autobiography extracts

Jessica Ennis: My story from beating the school bullies to becoming a golden girl

In an exclusive extract from her new autobiography Jessica Ennis describes how she beat the bullies – and ended up meeting David Beckham

• 02:00, 7 Nov 2012
• Updated 03:35, 7 Nov 2012

She went into London 2012 under immense pressure as the face of the games – and emerged as its golden girl.

Now Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis has revealed how a small Sheffield lass fought her way to become a sporting giant.

Here, in an exclusive extract from her new autobiography Jessica Ennis : Unbelievable – From My Childhood Dreams to Winning Olympic Gold, she describes how she beat the bullies – and ended up meeting David Beckham.

I am crying. I am a Sheffield schoolgirl writing in her diary about the bullies awaiting me tomorrow.

They stand menacingly by the gates and lurk unseen in my head, mocking my size and status.

They make a small girl shrink, and I feel insecure and frightened.

I pour the feelings out into words on the page, as if exposing them in some way will help, but nobody sees my diary.

It is kept in my room as a hidden tale of hurt.

Fast forward two decades and I am crying again. I am standing in a cavernous arena in London.

Suddenly, the pain and suffering and frustration give way to a flood of overwhelming emotion.

In the middle of this enormous arena I feel smaller than ever, but I puff out my chest, look to the flag and stand tall.

It has been a long and winding road from the streets of Sheffield to the tunnel that feeds into the Olympic Stadium like an artery.

I am Jessica Ennis. I have been called many things, from tadpole to poster girl, but I have had to fight to make that progression.

I smile and am polite and so people think it comes easily, but it doesn’t.

I am not one of those athletes who slap their thighs and snarl before a competition, but there is a competitive animal inside, waiting to get out and fight for survival and recognition.

Cover shoots and billboards are nice, but they are nothing without the work and I have left blood, sweat and tears on tracks all over the world.

It is an age where young people are fed ideas of quick-fix fame and instant celebrity, but the tears mean more if the journey is hard.

So I don’t cry crocodile tears; I cry the real stuff.

In 1993 my parents sent me to Sharrow Junior School.

In terms of academic results it was not the best, but Mum was keen for me to go somewhere that had a rich mix of races and cultures.

I was the smallest in the class and I became more self-conscious about it as the years went by.

Swimming was a particular ordeal, and in my mind now, I can still see this young, timid wisp standing by the side of a pool in her red swimming costume quaking with anxiety.

I was small and scraggy and that was when the bullying started.

There were two girls who were really nasty to me. They did not hit me, but bullying can take on many forms and the abuse and name-calling hurt.

The saying about sticks and stones breaking bones but words never hurting falls on deaf ears when you are a schoolkid in the throes of a verbal beating.

At that age, girls can be almost paralysed by their self-consciousness, so each nasty little word cut deep wounds.

I went home, cried and wrote in my diary. Perhaps it would be nice to say that one day I fought back and beat the bullies, but I didn’t.

It festered away and became a big thing in my life, leaving me wracked with fear about what they would say or do next.

It got to the point that I dreaded seeing them at school.

And then we moved on to secondary school and I found out that they were going there too. The dread got deeper.

Later, I did tell my mum. ‘They are only jealous of you,’ she replied. But jealous of what? I could not understand it.

I tried to deal with it myself, but that was impossible.

I would rely on my diary and hope for the best, but that was not much of a defence against these scary girls who were dominating my thoughts.

And then, around that time, my mum saw an advert for a summer sports camp at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield.

It was my first taste of sport and it would be the first tentative step towards fighting back and getting my own quiet revenge on the bullies.

I started at King Ecgbert’s School in the little village of Dore in South Sheffield in September 1997. I was still terrified on the first day.

I was not a confident child and almost froze when my dad asked me to go and get the paper from the corner shop one day.

‘On my own?’

Dad barely looked at me. ‘Yes, here’s the money.’

He knew I needed to shed some of my inhibitions, but I still remember going to big school and being frightened.

There were two buildings, Wessex and Mercia, separated by a changeover path, and as I was edging along it one day, I heard an older girl say: ‘Oh, look at her, she’s so tiny and cute.’ That made me feel 10 times worse.

Sport, though, was becoming an outlet for the insecurities and I found I was good at it. Gradually, I became more popular.

The two bullies were still there, but if I was talking to anyone going through something similar I would stress things change quickly.

It does not seem like it at the time, of course, with every week an endless agony of groundhog days, but it soon fades.

I slowly made friends and the tide turned. The same girls who had bullied me now wanted to be friends.

It was all part of that whirlpool of hormones and petty jealousies that is part of being a young girl.

Now I do not think they were inherently nasty people, but I know what I have done with my life and I think I am in a better position.

When I met Becks

WHEN adidas asked if I would like to go to LA to do a photo-shoot with David Beckham, we said yes immediately.

