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Biographies

A good biography invites you into someone else’s life. It takes you on fascinating journeys through the ups and downs of the life of legendary film stars, talented musicians, inspiring athletes, visionary politicians and many more. A good biography lets you get under the skin of your biggest idols, and you feel collected when reading their story - maybe even in the form of their own words. You will find both biographies and autobiographies in Tales’ selection, in addition to diaries and memoirs. So are you ready to be inspired by some of the world’'s most extraordinary individuals?
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  • by Paramhansa Yogananda
    £22.99 - 38.99

  • Save 20%
    - The Rise of Elvis Presley
    by Peter Guralnick
    £11.99

    The definitive biography of Elvis and an excellent slice of social history.

  • Save 15%
    - a memoir of recovery & self-discovery from the #1 bestselling author of UNTAMED
    by Glennon Doyle
    £10.99

    AN OPRAH BOOKCLUB SELECTION FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF UNTAMED'A TESTAMENT TO THE POWER OF VULNERABILITY . . . IT'S AS IF SHE REACHED INTO HER HEART, CAPTURED THE RAW EMOTIONS THERE, AND TRANSLATED THEM INTO WORDS THAT ANYONE WHO'S EVER KNOWN PAIN OR SHAME CAN RELATE TO' OPRAH WINFREY, Oprah's Book Club 2016 selection'EPIC' ELIZABETH GILBERT | 'BLEW ME AWAY' BREN BROWNJust when Glennon Doyle was beginning to feel she had it all figured out - three happy children, a doting spouse, and a writing career so successful that her first book catapulted to the top of the New York Times bestseller list - her husband revealed his infidelity and she was forced to realize that nothing was as it seemed. A recovering alcoholic and bulimic, rock bottom was a familiar place to Glennon. In the midst of crisis, she knew to hold on to what she discovered in recovery: that her deepest pain has always held within it an invitation to a richer life. Love Warrior is the story of one marriage, but it is also the story of the healing that is possible for any of us when we refuse to settle for good enough and begin to face pain and love head-on. This astonishing memoir reveals how internalizing our culture's standards of masculinity and femininity can make it impossible for men and women to ever really know one another - and it captures the beauty that unfolds when one couple commits to unlearning everything they've been taught so that they can finally, after thirteen years of marriage, fall in love.Love Warrior is a gorgeous and inspiring tale of how we are born to be warriors: strong, powerful, and brave; able to confront the pain and claim the love that exists for us all. This chronicle of a beautiful, brutal journey speaks to anyone who yearns for deeper, truer relationships and a more abundant, authentic life.

  • Save 15%
    by Vita Sackville-West
    £10.99

    Eavesdrop on the affair that inspired Virginia to write her most fantastical novel, Orlando, and discover a relationship that - even a hundred years later - feels radical and relatable. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION FROM ALISON BECHDEL, AUTHOR OF FUN HOME AND CREATOR OF THE BECHDEL TEST.

  • Save 15%
    - A Memoir
    by Rick Ross
    £10.99

    *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*?A gripping journey.??PeopleThe highly anticipated memoir from hip-hop icon Rick Ross chronicles his coming of age amid Miami's crack epidemic, his star-studded controversies and his unstoppable rise to fame.Rick Ross is an indomitable presence in the music industry, but few people know his full story. Now, for the first time, Ross offers a vivid, dramatic and unexpectedly candid account of his early childhood, his tumultuous adolescence and his dramatic ascendancy in the world of hip-hop.Born William Leonard Roberts II, Ross grew up ?across the bridge,? in a Miami at odds with the glitzy nightclubs and yachts of South Beach. In the aftermath of the 1980 race riots, he came of age at the height of the city's crack epidemic. All the while he honed his musical talent, overcoming setback after setback until a song called ?Hustlin'? changed his life forever.From his first major label deal to the controversies, health scares, arrests and feuds he had to transcend along the way, Hurricanes is a revealing portrait of one of the biggest stars in the rap game and an intimate look at the birth of an artist.

  • Save 22%
    by John Robert Christianson
    £13.99

    A new interpretation of Tycho Brahe's pivotal role in the emergence of empirical science.

  • Save 21%
    by Tom Morello
    £27.49

    As the co-founder of Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave and Prophets of Rage, and as a collaborator with rock legends from Bruce Springsteen to Johnny Cash, few musicians have been as groundbreaking as American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and political activist, Tom Morello. Whatever It Takes explores Morello's entire career from his first bands through to his most recent solo album. This book is illustrated throughout with photographs, including many from Tom Morello's archives; memorabilia such as vintage setlists , diaries, handwritten musical notes and imagery of Tom Morello's most famous guitars.

