# Best Autobiography Titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636 "2015-10-14T15:37:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/1 "2015-10-14T15:37:25Z")
Two came to my mind for the best titles of an autobiography. Oscar Levant’s\* Oscar Levant: Memoirs of an Amnesiac\* and Harpo Marx’s _Harpo Speaks_ I remember one other title, but I can’t remember who wrote it. _All This and a Pickle, Too?_ I’m not talking here about good autobiographies, just really engaging or apt titles. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/2 "2015-10-14T15:41:29Z")
_So, Anyway…_ - John Cleese _In the Arena_ - Charlton Heston ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/3 "2015-10-14T15:48:57Z")
_If I Did It_. That was autobiological, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/4 "2015-10-14T15:53:51Z")
**Steve Martin: Born Standing Up** Perfect. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/5 "2015-10-14T15:53:57Z")
On occasion, I wish The Dope had a “like” button. This is one of those times. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/6 "2015-10-14T16:20:49Z")
Son of Harpo Speaks- Bill Marx (who is…) The Umpire Strikes Back- Ron Luciano (which may be just funny baseball stories) ---
**Author:** ![jonesj2205](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jonesj2205](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonesj2205)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/7 "2015-10-14T16:25:25Z")
Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys Michael Collins Best astronaut book and a damn fine read. Double points because he didn’t use a ghost writer. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/8 "2015-10-14T16:25:34Z")
I always liked _A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius_, by Dave Eggers ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/9 "2015-10-14T16:31:28Z")
“Prisoner of Trebekistan”, by 5-time Jeopardy champ Bob Harris. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/10 "2015-10-14T16:39:52Z")
**Total Recall** by Arnold Schwartzaneggar **Littler Girl Lost** by Drew Barrymore\* \*Her big break was in **E.T. – The Extraterrestrial**. the same summer it came out, so did the Spielberg-produced **Poltergeist** , which featured another blonde kid actress. That film was based, in part, on the Twilight Zone episode “Little Girl Lost”. Well, it might seem a long ramble of a connection to you, but, as a fan of weird cinema and TV, it was immediately obvious to me. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/11 "2015-10-14T16:41:39Z")
**I Am Not Spock** and **I Am Spock** , both by Leonard Nimoy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/12 "2015-10-14T17:01:08Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > **I Am Not Spock** and **I Am Spock** , both by Leonard Nimoy. James Doohan once quipped that he was going to title his autobiography **I Am Not Spock, Either**. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/13 "2015-10-14T17:31:50Z")
Not a great book but certainly an apt title: _Who I Am_ by Pete Townshend ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/14 "2015-10-14T17:34:41Z")
_A Liar’s Autobiography, Volume VI_ by Graham Chapman _Confessions of a Prairie Bitch_ by Alison Arngrim (Nellie from Little House on the Prairie, and one of my favorite memoirs) _How to Grow Old Disgracefully_ by Hermione Gingold ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/15 "2015-10-14T17:36:19Z")
Well, this one is actually fictional so it might not qualify, but I think _Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography_ deserves a mention. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/16 "2015-10-14T17:54:31Z")
Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/17 "2015-10-14T18:01:53Z")
Alan Alda, _Things I Overheard Talking to Myself_ Fred Allen, _Much Ado About Nothing_ and _Treadmill to Oblivion_ Henny and Jim Backus, _What Are You Doing After the Orgy?_ Milton Berle, _B. S. I Love You_ Yogi Berra, _What Time Is It? You Mean Now?_ David Cross, _I Drink for a Reason_ Jack Douglas, _My Brother Was an Only Child_ Alexander King, I\* Should Have Kissed Her More\*, _Is There a Life After Birth?_, and _Mine Enemy Grows Older_ ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/18 "2015-10-14T18:35:02Z")
Lauren Bacall: By Myself She titled it that way because she thought people would assume she used a ghostwriter. Good for her. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/19 "2015-10-14T19:35:04Z")
_Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!_ by physicist Richard Feynman ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636/20 "2015-10-14T19:38:30Z")
Keith Emerson, _Pictures of an Exhibitionist_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-autobiography-titles/734636.md?page=2)