I find that biographies hold my attention better than fiction books and wondering if there are any recommendations on here. I'm finishing one on Benjamin Franklin and about to start 'Titan'.

Thanks in advance

Augustus: First Emperor of Rome


The Splendid and the Vile , Not a complete biography, but it does a nice focus on Churchill (and family)during the battle of Brittain. If you like it, you will probably like anything else by Eric Larson

-If you want to stick with historical figures there's a 3 part biography of Teddy Roosevelt by Edmund Morris that I'll recommend.

Most of what's here aren't strictly biographies but they are great non-fiction.
-The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre is about a Russian spy that defected at the height of the cold war.
-How to Build a Car is Adrian Newey's autobiography, if you enjoy F1 racing it's great, or if you're a nerd.
-The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is about America's first serial killer H.H. Holmes. Granted 50% of the book is about the World's Fair in Chicago which I don't care for but his sections of the book are fascinating.
-Open by Andre Agassi is a solid autobiography. I used to like tennis as a kid but haven't watched in over 25 years. His biography is great because it details getting to the top of the sport, falling to the bottom, and working his way back to the top.
-The Chris Farley Show if you were a kid in the 90s and watched SNL.
-Band of Brothers
-With the Old Breed & Helmet for my Pillow (the two books that The Pacific used for material)

Titan (Rockefeller) is a long read/listen but great. Steve Jobs, Shoe Dog (Phil Knight) and JFK (several to choose from, I did An Unfinished Life) are some others I enjoyed. The House of Morgan is probably my next listen on Audible, have been sitting on it for years but I think it is time for another bio in the rotation.

ETA: Here is a site I sometimes browse to get some ideas.

https://thebestbiographies.com/

The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee was super intense and read like a thriller. It's about a woman who accidentally defected from North Korea in her teens and how she eventually rescued her family as well. It's a book you have to read. I here the audiobook narrator is so horrible she causes people to stop listening just because of her voice/style.

The Real Anthony Fauci is good so far.

John Adam's was good

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Endurance: My Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Several Bios in one tome)
The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams by by Ben Bradlee Jr.
Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough (The Bio that covers the early years of Teddy Roosevelt)
John Adams by David McCullough
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
Truman by David McCullough
Brave Companions by David McCullough (Collection of shorter bio essays)
The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son by Pat Conroy (if you enjoy the film or novel you will probably enjoy this memoir)
Fighting for Space by Teitel Amy Shira (dual biography Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb)

Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose - basically a biography of Meriwether Lewis, with an obvious heavy focus on the Lewis & Clark expedition
Blood and Treasure by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin - Daniel Boone
Texas Ranger by John Boessenecker - Frank Hamer

One I haven't read, but in my queue is Happy Odyssey, Adrian Carton de Wiart's autobiography. Served for Britain in the Boer War and both World Wars. Lost a hand, an eye, and part of an ear in the First World War en route to receiving the Victoria Cross. Reputed to have said of that war, "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war."

The Green Dragon said:

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The Real Anthony Fauci is good so far.

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He said he wanted non-fiction

jkag89 said:

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The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams by by Ben Bradlee Jr.

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Any time I see anything about Ted Williams now I can't help but think of this story from Conan O'Brien. On his podcast he was talking to someone else from Boston, can't remember who it was. During his senior year he went down to Florida for spring training to watch the Red Sox. One day they were down at the field and he looks around and sees a guy he's pretty sure is Ted Williams. He makes his way over there, wasn't really sure if he would try to talk to him, just decided to head that direction. He sees that Ted seems to be in a pretty deep conversation with the person next to him so he just wants to listen in and see what he can learn about baseball from the great Ted Williams. He ends up sitting close enough to hear what Ted's saying. Ted wasn't talking about baseball at all, he was just being an old man complaining about the movie he saw the previous night with his grandkids, The Last Starfighter. He never spoke up, asked him a question, or even tried to shake his hand. His memory of Ted Williams from spring training was listening to him complain about a movie, and it brings him absolute joy to talk about it. Now I can't shake that story because it was so funny.

Throwing Heat (Nolan Ryan)

Another Doug said:

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The Green Dragon said:

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The Real Anthony Fauci is good so far.

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He said he wanted non-fiction

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But RFK Jr. researched this on a laptop. It's GOT to be true.

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During more than a year of painstaking and meticulous research on his laptop and through interviews, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unearthed a shocking story that obliterates media spin on Dr. Fauci.

