I like biographies. I often find historical biography more interesting than straight history. I find scientific biography interesting, becuase I love science, and am also intersted in cognitive brilliance. And I read some other biography, too.
I'll put my favorites, below the fold. Please put your favorites, in the comments.
I'll also include a list of people whom I would like to read about
Feel free to talk about biographies or any books you're reading.
I'm going to divide this into a few categories, and then do it alphabetically by subject's name
Historical biography
Winston Churchill I like William Manchsster's bio, two volumes so far
The Last Lion: Visions of glory
and
The last lion: Alone
Elizabeth I (Queen of England)
The first Elizabeth by Carolly Erickson. Elizabeth is a fascinating character, and Erickson writes very well.
Henry VIII (King of England) Great Harry by Carrlly Erickson.
Thomas Jefferson - my favorite is American Sphinx by Joseph Ellis, which I think nicely captures some of the contradictions of Jefferson.
Lyndon Johnson
Doris Kearns Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream
if you want a longer book, Robert Caro has a 3 volume bio of him, which is also good, but too relentlessly negative.
Abraham Lincoln - Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, is magnificent.
John D. Rockefeller's fascinating story is told well in Titan by Ron Chernow. John D. was a curious character. A ruthless competitor in business, a staunch opponent of the New Deal, and, yet, a guy who gave away tons of money, and, unlike some, started giving it away long before he had much.
Theodore Roosevelt - Theodore Rex. TR had his flaws, but, as one reviewer wrote:
To read a biography of Theodore Roosevelt during the presidency of George W Bush is not a task for the easily depressed
.
Scientific biography
Paul Erdos
The man who loved only numbers by Paul Hoffman. A fascinating look at a very odd, difficult, brilliant, and somehow endearing man.
Richard Feynman - one of my favorite subjects. His autobiographical books are great
1. Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman and
- What do you care what other people think?
for a more conventional biography there is Genius by James Gleick
Kurt Godel - My favorite bio of him is Incompleteness
by Rebecca Goldstein, because Goldstein is both a novelist (hence a command of the English language) and studied philosophy (so, can perhaps see something of what Godel meant).
John Nash - A beautiful mind by Sylvia Nasar
Isaac Newton - The most complete, if not the most readable, bio of Newton is probably Never at Rest by Richard Westfall. There is also a lot about Newtown in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle - this is fiction, but lots of biographical information (I am now looking for a good bio of Leibniz). A more accessible biography of Newton is the short book by James Gleick Isaac Newton
Nobert Weiner - Dark hero of the information age by Flo Conway. A child prodigy who resented it, a Jew who married an admirer of Hitler, a man who invented a field thaet is almost forgotten, an interesting guy.
Lives to read about
Leibniz
Paracelsus
Gauss
I am probably forgetting a bunch, and there are lots I want to read, but enough.
What bios are you reading?
What lives do you want to read about?