topic hub
the best autobiographies and memoirs
The autobiographies and memoirs most often recommended by notable readers in our index. Captures the genre that consistently appears across founder, executive, and writer reading lists.
60 books, ranked by how many of the 4,800 notable readers in our index have publicly recommended each one.
- 24 people
“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character
Richard P. Feynman · 2018
24 recommenders
- 19 people
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice
Bill Browder · 2015
19 recommenders
- 15 people
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
Ben Macintyre · 2018
15 recommenders
- 11 people
The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution
Gregory Zuckerman · 2019
11 recommenders
- 9 people
Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader
Brent Schlender · 2015
9 recommenders
- 9 people
American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road
Nick Bilton · 2017
9 recommenders
- 8 people
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Cheryl Strayed · 2012
8 recommenders
- 7 people
From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000
Lee Kuan Yew · 2000
7 recommenders
- 7 people
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
William Finnegan · 2015
7 recommenders
- 7 people
A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life
Brian Grazer · 2015
7 recommenders
- 6 people
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World
Jonathan Freedland · 2022
6 recommenders
- 6 people
Out of Africa (Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction Books)
Isak Dinesen · 1992
6 recommenders
- 5 people
Sell It Like Serhant: How to Sell More, Earn More, and Become the Ultimate Sales Machine
Ryan Serhant · 2019
5 recommenders
- 5 people
The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism
Naoki Higashida, translated by David Mitchell and Keiko Yoshida · 2013
5 recommenders
- 5 people
I Love Capitalism!: An American Story
Ken Langone · 2018
5 recommenders
- 5 people
The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help
Amanda Palmer · 2014
5 recommenders
- 4 people
Vignette: Stories Of Life And Wine In 100 Bottles
Jane Lopes · 2019
4 recommenders
- 4 people
Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
Muhammad Yunus · 1999
4 recommenders
- 4 people
Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX
Eric Berger · 2021
4 recommenders
- 4 people
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations
Mira Jacob · 2019
4 recommenders
- 4 people
Here, Right Matters: An American Story
Alexander Vindman · 2021
4 recommenders
- 4 people
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot · 2010
4 recommenders
- 4 people
The Black Jacobins;: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
C. L. R. James · 1989
4 recommenders
- 3 people
Mao: The Unknown Story
Jon Halliday & Jung Chang · 2006
3 recommenders
- 3 people
Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family
Mitch Albom · 2019
3 recommenders
- 3 people
The Little Big Things: The Inspirational Memoir of the Year
Henry Fraser · 2018
3 recommenders
- 3 people
What Do You Care What Other People Think: Further Adventures of a Curious Character
Richard P. Feynman · 2008
3 recommenders
- 3 people
Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close
Aminatou Sow · 2020
3 recommenders
- 3 people
In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules
Stacy Perman · 2009
3 recommenders
- 3 people
Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble
Dan Lyons · 2016
3 recommenders
- 3 people
Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court
John Wooden · 1997
3 recommenders
- 3 people
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music
Dave Grohl · 2021
3 recommenders
- 3 people
From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America
Howard Schultz · 2019
3 recommenders
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Methodology: each book is ranked by the number of recommenders in our index who have publicly endorsed it. Curated topics use a hand-picked book list; year-stamped pages query our index by publication year. More on methodology →