# Please recommend an inspiring biography. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853 "2004-11-15T14:08:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/1 "2004-11-15T14:08:07Z")
Can anyone recommend a good biography about someone who overcame many obstacles through sheer force of will to achieve something great? ---
**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:** [November 15, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/2 "2004-11-15T14:57:25Z")
I would suggest Madeline Albright’s memoir “Madam Secretary”. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/3 "2004-11-15T15:18:58Z")
Maybe a bit dated, but if you’re looking for inspiring, look no further than [Reach for the Sky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1557502226/qid=1100532320/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5291145-9246522?v=glance&s=books), the true story of double amputee, WWII fighter pilot Douglas Bader. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/4 "2004-11-15T15:27:42Z")
Any of [these](http://www.inspirationpeak.com/books/biographies.html) should do the trick. I have recently seen the guy who cut his own arm off to save himself, on TV and he has a book out. He seemed pretty cool. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/5 "2004-11-15T15:41:08Z")
A couple of others that cross my mind are _Point Last Seen_ by Hannah Nyala which is an account of a female tracker dealing with an abusive relationship. I had a copy that I loaned to someone, who paid me for the book because they had loaned it to someone else. So I bought another copy and it happened again. When I found the book (unforgivably) remaindered I bought all 6 copies and gave them away. Dave Eggers’ _A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius_ is neither fiction nor autobiography but is an incredibly moving book about ordinary people dealing with ordinary everyday real life. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/6 "2004-11-15T15:54:09Z")
If you like politics then you should read MAster of the Senate, Bio on LBJ. Never was their a more powerful senator. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/7 "2004-11-15T17:23:16Z")
_[Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/078670621X/qid=1100539809/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-8442133-9337716?v=glance&s=books)_, by ALfred Lansing. A whole crew of heroes – Shackleton was one of many amazing men on that voyage. _[Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684826976/qid=1100539908/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-8442133-9337716)_, by Stephen Ambrose. Lewis and Clark’s adventure is amazing to read about, even knowing the immediate and eventual consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/8 "2004-11-15T18:38:09Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Maybe a bit dated, but if you’re looking for inspiring, look no further than [Reach for the Sky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1557502226/qid=1100532320/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5291145-9246522?v=glance&s=books), the true story of double amputee, WWII fighter pilot Douglas Bader. Another WWII hero is Sgt. Alvin York. The biographies by John Perry and David D. Lee sound like the best ones. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/9 "2004-11-15T18:45:26Z")
I am surprised that the very first response to this wasn’t: **The Autobiography of Malcolm X** (spoilers, I suppose, if you don’t know his story - although I suspect you do, **KidCharlemagne** ) Regardless of your views on the man, it doesn’t get much better in terms of a readable, historically and currently relevant person who went through a profound transformation. And, although some might cast him in a negative light, to my mind where Malcolm X ends up at the end is truly inspiring in his view of all of us being equals in the eyes of (his) god and his (Malcolm’s) commitment to committing his energy to support of that at the time of his assassination… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/10 "2004-11-15T19:08:34Z")
The book that immediately occurs to me is Helen Keller’s autobiography, **The Story of My Life**. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/11 "2004-11-15T19:19:14Z")
Along slightly different lines, I recommend **David McCullough** ’s _Truman_ ---
**Author:** ![3894](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/f4b2a3/32.png) [@3894](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3894)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/12 "2004-11-15T20:10:14Z")
Harpo Marx’s autobiography ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/13 "2004-11-15T21:14:01Z")
Wouldn’t it have been _great_ if Helen Keller, Malcolm X and Harpo Marx had all gotten together on a book tour? ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/14 "2004-11-15T21:49:55Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Wouldn’t it have been _great_ if Helen Keller, Malcolm X and Harpo Marx had all gotten together on a book tour? They could even call it “X Marx the What?” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/15 "2004-11-15T21:57:12Z")
[White Coat, White Cane](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0872235165/qid=1100556313/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-5379878-3519014?v=glance&s=books)–How a blind person became a medical doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/16 "2004-11-15T21:57:13Z")
[White Coat, White Cane](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0872235165/qid=1100556313/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-5379878-3519014?v=glance&s=books)–How a blind person became a medical doctor. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/17 "2004-11-15T22:52:36Z")
Chuck Yeager’s autobiography is the most memorable I’ve read. ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/18 "2004-11-16T00:31:16Z")
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I’m about 3/4 of the way through it now. It’s pretty amazing what he accomplished considering the hardships of life in the new colonies back then. ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/19 "2004-11-16T00:35:44Z")
Tuned in to say Yeager - so I’ll second Rik! ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-inspiring-biography/274853/20 "2004-11-16T00:39:57Z")
Mick Foley’s _Have a Nice Day_. That’s right, I said Mick foley.