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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%
    by Samantha Cristoforetti
    £10.99

  • Save 14%
    - The Life and Extreme Times of an Off-road Motorcyclist
    by Graham Jarvis
    £9.49

    The autobiography of Extreme Enduro motorcycling legend Graham Jarvis

  • Save 11%
    - The Restored Edition
    by Ernest Hemingway
    £7.99

    Featuring a personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, Ernest's sole surviving son, and an introduction by the editor and grandson of the author, Sean Hemingway, this new edition also includes a number of unfinished, never-before-published Paris sketches revealing experiences that Hemingway had with his son Jack and his first wife, Hadley.

  • - Mac Miller Lyric Edition
    by Marina Cardenas
    £13.99

  • - An Evolution in Understanding
    by Crissi McDonald
    £11.99

    In Getting Along with Horses: An Evolution in Understanding, you will be challenged to reframecommonly held beliefs about the most effective ways to interact with your horse. A peaceful relationship is something many of us strive for. Yet, some of the lessons we're taught make it difficult to establish the connection we seek, and are based on techniques that are anything but peaceful.Seeing horses for who and what they are is key to cooperative and positive interactions. Instead of relying on antiquated practices or outdated information, you will discover ways to educate yourself and shift your understanding to the horse's point of view. Horses are hardwired to get along. In this book, you will find ideas that will help you to also get along with them.

  • by Stefan Zweig
    £11.99 - 17.99

  • Save 24%
  • by Ian Collins
    £17.49 - 29.49

  • Save 14%
    by Duncan Hamilton
    £9.49

    'One day you'll write a book about this club. Or, more to the point, about me. So you may as well know what I'm thinking and save it up for later when it won't do any harm to anyone.'Brian Clough's twenty years as Nottingham Forest manager were an unpredictable mixture of success, failure, fall-outs and alcoholism. Duncan Hamilton, initiated as a young journalist into the Brian Clough empire, was there to see it all. In this strikingly intimate biography - William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2007 - Hamilton paints a vivid portrait of one of football's greatest managers: from Nottingham Forest's double European Cup triumph to the torturous breakdown of relations at the club and Clough's descent into alcoholism.Sad, joyous and personal, Hamilton's account of life with Brian Clough is a touching tribute to a brilliant man.

  • Save 20%
    - Kings and Conquerors
    by Adrian Goldsworthy
    £11.99

    A joint biography that investigates how, during their lifetimes, Philip and Alexander of Macedon transformed a weak kingdom in northern Greece into a globe-spanning empire, and in so doing changed the course of human history.

  • Save 10%
    by Paul Rees
    £8.99

    Robert Plant is one of the few genuine living rock legends.Frontman of Led Zeppelin, musical innovator and seller of millions of records, Plant has had a profound influence on music for over four decades. But the full account of his life has barely been told ... until now.Robert Plant: A Life is the first complete and comprehensive telling of Plant's story. From his earliest performances in folk clubs in the early 1960s, to the world's biggest stages as Led Zeppelin's self-styled 'Golden God', and on to his emergence as an emboldened solo star.The sheer scale of Zeppelin's success is extraordinary: in the US alone they sold 70 million records, a figure surpassed only by the Beatles. But their success was marred by tragedy.These pages contain first-hand accounts of Plant's greatest highs and deepest lows: the tragic deaths of his son Karac and his friend, Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.Told in vivid detail, this is the definitive story of a man of great talent, remarkable fortitude and extraordinary conviction.

  • Save 14%
    by Karen Armstrong
    £9.49

    Through the Narrow Gate is Karen Armstrong's memoir of life inside a Catholic convent in the 1960's.With gentleness and honesty, Armstrong takes her readers on a revelatory journey that begins with her decision, at the age of seventeen, to devote her life to God as a nun. yet once she embarked upon her spiritual training, she encountered a frightening and oppressive world, fossilized by tradition, which moulded, isolated and pushed her to the limit of what she could endure.