  • Save 13%
    - Adventures in the Video Game Industry
    by David Polfeldt
    £12.99

    The inside story of the booming video game industry from the late 1990s to the present, as told by the Managing Director of Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment (The Division, Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed: Revelations).

  • Save 14%
    by Tom Mustill
    £9.49 - 15.49

  • Save 10%
    by Rob Mason
    £8.99

  • by PAUL R. ALEXANDER
    £22.99 - 27.49

  • Save 23%
    - Secrets of the Sporting Elite
    by Alistair Brownlee
    £15.49

    In his quest to define 'sporting greatness', double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee has spent nearly 4 years interviewing and training with some of the greatest minds in sport to discover what it takes to become - and remain - a champion.

  • Save 10%
    - My Unstoppable CrossFit Journey
    by Sam Briggs
    £8.99

    You don't get biceps like Briggs by giving up when the going gets tough... CrossFit superstar Sam Briggs, aka 'The Engine', is a true hero in the sport, with a level of endurance unparalleled in the game.

  • - The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl
    by John Colapinto
    £12.49

  • Save 10%
    by John Preston
    £8.99

  • - The incredible story of Kobe Bryant - one of basketball's greatest players!
    by Jordan Lowe
    £12.49 - 18.99

  • - Elon Musk's Best Lessons for Life, Business, Success and Entrepreneurship
    by Andrew Knight
    £12.49 - 18.99

  • Save 14%
    - The New York Times bestseller
    by Patti Smith
    £9.49 - 10.99

  • Save 15%
    - The Biography
    by Peter Doggett
    £10.99

  • Save 18%
    by Megan Mullally & Nick Offerman
    £11.49

  • - Icons of K-Pop
    by Adrian Besley
    £7.99 - 9.49

    BTS, also known as Bangtan Sonyeondan or 'Bulletproof Boy Scouts', are the breakthrough K-pop band. For the first time, this book tells the story of the Korean boy band with a global army of fans, who have propelled their heroes to the top of the charts all over the world.

  • Save 21%
    by John Curran
    £13.49

    Agatha Christie's Complete Secret Notebooks brings together for the first time Secret Notebooks and Murder in the Making, two volumes that explore the fascinating contents of her 73 notebooks. This includes illustrations, deleted extracts, unused ideas, two unpublished Poirot stories and a lost Miss Marple.

  • Save 23%
    by Akiane Kramarik
    £15.49

    Akiane: Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry is a collection of the best of Akiane's full-color paintings and poetry created from ages 4 to 10, along with details of her family and the amazing stories that surround each unique artwork.

  • Save 21%
    by Dominique Lapierre & Larry Collins
    £13.49 - 17.99

    The electrifying story of India's struggle for independence, told in this classic account (first published in 1975) by two fine journalists who conducted hundreds of interviews with nearly all the surviving participants - from Mountbatten to the assassins of Mahatma Gandhi.

  • Save 17%
    - Picador Classic
    by Philip Gourevitch
    £9.99

    With an introduction by Rory StewartWinner of the Guardian First Book award, a first-hand account one of the defining outrages of modern history.All at once, as it seemed, something we could have only imagined was upon us - and we could still only imagine it. This is what fascinates me most in existence: the peculiar necessity of imagining what is, in fact, real.In 1994, the Rwandan government orchestrated a campaign of extermination, in which everyone in the Hutu majority was called upon to murder everyone in the Tutsi minority. Close to a million people were slaughtered in a hundred days, and the rest of the world did nothing to stop it. A year later, Philip Gourevitch went to Rwanda to investigate the most unambiguous genocide since Hitler's war against the Jews.Hailed by the Guardian as one of the hundred greatest nonfiction books of all time, We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families is a first-hand account one of the defining outrages of modern history, an unforgettable anatomy of Rwanda's decimation. As riveting as it is moving, it is a profound reckoning with humanity's betrayal and its perseverance.