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In terms of sports biographies, Open by Andre Agassi is considered maybe the best auto-biography in the past 50 years of any kind.

If you want a biography of sports leagues, Loose Balls by Terry Pluto is the best basketball book I've ever read and details the wild history of the ABA. It's probably the most fun I've ever had reading a history book. Also, Lords of the Realm by John Helyar is, in my opinion, the best sports book ever written and a massive history/biography of the MLB.

I'll second Titan by Chernow, as someone wrote earlier. Also, Washington: A Life is a Chernow classic.

River of Doubt by Candice Millard, which details Teddy Roosevelt's journey to map the Amazon after losing the election of 1912, is fantastic.

If you're up for some heavier history, A Path Between the Seas by David McCullough, about the attempt to build the Panama Canal, is an amazing book about the ingenuity and folly of man.

Survival in the Killing Fields by Hang Gnor. It's harrowing to read about his experience.

https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Dale-Carnegie/dp/160796550X/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=580696546774&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9028263&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=13515658558515119999&hvtargid=kwd-6858498581&hydadcr=22594_13493210&keywords=lincoln+the+unknown+dale+carnegie&qid=1687056921&sr=8-1

Lincoln: The Unknown by Dale Carnegie.

The Power Broker by Robert Caro. It's a biography of Robert Moses, probably the most salient urban planner (of sorts) of the early to mid 20th century in America. Any edition will be dense at 1200+ pages, but don't let that dissuade you.

Andrew Carnegie

Another Doug said:

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The Green Dragon said:

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The Real Anthony Fauci is good so far.

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He said he wanted non-fiction

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Found the double-masked, triple boosted.

Not a biography but I cant recommend Endurance enough.

Lawrence In Arabia

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The Arab Revolt against the Turks in World War I was, in the words of T. E. Lawrence, "a sideshow of a sideshow." As a result, the conflict was shaped to a remarkable degree by a small handful of adventurers and low-level officers far removed from the corridors of power.

At the center of it all was Lawrence himself. In early 1914 he was an archaeologist excavating ruins in Syria; by 1917 he was riding into legend at the head of an Arab army as he fought a rearguard action against his own government and its imperial ambitions. Based on four years of intensive primary document research, Lawrence in Arabia definitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed.

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The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero - Just finished this one as well.

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A dashing young orator during the Great Hunger of the 1840s, Thomas Francis Meagher led a failed uprising against British rule, for which he was banished to a Tasmanian prison colony for life. But two years later he was "back from the dead" and in New York, instantly the most famous Irishman in America. Meagher's rebirth included his leading the newly formed Irish Brigade in many of the fiercest battles of the Civil War. Afterward, he tried to build a new Ireland in the wild west of Montana a quixotic adventure that ended in the great mystery of his disappearance, which Egan resolves convincingly at last.

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Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike - This is a memoir but I really enjoyed it.

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In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.

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Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World - Currently reading this. Has amazing reviews but I'm about half way through and don't love it yet.

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Named a Best Book of 2018 by the Financial Times and Fortune, this "thrilling" (Bill Gates) New York Times bestseller exposes how a "modern Gatsby" swindled over $5 billion with the aid of Goldman Sachs in "the heist of the century" (Axios).

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NoahAg said:

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Another Doug said:

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The Green Dragon said:

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The Real Anthony Fauci is good so far.

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He said he wanted non-fiction

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Found the double-masked, triple boosted.

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Or the person who think you shouldn't get medical advice from a guy who thinks AIDS doesn't exist.

I'm about a third of the way through Grant by Ron Chernow and it's been a great read so far.

Will. G. Gordon Liddy's autobiography. He provides some interesting insight into his time in prison as well as volunteering to take all the blame for Watergate and having someone take him out to save the rest of the team.

Billy the Kid: an Autobiography by Daniel Edwards. It's a great exploration of Brushy Bill Robert's' Claims.

A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex by Chris Jericho is great if you're a wrestling fan.

Anything by Ron Chernow and David McCulloch (RIP).

jkag89 said:

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Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son by Pat Conroy (if you enjoy the film or novel you will probably enjoy this memoir)

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Great recommendation on Unbroken, the book was excellent.

I've been meaning to circle back to Pat Conroy's, The Death of Santini; I read My Losing Season and really enjoyed it.

I'll also add, October Sky by Homer Hickham. I remember enjoying that one quite a bit too.