Different biographies
The 30 Best Biographies of All Time
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Blog – Posted on Monday, Jan 21
Biographer Richard Holmes once wrote that his work was “a kind of pursuit… writing about the pursuit of that fleeting figure, in such a way as to bring them alive in the present.”
At the risk of sounding cliché, the best biographies do exactly this: bring their subjects to life. A great biography isn’t just a laundry list of events that happened to someone. Rather, it should weave a narrative and tell a story in almost the same way a novel does. In this way, biography differs from the rest of nonfiction.
All the biographies on this list are just as captivating as excellent novels, if not more so. With that, please enjoy the 30 best biographies of all time — some historical, some recent, but all remarkable, life-giving tributes to their subjects.
If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great biographies out there, you can also take our second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized biography recommendation 😉
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1. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
This biography of esteemed mathematician John Nash was both a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the basis for the award-winning film of the same name. Nasar thoroughly explores Nash’s prestigious career, from his beginnings at MIT to his work at the RAND Corporation — as well the internal battle he waged against schizophrenia, a disorder that nearly derailed his life.
2. Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film The Imitation Game - Updated Edition by Andrew Hodges
Hodges’ biography of Alan Turing sheds light on the inner workings of this brilliant mathematician, cryptologist, and computer pioneer. Indeed, despite the title (a nod to his work during WWII), a
31 Days, 31 Lists: Unique Biographies for Kids
A good biography is one thing. A unique biography is another thing entirely. A great many of the darn thing are published every year, and it can be just a touch difficult to wade through them. I like a good one, though. I like a biography that makes you interested in another person&#;s life on the one hand, while also opening their story up in some larger way on the other. Today, I&#;m celebrating those biographies that focus on their subjects with a bit of creativity. The ones that could only tell their tales their own particular ways. Biographies for the masses! Biographies for the kids.
If you&#;d like a PDF of today&#;s list, you can find one here.
Curious about previous years’ biography lists? Then check out what’s come before:
Unique Biographies for Kids
Beautiful Noise: The Music of John Cage by Lisa Rogers, ill. Il Sung Na
Boy, it sure does make a difference what illustrator is paired with a given book at a given time. I’m not saying that writer Lisa Rogers hasn’t done a stand up and cheer job here. She has! I’m just saying that if these words had been paired with so-so art, I’m not so sure the final product would be anything to write home about. Fortunately, a good editor knows when to make the call and hire a great artist. Il Sung Na was always been better known to me personally for his work on The Book of Sleep and such. I’ve never seen him try his hand at a picture book bio, and he does not disappoint. First off, let’s talk endpapers! Using shapes and colors to represent different sounds, you could have an extended conversation with a kid over whether or not “Miffed” or “Murmuring” look the way Na has depicted them here. The book itself is my favorite kind of picture book bio. Which is to say, the kind that doesn&#;t go the “Such n’ so was born on [blank] to [blank] and when his mother saw him she said [blank]”. Booooring! Instead, Rogers had to think long and hard about what the point
The 50 Best Biographies of All Time
50
Crown The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss
You’re probably familiar with The Count of Monte Cristo, the revenge novel by Alexandre Dumas. But did you know it was based on the life of Dumas’s father, the mixed-race General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, son of a French nobleman and a Haitian slave? Thanks to Reiss’s masterful pacing and plotting, this rip-roaring biography of Thomas-Alexandre reads more like an adventure novel than a work of nonfiction. The Black Count won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in , and it’s only a matter of time before a filmmaker turns it into a big-screen blockbuster.
49
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, by Craig Brown
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Few biographies are as genuinely fun to read as this barnburner from the irreverent English critic Craig Brown. Princess Margaret may have been everyone’s favorite character from Netflix’s The Crown, but Brown’s eye for ostentatious details and revelatory insights will help you see why everyone in the s—from Pablo Picasso and Gore Vidal to Peter Sellers and Andy Warhol—was obsessed with her. When book critic Parul Sehgal says that she “ripped through the book with the avidity of Margaret attacking her morning vodka and orange juice,” you know you’re in for a treat.
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Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller, by Alec Nevala-Lee
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