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Autobiographies

Find inspiration for a wide range of the best autobiographies and books about people themselves and their memories. Here are autobiographies about some of the world's most exciting people and how their life story has been. Autobiographies are stories written or told by the person themselves. It is not necessarily famous people who write books about themselves, but also quite ordinary people who have something important at heart to tell. But also if the person has experienced or achieved something unique in life that may be interesting to others. Find the best autobiographies below for your next reading.
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  • Save 15%
    - Elton John Official Autobiography
    by Elton John
    £10.99 - 16.99

    The first and only official autobiography by the much-loved global icon Elton John

  • Save 10%
    by Joan Didion
    £8.99 - 10.99

    From one of America's iconic writers, a portrait of a marriage and a life - in good times and bad - that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child. A stunning book of electric honesty and passion.Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill. At first they thought it was flu, then pneumonia, then complete sceptic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later - the night before New Year's Eve -the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John suffered a massive and fatal coronary. In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of 40 years was over. Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LA airport, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Centre to relieve a massive hematoma.This powerful book is Didion's 'attempt to make sense of the weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness ... about marriage and children and memory ... about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself'. The result is an exploration of an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage, and a life, in good times and bad.

  • Save 20%
    by Rob Halford
    £11.99

  • Save 18%
    by Jane McLelland
    £16.49 - 19.49

  • Save 18%
    by Laia Farran Graves
    £11.49

    Documenting the history of this family brand and representing a summary of Miuccia Prada's key collections and pieces, including the launch of the Miu Miu line, this book showcases the brand's emphasis on understated elegance and luxury, technologically advanced fabrics and originality of design.

  • Save 14%
    by Hunter S. Thompson
    £9.49

    'We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, "e;I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive ..."e;'Hunter S. Thompson is roaring down the desert highway to Las Vegas with his attorney, the Samoan, to find the dark side of the American Dream. Armed with a drug arsenal of stupendous proportions, the duo engage in a surreal succession of chemically enhanced confrontations with casino operators, police officers and assorted Middle Americans.This ebook edition of Hunter S. Thompson's iconic masterpiece, a controversial bestseller when it appeared in 1971, features the brilliant Ralph Steadman illustrations of the original. It brings to a new generation the hallucinatory humour and nightmare terror of Hunter S. Thompson's musings on the collapse of the American Dream.

  • Save 14%
    by Michelle Zauner
    £9.49

    From the indie rockstar of Japanese Breakfast fame, and author of the viral 2018 &i>New Yorker&/i> essay that shares the title of this book, an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean-American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity.

  • Save 14%
    by Nimsdai Purja
    £9.49

  • Save 15%
    by Edward Snowden
    £10.99

    Permanent Record is the essential and courageous memoir of Edward Snowden - the man who risked everything to expose the shocking mass surveillance used by governments across the world to spy on their own citizens.

  • Save 14%
    - From the author of the Big Short
    by Michael Lewis
    £9.49

    'One of the great business books of all time' Punch'Wickedly funny' Daily Express'Hilarious' New York TimesThe original classic that revealed the truth about ambition, greed and excess in London and Wall Street, by Michael Lewis, the number 1 bestselling author of The Big Short and The Undoing Project.From mere trainee to lowly geek, to triumphal Big Swinging Dick: that was Michael Lewis' pell-mell progress through the dealing rooms of Salomon Brothers in New York and London during the heady mid-1980s when they were probably the world's most powerful and profitable merchant bank. Funny, frightening, breathless and heartless, Liar's Poker is the original story of hysterical greed and excessive ambition, one that is now more potent and enthralling than ever.

  • Save 21%
    by Megan Hess
    £13.49 - 16.99

    Coco Chanel: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Icon is an illustrated biography of Coco's Chanels life from the internationally reknown illustrator and author, Megan Hess.Itfeatures key moments from Cocos amazing life and iconic items from the fashion empire that she built. Think an illustrated picture book for adults, told through Megans stylish and feminine illustrations with a fun, whimsical and magical bent.Coco Chanel takes us on a romp through the three distinct chapters of Cocos life: from Coco's early life and building the brand, to the empire she created, to the legacy she left behind, and how her style is still influential and iconic today.Hess'sbook literally paints apicture of the woman whoforever changed the waywomen dress.The AustralianCoco Chanel: The Illustrated World of a FashionIconis a beautifully presentedbiography of the designerBooks + Publishing NationalStyle lovers, unite! Thisamazing guided tour ofChanel's game-changingempire is made for coffeetablesCleoAustralian illustrator Megan Hess,whose work graces prestigious designers and brands including Chanel, Carrier andTiffany and Co., creates a whimsical adventure through the world of MademoiselleChanelPRIMOLife

