington as Military Commander by Glover
Wellington – The Years of the Sword by Elizabeth Longford
What Happened – by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Where Has Oprah Taken Us? – The religious influence of the world’s most famous woman by Stephen Mansfield
Winston Churchill by Robert Blake
Back to the rest of Tony’s Reading List
Page 1 – Business & Management & Leadership
Page 2 – Self-Help / Motivational; Mindset, NLP & Programming Yourself for Success