  • Save 14%
    by Sebastian Junger
    £9.49

    The worst storm in history seen from the wheelhouse of a doomed fishing trawler; a mesmerisingly vivid account of a natural hell from a perspective that offers no escape.The 'perfect storm' is a once-in-a-hundred-years combination: a high pressure system from the Great Lakes, running into storm winds over an Atlantic island - Sable Island - and colliding with a weather system from the Caribbean: Hurricane Grace.This is the story of that storm, told through the accounts of individual fishing boats caught up in the maelstrom, their families waiting anxiously for news of their return, the rescue services scrambled to save them. It is the story of the old battle between the fisherman and the sea, between man and Nature, that awesome and capricious power which can transform the surface of the Atlantic into an impossible tumult of water walls and gaping voids, with the capacity to break an oil tanker in two.In spare, lyrical prose 'The Perfect Storm' describes what happened when the Andrea Gail looked into the wrathful face of the perfect storm.

  • Save 75%
    by Professor Noel Fitzpatrick
    £4.99 - 9.49

    Professor Noel Fitzpatrick shares more heart-warming and uplifting stories from his life as The Supervet. The follow-up to the massive No.1 bestseller, Listening to the Animals.

  • Save 20%
    by Philip Norman
    £11.99

    The final word on music's greatest legend, in which Philip Norman reveals a John Lennon the world has never seen. With ground-breaking insight into the pain, beauty and frustration that shaped the genius of modern music, John Lennon: The Definitive Biography redefines a legend.John Lennon - the iconic songwriter, composer and one quarter of The Beatles - was a giant of the twentieth century. As the founding member of the world's most successful group ever, he changed lives. The popularity and significance of The Beatles is beyond comparison in our age - in the UK alone, they released more than 40 number one singles and albums.But their impact extended well beyond their music. Their clothes, hairstyles, statements, and even their choice of instruments made them trend-setters from the 1960s to this day, while their growing social awareness - reflected in the development of their music - saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.Following the painful collapse of The Beatles, John came out a wiser but angrier person. Together with his wife Yoko Ono, he attempted to transform the world through non-musical means. Their bed-in in Amsterdam and Montreal, their black bag appearances on stage, their innocent flirting with political activists and radicals, all received massive media attention. These events were in search of world peace.John Lennon was shot dead by a mentally disturbed fan outside his New York apartment building on December 8, 1980.Featuring previously unseen photographs, this truly is the definitive John Lennon.

  • - Joseph Pilates and His Legacy
    by John Howard Steel
    £13.49 - 21.49

  • Save 10%
    by Andre Leon Talley
    £8.99

  • Save 21%
    by Susie Hodge
    £13.49

    An expert and comprehensive new reference book on the life and works of the influential impressionist artist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

  • Save 15%
    - The Anatomy of Football's Centre-Half
    by Leo Moynihan
    £14.49

  • - A True Story of Faith, Love, and the Miraculous Power of Prayer
    by Lydia Prince & Dr Derek Prince
    £15.99

    This is the riveting true story of a young schoolteacher and her courageous quest to know God's will for her life. In Lydia Prince's search for God and her life's purpose, she is led to Jerusalem, where she learns the power of prayer and experiences many

  • Save 14%
    - The Birth of Netflix by the first CEO and co-founder Marc Randolph
    by Marc Randolph
    £9.49

    Netflix co-founder and first CEO shares the behind-the-scenes origin story of the major international brand that has changed everything about how we consume TV and film.

  • Save 14%
    by James Haskell
    £9.49

  • Save 12%
    - The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon
    by Maxine Gordon
    £14.99

    Sophisticated Giant presents the life and legacy of tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon (19231990), one of the major innovators of modern jazz. In a context of biography, history, and memoir, Maxine Gordon has completed the book that her late husband began, weaving his ';solo' turns with her voice and a chorus of voices from past and present. Reading like a jazz composition, the blend of research, anecdote, and a selection of Dexter's personal letters reflects his colorful life and legendary times. It is clear why the celebrated trumpet genius Dizzy Gillespie said to Dexter, ';Man, you ought to leave your karma to science.' Dexter Gordon the icon is the Dexter beloved and celebrated on albums, on film, and in jazz lore--even in a street named for him in Copenhagen. But this image of the cool jazzman fails to come to terms with the multidimensional man full of humor and wisdom, a figure who struggled to reconcile being both a creative outsider who broke the rules and a comforting insider who was a son, father, husband, and world citizen. This essential book is an attempt to fill in the gaps created by our misperceptions as well as the gaps left by Dexter himself.

  • Save 22%
    by Ken Wilber
    £13.99

  • Save 15%
    by Howard Marks
    £10.99

    The incredible story of an unconventional life During the mid 1980s Howard Marks had forty three aliases, eighty nine phone lines and owned twenty five companies throughout the world.