  • Save 14%
    - Stories of Love, Loss and Hope from an Expert in Disaster
    by Lucy Easthope
    £9.49 - 15.49

    The gripping story of an extraordinary life spent inside major disasters - from Hillsborough and 9/11 to Grenfell and Covid - from the UK's leading expert on disaster recovery.

  • Save 14%
    - The Sunday Times Number-One Bestseller
    by Andrew Morton
    £9.49

    A reissue of this classic title with a new introduction by Andrew Morton reflecting on the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the original publication, and on the long term legacy of Diana.

  • Save 15%
    - My Autobiography
    by Mike Tyson
    £10.99

    One of the most talked-about and bestselling books of last year, this is the no-holds-barred autobiography of a sporting legend driven to the brink of self-destruction

  • Save 14%
    by Richard P Feynman
    £9.49

  • Save 10%
    by Seth Rogen
    £8.99 - 15.49

    A collection of funny personal essays from Seth Rogen, one of the writers of Superbad and Pineapple Express and one of the producers of The Disaster Artist, Neighbors, and The Boys.

  • Save 14%
    by Eddie Jaku
    £9.49

    The moving and inspiring story of an Auschwitz survivor who shares what hes learned about gratitude, tolerance and kindness.

  • Save 15%
    - Stories from a South African Childhood
    by Trevor Noah
    £10.99

    One of the comedy world's fastest-rising stars ('SLICK, INTELLIGENT AND BLISSFULLY FUNNY' Time Out) tells his hilarious and moving coming-of-age story during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.

  • Save 15%
    by Patti Smith
    £10.99

  • Save 11%
    - The Definitive Edition
    by Anne Frank
    £7.99 - 15.49

    One of the most famous accounts of living under the Nazi regime of World War II comes from the diary of a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl, Anne Frank. Today, The Diary of a Young Girl has sold over 25 million copies world-wide.It is one of the most celebrated and enduring books of the last century and it remains a deeply admired testament to the indestructible nature of human spirit.Anne Frank and her family fled the horrors of Nazi occupation by hiding in the back of a warehouse in Amsterdam for two years with another family and a German dentist. Aged thirteen when she went into the secret annexe, Anne kept a diary. She movingly revealed how the eight people living under these extraordinary conditions coped with hunger, the daily threat of discovery and death and being cut off from the outside world, as well as petty misunderstandings and the unbearable strain of living like prisoners.The Diary of a Yong Girl is a timeless true story to be rediscovered by each new generation. For young readers and adults it continues to bring to life Anne's extraordinary courage and struggle throughout her ordeal.'One of the greatest books of the century' Guardian'A modern classic' The Times'Rings down the decades as the most moving testament to the persecution of innocence' Daily Mail'Astonishing and excruciating. Its gnaws at us still' New York Times Book ReviewAnne Frank was born on 12 June 1929. She died in Bergen-Belsen, three months short of her sixteenth birthday.

  • Save 14%
    by Guenther Steiner
    £9.49

  • Save 15%
    by Tom Felton
    £10.99

  • Save 10%
    by Susanna Kaysen
    £8.99

    The bestselling book that inspired the cult classic film, Girl, Interrupted, starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie."e;Not since Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar has a personal account of life in a mental hospital achieved as much popularity and acclaim"e; TIME "e;Intelligent and painful"e; Guardian"e;Poignant, astonishing memoir"e; New York TimesIn 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele - Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor and Ray Charles.A clear-sighted, unflinching work that provokes questions about our definitions of sane and insane, Kaysen's extraordinary memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers.

  • Save 11%
    by Haruki Murakami
    £7.99 - 8.99

    In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, the author began running to keep fit. A year later, he'd completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and on his writing. This title presents his portrait.

  • Save 15%
    by Anthony Kiedis
    £10.99

    * The frank, shocking and inspiring autobiography of Anthony Kiedis, lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers - 'the world's biggest band' (MOJO)* 'Book of the Year' N.M.E.

