Intriguing biographies?

Question

Have you read any REALLY GOOD biographies? Books that are interesting and not boring.

Answer 1

Teacher Man, Frank McCourt
Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs
Che' by Jon Lee Anderson
Underneath it All, Traci Lords
Heavier than Heaven about Kurt Cobain,
Smashed by Koren Zackelas

Answer 2

The Age of Jackson by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis
not certain its a bio, but The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman is good.

Answer 3

I read one of Che Guevara's biographies which was really interesting.

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life - John Lee Anderson

Answer 4

"Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist" by Bradley Steffens. It tells the fascinating story of a medieval Muslim scholar who overcame bouts of mental illness to develop the scientific method.

Born in Basra (located in what is now Iraq) in 965, Ibn al-Haytham first studied theology, trying unsuccessfully to resolve the differences between the Shi'ah and Sunnah sects. He turned his attention to the works of the ancient Greeks, including Aristotle, Euclid, and Archimedes. He was the first person to apply algebra to geometry, founding the branch of mathematics known as analytic geometry.

He traveled to Egypt to build a dam on the Nile, failed, and ended up imprisoned in Cairo for ten years. During this time he developed the idea of systematically testing hypotheses with experiments—the core of the scientific method. He wrote more than 200 books and treatises in his lifetime.

"Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist" was just chosen by California Readers, a nonprofit organization, to be part of the 2008 California Collection. You can find reviews of the book and a sample chapter at http://www.ibnalhaytham.net/

Answer 5

'JESSE LIVERMORE: World's Greatest Stock Trader' by Richard Smitten

STILLWELL AND THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHINA by Barabara Tuchman

'HENRY M. JACKSON: A Life in Politics' by Robert G. Kaufman

Answer 6

anything about kurt cobain=]