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Who wrote the best autobiography?

Re: Re: Who wrote the best autobiography?

TomStockholm said:


I agree on this one. Stephen Fry is (among other things) a great writer and also a great sceptic. Read his novel "The Hippopotomus" to see what I mean. He has also frequently mentioned that he is an huge admirer of Randi.

If you are looking for someone good for the next TAM (hopefully in Europe somewhere) then book Stephen Fry.
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I always admired him as a comedian, but never read any of his books. This might be an incentive. And you say he is an admirer of Randi? It would be great to see Fry talk about skepticism...
 
I saw the title of the thread and thought of David Niven. Bring on the Empty Horses was also very good.
 
I've just started Karl Dönitz' Ten Years and Twenty Days, which is excellent. Highly recommended.
 
I enjoyed "Ish Kabibble: The Autobiography of Merwyn Bogue" but I cannot say it was among the best ever written. (He was a trumpet player for Kay Kaiser's orchestra)

Silliest autobiography cover goes to "Mr. T: an autobiography by Mr. T."
 
I would second Richard Wright's Black Boy, particularly a copy of the restored text edition. Wright's individualism and his determination not to let his society keep him down are very impressive.
 
The Book of my Life by Girolamo Cardano is very good, but Benvenuto Cellini's is truly in a class by itself. Talk about a renaissance man.
 
I loved reading Errol Flynn's 'My wicked wicked ways'. It's been rumored that some of it is untrue, but even if half of it is true it would have been a very interesting life.
 
It's another totally subjective choice, but I say David Niven's The Moon's a Balloon. The combination of humour (the daffodil!) and emotion (the death of his first wife) make me feel emotional. And there are precious few books that do that to me
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Second that anytime, it's wonderfull. I don't know if it is out in English but Victor Borge's self biography "A Smile is the shortest distance between two people" has the same blend of sadness/fun (he was a jew and had to flee Denmark leaving his terminally ill mother behind in '41).
 
Interestingly, the current issue of the magazine The Believer (which has nothing to do with religious beliefs or skepticism or anything, and everything to do with literature, despite what the name seems to suggest) has an article all about Autobiographies of Inanimate Objects.

The article is titled "You and Your Dumb Friends" subtitled "What we might glean from the autobiographies of animals and the memoirs of inanimate objects."

This is how the article begins:

I am perfectly willing to read celebrity memoirs, but only if they conclude with a crowd of children smashing the author over the head witn an iron poker. Then, ideally, he should burst into flames. That, at least, is how one of my favorite Victorian autobiographies ends, and a most satisfying conclusion it is, too.
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He's talking about The Autobiography of a Lump of Coal (1870) by Annie Carey.

It's a really interesting article. I recommend picking up a copy of the magazine.

COCT
 
The Autobiography of Henry VIII
with notes by his fool, Will Somers

;)

Very cool book....who knew the King kept such detailled journals?
;)
 
Chuck Yeager's autobiography was excellent (name currently escapes me). More from the material to work with than the writing, but a great read regardless. His second one was interesting (it was all stories from friends/relatives/etc., not sure if that's really an autobiography) but I didn't find it as good. Though reading his wife's views of some things was pretty interesting in contrast. ;)

Jesse Ventura had a surprisingly good autobiography as well. Any guy who gets elected as governor with an autobiography out where he freely admits to visiting brothels while in the SEALs in SE Asia has GOT to be an interesting read. :D

Some interesting comments on his wrestling and movie career, as well. Surprisingly good read (picked it up in a book store in MN out of sheer randomness).
 
Chuck Yeager's autobiography was excellent (name currently escapes me).
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It was quite cunningly called "Yeager".:D

And yes, it was brilliant.;)
 
“Who on earth is Tom Baker ?”
The autobiography of the man you probably know best as the fourth DrWho (curls, teeth and scarf) or Wyvern from the latest version of Randal and Hopkirk (Deseased). Being a monk, suicide, drink, DrWho, drink, marrage, devorce and finding comfort in having a man he hated die in his arms.

He’s had an interesting life – poor sod.
 
Aoidoi said:
Chuck Yeager's autobiography was excellent (name currently escapes me).
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I enjoyed the book also. Yeager was one gutsy guy.

I actually got to meet him once (I think it was about 1989 or 1990) when I went on a trip to Edwards AFB. He was the featured speaker at a luncheon I attended.

Even though he was retired, the AF still let him come to Edwards and fly whenever he wanted.

Interesting speaker, and a very personable gentleman.
 
Mr. Skinny said:

I enjoyed the book also. Yeager was one gutsy guy.

I actually got to meet him once (I think it was about 1989 or 1990) when I went on a trip to Edwards AFB. He was the featured speaker at a luncheon I attended.

Even though he was retired, the AF still let him come to Edwards and fly whenever he wanted.

Interesting speaker, and a very personable gentleman.
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I enjoyed Yeager's book also. At times it seemed a tad too folksy for me, but on the whole it was pretty good. There were so many similarities to Yeager's book ("Yeager") and Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" that it's hard to escape the notion that Yeager was one of Wolfe's main sources.

I've never met the man, but one of my friends has. In the course of visiting with him, she found that Yeager felt that women should not work, but should stay at home and raise the kids, period. She said she was surprised by such a blatantly sexist attitude, especially in this day and age. (Yeager, incidentally, was best friends with two of the most liberated women of his day, Jaqueline Cochrane and Pancho Barnes. Each was a famous aviatrix in her own right, and they each hated the other... but they liked Yeager.)
 
I'm not sure what book I would nominate, by the way; I'll have to think about it (I read more biographies than autobiographies). Husband is currently reading Frank Muir's, A Kentish Lad, which I confess to having given him; he's been enjoying it, and I've been enjoying the snippets he's read me.
 
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