He was as nice and grounded as anyone you’ll meet.

His music was playing in the house through his iPod. When a song came on that had some swearing in it, he rushed in and told someone to change it because his kids were around.

I noticed how his kids tore around, pursued by bodyguards, and could not imagine how he managed to live like that and remain so normal.

I had experienced it on a tiny scale, but he could not go anywhere without someone checking the house and watching over his kids. It must be a weird life but I liked him a lot.

The day racism hit home

I am glad I did not have a coach or parents living out their dreams through me and driving me headlong towards burn-out.

The one time my dad did intervene was when a girl said something racist about me to my friend.

She told me, I told my parents, and Dad went round to the girl’s house and shouted at her on the doorstep. It probably unearthed old wounds for him.

My dad, Vinnie, moved here from Jamaica in 1963, when he was 12. They were hard times.

But it is the only time I have ever encountered anything like that.

I was amazed when I saw on Twitter: ‘Jessica Ennis’s dad is black – I can’t believe it.’ What couldn’t they believe?

Jessica Ennis: Unbelievable – From My Childhood Dreams to Winning Olympic Gold is published by Hodder & Stoughton and on sale tomorrow, priced £20.

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50 best autobiographies & biographies of all time

Enlightening and inspiring: these are the best autobiographies and biographies of 2024, and all time. .

Reading an autobiography can offer a unique insight into a world and experience very different from your own – and these real-life stories are even more entertaining, and stranger, than fiction . Take a glimpse into the lives of some of the world's most inspiring and successful celebrities , politicians and sports people and more in our edit of the best autobiographies and biographies to read right now.

• New autobiographies & biographies
• Inspiring autobiographies & biographies
• Sports autobiographies & biographies
• Celebrity autobiographies & biographies
• Political & historical autobiographies
• Literary autobiographies & biographies

The best new autobiographies and biographies

Charles iii, by robert hardman.

Meet the man behind the monarch in this new biography of King Charles III by royal expert and journalist Robert Hardman. Charting Charles III’s extraordinary first year on the throne, a year plighted by sadness and family scandal, Hardman shares insider details on the true nature of the Windsor family feud, and Queen Camilla’s role within the Royal Family. Detailing the highs and lows of royal life in dazzling detail, this new biography of the man who waited his whole life to be King is one of 2024’s must-reads. 

Sociopath: A Memoir

By patric gagne.

The most unputdownable memoir you’ll read this year, Sociopath is the story of Patric Gagne, and her extraordinary life lived on the edge. With seering honestly, Patric explains how, as a child she always knew she was different. Graduating from feelings of apathy to petty theft and stalking, she realised as an adult that she was a sociopath, uncaring of the impact of her actions on others. Sharing the conflict she feels between her impulses, and her desire to live a settled, loving life with her partner, Sociopath is a fascinating story of one woman’s journey to find a place for herself in the world. 

Lisa Marie Presley's memoir

By lisa marie presley.

Lisa Marie Presley was never truly understood . . . until now. Before her death in 2023, she’d been working on a raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir for years, recording countless hours of breathtakingly vulnerable tape, which has finally been put on the page by her daughter, Riley Keough.

Went to London, Took the Dog: A Diary

By nina stibbe.

Ten years after the publication of the prize-winning  Love, Nina  comes the author’s diary of her return to London in her sixty-first year. After twenty years, Nina Stibbe, accompanied by her dog Peggy, stays with writer Debby Moggach in London for a year. With few obligations, Nina explores the city, reflecting on her past and embracing new experiences. From indulging in banana splits to navigating her son's dating life, this diary captures the essence of a sixty-year-old runaway finding her place as a "proper adult" once and for all.

Beyond the Story

In honor of BTS's 10th anniversary, this remarkable book serves as the band's inaugural official release, offering a treasure trove of unseen photographs and exclusive content. With Myeongseok Kang's extensive interviews and years of coverage, the vibrant world of K-pop springs to life. As digital pioneers, BTS's online presence has bridged continents, and this volume grants readers instant access to trailers, music videos, and more, providing a comprehensive journey through BTS's defining moments. Complete with a milestone timeline, Beyond the Story stands as a comprehensive archive, encapsulating everything about BTS within its pages.

Hildasay to Home

By christian lewis.