  • Save 14%
    by John Garth
    £9.49

    A new biography exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's wartime experiences and their impact on his life and his writing of The Lord of The Rings. "e;To be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than in 1939 ... by 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead."e;So J.R.R. Tolkien responded to critics who saw The Lord of the Rings as a reaction to the Second World War. Tolkien and the Great War tells for the first time the full story of how he embarked on the creation of Middle-earth in his youth as the world around him was plunged into catastrophe. This biography reveals the horror and heroism that he experienced as a signals officer in the Battle of the Somme and introduces the circle of friends who spurred his mythology to life. It shows how, after two of these brilliant young men were killed, Tolkien pursued the dream they had all shared by launching his epic of good and evil. John Garth argues that the foundation of tragic experience in the First World War is the key to Middle-earth's enduring power. Tolkien used his mythic imagination not to escape from reality but to reflect and transform the cataclysm of his generatuion. While his contemporaries surrendered to disillusionment, he kept enchantment alive, reshaping an entire literary tradition into a form that resonates to this day. This is the first substantially new biography of Tolkien since 1977, meticulously researched and distilled from his personal wartime papers and a multitude of other sources.

  • Save 14%
    - The dog who crossed the jungle to find a home *SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOVIE 'ARTHUR THE KING' STARRING MARK WAHLBERG*
    by Mikael Lindnord
    £9.49

    The epic true story of one man, his dog, and how they found each other.

  • Save 18%
    - Growing Up with Robert Johnson
    by Annye C. Anderson
    £20.49

    An intimate memoir by blues legend Robert Johnson's stepsister, including new details about his family, music, influences, tragic death, and musical afterlife

  • Save 14%
    by Hans Rosling
    £9.49

  • - Unabridged 1946 Edition
    by Paramahansa Yogananda
    £25.99 - 32.49

Biographies
Biographies books are per definition a collection of someone’s life. That someone is mostly a celebrity and often comes from the world of entertainment for example a famous movie or television star. A good biography lets you under the skin of the subject. Biographies are mostly written by biography authors, who are specialized in capturing the life of another person through research and multiple interviews with both the individual and his or her relatives. The celebrity or icon can also choose to write his or her own story, which is what characterizes an autobiography. An autobiography can - if the writer is good - give you a more intimate picture of the subject. You can both find biographies and autobiographies in Tales’ wide selection of Biographies. 

Biographies best sellers
Tales’ selection contains most of the biographies best sellers. The biographies books are often about celebrities known from film, television or the music industry, but they can also be about inspiring trailblazers from the societal or political world like the biography best seller Becoming about Michelle Obama. The American first lady has inspired many Americans and people around the world. Her and her husband - the first black American first lady and President - made many extraordinary changes in the American society and advocated for more diversity and respect in the American people. Michelle Obama also fights for more equality, especially when it comes to girls and women. Read the inspiring story of how Michelle Obama became one of our times most popular, kind and obliging residents of the White House in her biography Becoming, and let it guide you to finding our own voice. 
Another best seller is Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. Taddeo has written an innovative biography that is a collection of three American women's lives. The biography is an investigation of the female lust in all its complexity. Many women have expressed that they can reflect their own life and feelings of desire in the book. 

Biographies about musicians
Take a look in our selection and find some of the best biographies about musicians. The selection has something for every taste, because you find accounts about musicians from every end of the spectre. Whether you like rock, jazz, classical music, pop or musicals you will find biographies about musicians representing every genre. 
Take for example the autobiography Me Elton John, who has gained extraordinary reviews and success all around the world making the Elton John biography an international best seller. The book is the only official biography made about the iconic musician and singer. Read the incredible and turbulent story about one of our biggest stars to date, and you might learn the secrets behind writing and performing hit after hit.
You can also dive into the fascinating story of the musical legend Julie Andrews. In the biography Home you can read about her journey from London to Broadway stardom. The triple threat is the woman behind legendary roles such as Mary Poppins and Maria from The Sound of Music, and you can follow her journey through Hollywood in the sequel Home Work. Julie Andrews is the writer of her own story and she writes in an intimate and heart-warming narrative. 

Biographies about artists
Are you an art lover, art student or an artist yourself? Then we would recommend you to find inspiration in our biographies about artists. Our collection of biographies contains among others the book Frida Kahlo - A Biography written by Claudia Schaefer. Schaefer gives an introduction to the beloved Latino artist. Frida Kahlo is one of modern times greatest female artists and her surrealist artworks are extraordinary. The biography introduces the reader to her unique form of art - Kahlo did not see herself as a surrealist - but it also gives a look into the artist behind the world famous works of art. If you want to dive into the lives of amazing artists, the story of Kahlo is just one of many wonderful biographies about artists. 

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