# Favorite autobiographies/memoirs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314 "2014-08-23T20:40:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/1 "2014-08-23T20:40:47Z")
I enjoyed **Ball Four** by Jim Bouton and **First Down and a Billion** by Gene Klein, even though I’m not a sports fan and those are about baseball and football. I also liked **No Job for a Lady: The Autobiography of M. Phyllis Lose, V.M.D**., about one of the first women vets who treated large animals, and also the **All Creatures Great and Small** series by James Herriot. Any other recommendations? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/2 "2014-08-23T20:56:30Z")
Two of my favorite books are autobiographies: _Testament of Youth_, by Vera Brittain, and _The Memoirs of Glukel of Hameln_. _Testament of Youth_ is the story of Brittain’s years spent as a nurse in WWI as part of the Royal Army’s Voluntary Aid Detachment. It’s one of the most thorough and outstanding accounts of WWI, and also a young woman’s coming of age. I was 14 when I read it, so it made a huge impression on me. _The Memoirs of Glukel of Hameln_ is really unusual and fascinating: a Jewish woman living in a shtetl in central Europe in the late 16th and early 17th century wrote her memoirs for her children, so they would know their family’s story. Somehow, it survived, hand-copied several times by her descendants, and was first published in 1896. It was written in Yiddish, and first translated into English in 1963. There are very few accounts of common people of this time period, let alone Jews. It’s very important historically, but the woman who wrote it had no idea she was writing anything that anyone outside her family would ever read. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/3 "2014-08-23T21:04:41Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > I enjoyed **Ball Four** by Jim Bouton and **First Down and a Billion** by Gene Klein, even though I’m not a sports fan and those are about baseball and football. I also liked **No Job for a Lady: The Autobiography of M. Phyllis Lose, V.M.D**., about one of the first women vets who treated large animals, and also the **All Creatures Great and Small** series by James Herriot. > > Any other recommendations? I liked Asimov’s **In Memory Yet Green** and **In Joy Still Felt** quite a lot, and Pohl’s **The Way The Future Was**. Also liked the Klein, Bouton and Herriot that you mention - and Torey Hayden’s books too. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/4 "2014-08-23T21:29:48Z")
In music, - Bob Dylan, Chronicles Vol 1 - Art Pepper, Straight Time - brilliant oral history of the top-tier saxophonist, addict and petty criminal. Gritty and amazing. - Keith Richards, Life - Andy Summers, One Train Later - Al Kooper, Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards If you want to read a gritty autobio of a drifter and low-rent thief, try You Can’t Win by Jack Black (the original from back in the day). ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/5 "2014-08-23T23:24:38Z")
**The Moon’s A Balloon** and **Bring On The Empty Horses** by David Niven. Possibly a little dated by now, but still great fun. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/6 "2014-08-24T01:40:34Z")
**Speak Memory** by Nabokov and **Goobye to All That** by Robert Graves, **The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens** and **The Unauthorized Autobiography of Larry Rivers** (maybe the first one to use that gag). Worst: **Mein Kampf** and **Go Ask Alice** ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/7 "2014-08-24T02:00:51Z")
Of course more occur after hitting submit, but I’m limiting myself to **Christ Stopped at Eboli** , really. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/8 "2014-08-24T02:01:27Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > **Speak Memory** by Nabokov and **Goobye to All That** by Robert Graves, **The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens** and **The Unauthorized Autobiography of Larry Rivers** (maybe the first one to use that gag). > > Worst: **Mein Kampf** and **Go Ask Alice** **Go Ask Alice** isn’t really an autobiography, it’s a preachy bit of self righteousness disguised as a biography. Asimov’s memoirs was a great read. **Journey into the Whirlwind** by Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg about her time in Russian prisons and labor camps during the Stalin Era was gut wrenching and poignant. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/9 "2014-08-24T02:09:11Z")
