Top 100 Biographies and Memoirs to Read in a Lifetime

Honestly, it would take many lifetimes to read even a small fraction of the best biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs ever written. So when the Amazon Books editors set out to compile a list of the 100 Biographies and Memoirs to Read in a (Single) Lifetime, we knew up front that we would be making some tough--even contentious--choices. But after the dust settled, we found ourselves with a hundred stories of our greatest artists, seekers, and iconic leaders, as well as a host of other iconoclasts, athletes, and adventurers (and even a non-human or three). Many of these read like great novels; some technically are, their authors shrouding their experiences within the cloak of fiction (but we all know better). Whether you're coming to these books for the first time or revisiting them, we hope you'll find a lifetime's worth of inspiration and discovery.