Best Biography Books: 200 Books List

The best biography books give us the ability to take a peek inside another person’s life without being invasive while still maintaining our curiosity. It’s human nature to want to know more about stellar athletes, beautiful celebrities, and influential characters, which is why social media is as popular as it is. With an astounding number of biographies on the market, you can learn about anyone, from Rod Stewart to Carl Jung.

There’s something about biographies that is so satisfying, especially if you are a fan of a specific person or have always wondered what their life is like. For example, have you ever considered what it was like to be in a hair metal band in the ‘80s? Perhaps you wanted to know what it was like for an individual to work for a First Lady while living in the White House.

If there’s one thing to be said about the best biography books, it’s that it appeases every reader’s appetite. From sports personalities to YouTube vloggers, biographies can capture every demographic perfectly while still maintaining their informative nature. It truly is as if you are given an inside look into some of the most influential personalities in sociology, history, philosophy, politics, and popular culture.

Frequently, understanding a person and their character enables you to follow developments, decision-making, and, at times, better understand yourself in a positive light. You might find that you are more relatable to a particular individual than you had initially thought, which can help you to pave a new path in your life.

Alternatively, you can make immediate changes if you find that you are too relatable to a particular personality. It’s true when they say that to understand the importance of Amelia Earhart, for example, you must first understand the life of a woman in the 1900s.

The best biography books help to make it all possible, as you will be transported to any point in time to any country in the world and be able to learn. Some of the smartest people on the planet have bookshelves filled with biographies, and for a good reason, because you can always learn something new from them.

Best Biography Books

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

I didn't read actually very many general business books, but I like biographies and autobiographies, I think those are pretty helpful. Actually, a lot of them aren't really business. [...] Isaacson's biography on Franklin is really good. Cause he was an entrepreneur and he sort of started from nothing, actually he was just like a run away kid, basically, and created his printing business and sort of his way of doing that, and then over time all of the science and politics. I'd say certain he's one of the few people I most admire. Franklin's pretty awesome.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Sorrell, CEO of the communications house/ad agency, WPP, has a rather eclectic mix this summer:

• Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency—James Andrew Miller
• Universal Man: The Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes—Richard Davenport-Hines
• Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future—Ashlee Vance

Sir Martin Sorrell

CEO/WPP

With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln

A few of my favorite bios for the new book. #whatimreading

Robert Greene

Author

On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft

My professional path – copywriting – somehow intertwines with my unprofessional (hahaha) path – writing so I would recommend reading literature for both. Somehow reading and writing are two ways of doing the same thing: storytelling (even when you read you tell yourself a story in your own voice, bringing your personal emotion and empathy to the story you’re reading). The only difference is that when I’m reading, panic is far away from me, in a safe place. Nevertheless, the words below helped me rewrite and think twice before adding an exclamation point: On Writing by Stephen King.

Alina Varlanuta

Creator/The Hole in Your Head

Augustus: The Life of Rome’s First Emperor

A few of my favorite bios for the new book. #whatimreading

Robert Greene

Author

Iacocca: An Autobiography

Every few years for the last 20 years, Ramit has read Iacocca: An Autobiography by Lee Iacocca and William Novak.

Ramit Sethi

Founder/GrowthLab

John Adams

The biographies have been useful, because I do think that there’s a tendency, understandable, to think that whatever’s going on right now is uniquely disastrous or amazing or difficult.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

Alexander Hamilton

Winston Ma

Managing Director/China Investment Corporation

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

How do you explain Warren Buffett? Everyone knows that in a deep and liquid capital market like that of the US, it is just about impossible to beat the stock market averages over anything more than the short term. But Buffett has been ahead of the curve for most of the past 50 years, making him one of the world’s richest people. Alice Schroeder’s massive authorised biography, The Snowball, provides some clues about how he’s done it.

Richard Lambert

Director-General/Confederation of British Industry

Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American

This was someone I knew little about before the year began, and by the end of it found myself referencing and thinking of him constantly. It is equal parts due to the greatest of the man himself and to Hart’s vivid and engrossing portrait. I almost feel like I have lost something not having known this of him my whole life. There is a stunningly profound quote from Hart in the book that I’ll paraphrase here that defines his genius: Sherman’s success was rooted in his grasp that the way to success is strategically along the line of least expectation and tactically along the line of least resistance. It is that kind of thinking that immediately displaces any preceding notions about Sherman’s reputation as a general or a legend. All these myths belies his strategic acumen, his mastery of terrain and his deep understanding of statesmanship and politics. There is much to learn from the man and this biographer—who himself was a great strategist and mind—so if you are going to read one biography this year, read Sherman: Solider, Realist, American.

Ryan Holiday

Founder/Brass Check

Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time

I really, really like company biographies. They're just kind of the style of book that I've gotten really into. [...] I've read the Starbucks CEO book.

Jilliene Helman

CEO/Realty Mogul

Sam Walton: Made in America

"In his autobiography, Walmart's founder expounds on the principles of discount retailing and discusses his core values of frugality and a bias for action — a willingness to try a lot of things and make many mistakes. Bezos included both in Amazon's corporate values," Brad Stone writes.

Jeff Bezos

CEO/Amazon

Empire State of Mind: How Jay Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office

Just because I didn’t want this list to be all stuffy old classics, I thought I’d put this interesting (and unofficial) biography of Jay-Z on here. This is a biography that also functions as a business book. It shows how Jay applied hustling techniques to the music business and eventually built his empire.

Ryan Holiday

Founder/Brass Check

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

When I was younger I would ask any smart or successful person I met to recommend a book for me to read. Dr. Drew recommended that I read The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. It immediately became a lifetime favorite that I have reread several times (Amazon tells me I bought it Oct 26, 2006). It ends the day he is telegraphed that McKinley has been assassinated–so the book focuses on everything before that from his unusual childhood and struggle with asthma to his love nature to his trip west after the simultaneous death of his wife and mother. I’m not sure why I took so long to read this sequel but it is just as good, if not better. Focusing on Roosevelt from the end of presidency to the end of his life, there is enough material just in that portion of his life to put everyone else to shame. It covers his retirement, his safari in Africa, his exploration of the River of Doubt, his run as a third party candidate and finally his heartbreaking struggles with WWI and his son’s death. Goddamn, TR was a good man.

Ryan Holiday

Founder/Brass Check

Robert Kuok A Memoir

Robert Kuok's Memoir - biography of a Malaysian born business magnate and investor who made his fortunes building commodity empires and international hotel brands. It’s interesting to read up on the way he approached business in this part of the world (Asia) and how they had the general economic foresight to spot opportunities (and disasters).

Jack Wong

Co-Founder/Shoe Mo

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