**The autobiography of Lincoln Stefens** – the first volume. One of my personally most influential books, but in my Dad’s college reader because of the beautiful evocation of a fabulous Californian (19th century) childhood. Also **"Surely your joking Mr Feynman**", **“7 Pillars of Wisdom”** (Lawrence of Arabia)" and the “ **Autobiography of Benjiman Franklin** ”, but those are a bit blokey and probably don’t fit your demographic All 4 are among the most readable books I own ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/10 "2014-08-24T05:36:47Z")
**Yeager** by, well, Yeager. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/11 "2014-08-24T05:55:44Z")
Harpo Marx, **Harpo Speaks**. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/12 "2014-08-24T10:01:43Z")
Although I am no fan of Michael Crichton’s novels I really enjoyed his autobiography _Travels_. It is a book about events that were important to him and just ignores all the things you would expect to find in his autobiography. He glosses over all his well known achievements. Recently I have listened to audiobooks of Steve Martins’s _Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life_, John Lithgow’s _Drama: An Actor’s Education_, Kevin Pollack’s _How I Slept My Way to the Middle: Secrets And Stories From Stage, Screen, And Interwebs_ and Patti Smith’s _Just Kids_. I really loved the audiobooks (all read by the authors) and I’m sure the text version would be good too. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/13 "2014-08-24T12:00:25Z")
**Carrying the Fire** by Michael Collins of Apollo 11 fame. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/14 "2014-08-24T12:59:37Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Although I am no fan of Michael Crichton’s novels I really enjoyed his autobiography _Travels_. It is a book about events that were important to him and just ignores all the things you would expect to find in his autobiography. He glosses over all his well known achievements. > > Recently I have listened to audiobooks of Steve Martins’s _Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life_, John Lithgow’s _Drama: An Actor’s Education_, Kevin Pollack’s _How I Slept My Way to the Middle: Secrets And Stories From Stage, Screen, And Interwebs_ and Patti Smith’s _Just Kids_. I really loved the audiobooks (all read by the authors) and I’m sure the text version would be good too. Steve Martin’s Born Standing up was _excellent_. He is so smart, articulate and clear and what a story. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/15 "2014-08-24T14:25:49Z")
For insight into epic movie making, I like Charlton Heston’s _The Actor’s Life: Journals 1956-1976_ and _In the Arena._ But none compare to the various chapters of the memoirs of Harry Flashman. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/16 "2014-08-24T16:33:47Z")
Swing That Music by Louis Armstrong and Big Bill Blues by Bill Broonzy. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/17 "2014-08-24T16:46:37Z")
I thought Michael Palin’s diaries were very entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/18 "2014-08-24T17:39:41Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I thought Michael Palin’s diaries were very entertaining. _Excellent_ choice. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/19 "2014-08-24T18:51:48Z")
A couple of old favorites are _Cheaper by the Dozen_ and _Belles on Their Toes_. Another cozy, funny one is _My Family and Other Animals_, by Gerald Durrell. It’s about the years his family spent on the island of Corfu when he was a boy, just before WWII, where he was fascinated by all animals. Durrell grew up to be zookeeper and conservationist. I was fascinated by _Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight_, by Alexandra Fuller. It’s her memoir about growing up with crazy British parents in colonial Africa in the 1970’s-80’s, mostly in Zimbabwe in the middle of a civil war. Homer Hickam’s _Rocket Boys_, made into the movie _October Sky_, is a nice read. I liked _Riding Rockets_, by Mike Mullane, about his years as a space shuttle astronaut. He is/was a self-professed sexist pig (he writes proudly about how ashamed of himself he should have been), but his details about the shuttle flights are great. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314/20 "2014-08-24T18:57:11Z")
Folks have already mentioned “Riding Rockets” and “Carrying the Fire”. I’ve been on an astronaut bio kick lately and have recently read both of those. (The Collins for the second time.) I’d like to mention “Rocket Man”, a bio of Pete Conrad, my favorite of the early astronauts. Third man on the mood, Conrad was a brass-balls smart-ass and, I could be wrong but I think that Peter Weller’s character in “Odyssey 5” was based on him. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-autobiographies-memoirs/696314.md?page=2)