  • Save 21%
    - The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923
    by Caroline Finkel
    £13.49

    The Ottoman chronicles recount that the first sultan, Osman, dreamt of the dynasty he would found - a tree, fully-formed, emerged from his navel, symbolising the vigour of his successors and the extent of their domains.This is the first book to tell the full story of the Ottoman dynasty that for six centuries held sway over territories stretching, at their greatest, from Hungary to the Persian Gulf, and from North Africa to the Caucasus.Understanding the realization of Osman's vision is essential for anyone who seeks to understand the modern world.

  • Save 14%
    - Picador Classic
    by Alexandra Fuller
    £9.49

    With an introduction by Anne EnrightShortlisted for the Guardian First Book award, a story of civil war and a family's unbreakable bond.How you see a country depends on whether you are driving through it, or live in it. How you see a country depends on whether or not you can leave it, if you have to.As the daughter of white settlers in war-torn 1970s Rhodesia, Alexandra Fuller remembers a time when a schoolgirl was as likely to carry a shotgun as a satchel. This is her story - of a civil war, of a quixotic battle with nature and loss, and of a family's unbreakable bond with the continent that came to define, scar and heal them.Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award in 2002, Alexandra Fuller's classic memoir of an African childhood is suffused with laughter and warmth even amid disaster. Unsentimental and unflinching, but always enchanting, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is the story of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.

  • Save 21%
    by Douglas Botting
    £14.99

    This edition does not include illustrations.The authorised biography of the great naturalist and conservationist Gerald Durrell, who died aged seventy in January 1995 in Jersey, where he founded the zoo he'd dreamed of as a small boy and pioneered the captive breeding of animals for conservation.Gerald Durrell was a world-famous naturalist and popular author who wrote, in all, some thirty-seven immensely readable yarns, including the bestselling 'My Family and Other Animals'. His other books include 'Birds, Beasts and Relatives', 'The Bafut Beagles' and 'A Zoo in My Luggage'.Above all, he paved the way in print for the popular presentation of the natural world on television and presented twelve series himself - the early ones, of his own expeditions. Sir David Attenborough has said: 'He was responsible for changing people's attitudes to zoology and changing their agenda. He showed them small animals could be as interesting as apes and elephants...He was a pioneer with a marvellous sense of humour.'His brother was the famous writer Lawrence Durrell.

  • - An Optimist in Andalucia - Special Anniversary Edition (with new chapter 25 years on)
    by Chris Stewart
    £9.99

    Driving Over Lemons, a captivating book penned by the talented Chris Stewart, is a must-read for all. Published in 2020 by Sort of Books, this engaging work of art is a stand-out in its genre. Stewart, with his unique storytelling style, transports readers to a different world, making them feel as if they're part of the narrative. Driving Over Lemons is more than just a book; it's an experience that stays with you long after you've turned the last page. Don't miss out on this masterpiece from Sort of Books.

  • Save 15%
    - The Definitive Biography of Freddie Mercury
    by Lesley-Ann Jones
    £10.99

    'Exactly the sort of tribute Mercury himself would have wanted' SPECTATOR'No one has captured better than Lesley-Ann Jones the magical, enchanting dualism of Freddie Mercury'THE TIMES'Truly definitive, truly Freddie, an energetic, entertaining and essential account'SIR TIM RICE'This book grabs you with its opening, then builds. Insight and anecdote in perfect harmony' SIMON NAPIER-BELL'At last a massive tribute to a massive talent'STEVE HARLEY, COCKNEY REBELThis is the definitive biography of Freddie Mercury. Written by an award-winning rock journalist, Lesley-Ann Jones toured widely with Queen forming lasting friendships with the band. Now, having secured access to the remaining band members and those who were closest to Freddie, from childhood to death, Lesley-Ann has written the most in depth account of one of music's best loved and most complex figures. Meticulously researched, sympathetic, unsensational, the book will focus on the period in the 1980s when Queen began to fragment, before their Live Aid performance put them back in the frame. In her journey to understand the man behind the legend, Lesley-Ann Jones has travelled from London to Zanzibar to India. Packed with exclusive interviews and told with the invaluable perspective that the twenty years since Mercury's death presents, Freddie Mercury is the most up to date portrait of a legendary man.

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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