  • Save 24%
    - Journals
    by Kurt Cobain
    £18.99

    The first publication of Kurt Cobain's diaries, which were found after his death in 1994. Genuinely moving, provocative and candid, and suprisingly funny, pieces of writing which, as a whole, provide a unique account of the rise and fall of a greatpopular artist and icon.

  • Save 15%
    - My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future
    by David Attenborough
    £10.99

    It is the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake - and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right. We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited.'All we need is the will to do so.'

  • Save 20%
    - The World War Two Pacific Classic
    by Eugene B Sledge
    £11.99

    The inspiration behind the HBO series THE PACIFICThis was a brutish, primitive hatred, as characteristic of the horror of war in the Pacific as the palm trees and the islands...Landing on the beach at Peleliu in 1944 as a twenty-year-old new recruit to the US Marines, Eugene Sledge can only try desperately to survive. At Peleliu and Okinawa - two of the fiercest and filthiest Pacific battles of WWII - he witnesses the dehumanising brutality displayed by both sides and the animal hatred that each soldier has for his enemy.During temporary lapses in the fighting, conditions on the islands mean that the Marines often can't wash, stay dry, dig latrines, or even find time to eat. Suffering from constant fear, fatigue, and filth, the struggle of simply living in a combat zone is utterly debilitating.Yet despite horrendous conditions Sledge finds time to keep notes that he would later turn into a book. Described as one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war, With the Old Breed tells with compassion and honesty of the cruelty, bravery and deaths of the men he fought alongside, and of his own journey from patriotic innocence to battle-scarred veteran.'Eugene Sledge became more than a legend with his memoir, With The Old Breed. He became a chronicler, a historian, a storyteller who turns the extremes of the war in the Pacific - the terror, the camaraderie, the banal and the extraordinary - into terms we mortals can grasp' Tom Hanks

  • Save 27%
    by Adam Horovitz & Michael Diamond
    £25.49

    Formed as a New York City hardcore band in 1981, Beastie Boys struck an unlikely path to global hip hop superstardom.

  • Save 14%
    - Life Is What You Make It
    by Adam Savage
    £9.49

Autobiographies and their knowledge

Autobiographies are books that most often deal with the author himself. It is about people who have been through wild and eventful moments. Usually we have to dive far down, or at least know each other well, before we tell very personal stories. After all, it is not something we would tell a stranger in everyday life, so personal, are these autobiographies. It is excellent to be able to learn from each other so that the experiences and traumatic times we go through are not in vain. Of course, this is also something we can learn from, but autobiographies give you the knowledge you need to avoid the mistakes they end up making. In addition, it also contains stories about people they have been close to and how those relationships have changed. It is not always about learning in autobiographies, it can also be about understanding the human being behind. We are all incredibly complex people and that is evident in autobiographies. Autobiographies are books that take us very close to human nature, it gives us details that we would not otherwise get in a normal conversation.

The experiences and moments we all have, are where autobiographies shine about the mentality, such as the highest athletes have. These are books written both for the author's own sake but also the reader's. It is about quid pro quo, a two-sided coin that benefits one's own recovery (the author) and the reader. When we write down our thoughts, we quickly get rid of everything that keeps us down. That weight can be incredibly heavy and can therefore be very healthy to get rid of once in a while. A positive is that you know someone can read it, and get a whole lot of information from it, and perhaps learn what they should and should not do in certain situations. Take, for example, ‘Mamba Mentality’ a book about the late Kobe Bryant, it is said that his mentality was invincible and completely bulletproof. Something that we all strive to achieve, and that is exactly what autobiographies are all about. The innermost thoughts in a man. Autobiographies can also give you insight into your favorite celebrity life, understand them and see what makes them the person they are. We are all interesting and unique in our own way, through experiences and the knowledge or skills we possess.

Many of the books also consist of well-known quotes from many different people through political stories and the celebrity world.

Elon Musk has written an autobiography back in 2016, which deals with the giant tech companies he has managed to create. Including PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity. It is a deep look into how he has managed to do this and what it required from his own life. It is said that we have to sacrifice a lot to reach a high position in life. Great autobiography, which is a great place to start if you are into this topic.

As mentioned, autobiographies are a great tool for learning from others, and many of the stories are written by people who have had a tough upbringing. It is to their own advantage to understand how they have done it and what it requires of them. Try and dive into some of our autobiographies today!

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