The follow-up to his bestselling memoir Finding Hildasay , in Hildasay to Home Christian Lewis tells the next chapter of his extraordinary journey, step by step. From the unexpected way he found love, to his and Kate's journey on foot back down the coastline and into their new lives as parents to baby Marcus, Christian shares his highs and lows as he and his dog Jet leave Hildasay behind. Join the family as they adjust to life away from the island, and set off on a new journey together. 

by Carolyn Hays

This moving memoir is an ode to Hays' transgender daughter – a love letter to a child who has always known herself. After a caseworker from the Department of Children and Families knocked on the door to investigate an anonymous complaint about the upbringing of their transgender child, the Hays family moved away from their Republican state. In A Girlhood, Hays tells of the brutal truths of being trans, of the sacrificial nature of motherhood and of the lengths a family will go to shield their youngest from the cruel realities of the world. Hays asks us all to love better, for children everywhere enduring injustice and prejudice.

by Prince Harry

The fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time and packed with revelations, Spare is Prince Harry's story. Twelve-year-old Harry was known as the carefree one; the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir until the loss of his mother changed everything. Then, at twenty-one, he joined the British Army, resulting in post-traumatic stress. Amidst this, the Prince also couldn't find love. Then he met Meghan. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. 

Is This Ok?

By harriet gibsone.

Harriet spent much of her young life feeding neuroses and insecurities with obsessive internet searching and indulging in whirlwind ‘parasocial relationships'. But after a diagnosis of early menopause in her late twenties, her relationship with the internet took a darker turn, as her online addictions were thrown into sharp relief by the corporeal realities of illness and motherhood. An outrageously funny, raw and painfully honest account of trying to find connection in the age of the internet,  Is This Ok? is the stunning literary debut from music journalist, Harriet Gibsone. 

Winner of Pulitzer Prize in Memoir, Stay True  is a deeply moving and intimate memoir about growing up and moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging. When Hua Hsu first meets Ken in a Berkeley dorm room, he hates him. A frat boy with terrible taste in music, Ken seems exactly like everyone else. For Hua, Ken represents all that he defines himself in opposition to – the mainstream. The only thing Hua, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, and Ken, whose Japanese American family has been in the US for generations, have in common is that, however they engage with it, American culture doesn’t seem to have a place for either of them. 

Life's Work

By david milch.

Best known for creating smash-hit shows including NYPD Blue and Deadwood, you’d be forgiven for thinking that David Milch had lived a charmed life of luxury and stardom. In this, his new memoir, Milch dispels that myth, shedding light on his extraordinary life in the spotlight. Born in Buffalo New York to a father gripped by drug-addiction, Milch enrolled at Yale Law befire being expelled and finding his true passion for writing. Written following his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s in 2015, in Life’s Work Milch records his joys, sadnesses and struggles with startling clarity and grace. 

Will You Care If I Die?

By nicolas lunabba.

In a world where children murder children, and where gun violence is the worst in Europe, Nicolas Lunabba's job as a social organizer with Malmö's underclass requires firm boundaries and emotional detachment. But all that changes when he meets Elijah – an unruly teenage boy of mixed heritage whose perilous future reminds Nicolas of his own troubled past amongst the marginalized people who live on the fringes of every society. Written as a letter to Elijah,  Will You Care If I Die?  is a disarmingly direct memoir about social class, race, friendship and unexpected love.

The best inspiring autobiographies and biographies

By yusra mardini.

After fleeing her native Syria to the Turkish coast in 2015, Yusra Mardini boarded a small dinghy full of refugees headed for Greece. On the journey, the boat's engine cut out and it started to sink. Yusra, her sister, and two others took to the water to push the overcrowded boat for three and a half hours in open water, saving the lives of those on board. Butterfly is Yusra Mardini's journey from war-torn Damascus to Berlin and from there to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Game. A UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and one of People magazine's 25 Women Changing the World, discover Yusra and her incredible story of resilience and unstoppable spirit.

Finding Hildasay

After hitting rock bottom having suffered with depression for years, Christian Lewis made an impulsive decision to walk the entire coastline of the UK. Just a few days later he set off with a tent, walking boots and a tenner in his pocket. Finding Hildasay tells us some of this incredible story, including the brutal three months Christian Lewis spent on the uninhabited island of Hildasay in Scotland with no fresh water or food. It was there, where his route was most barren, that he discovered pride and respect for himself. This is not just a story of a remarkable journey, but one of depression, survival and the meaning of home. 

The Happiest Man on Earth

By eddie jaku.

A lesson in how happiness can be found in the darkest of times, this is the story of Eddie Jaku, a German Jew who survived seven years at the hands of the Nazis. Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, and a Jew second. All of that changed in November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp. But through his courage and tenacity he still came to live life as 'the happiest man on earth'. Published at the author turns one hundred, The Happiest Man on Earth is a heartbreaking but hopeful memoir full of inspiration. 

Don't Miss

3 lessons to learn from Eddie Jaku

I know why the caged bird sings, by maya angelou.

A favourite book of former president Obama and countless others, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , recounts Angelou’s childhood in the American south in the 1930s. A beautifully written classic, this is the first of Maya Angelou's seven bestselling autobiographies. 

I Am Malala

By malala yousafzai.

After speaking out about her right to education almost cost her her life, Malala Yousafzi refused to be silenced. Instead, her amazing story has taken her all over the world. This is the story of Malala and her inspirational family, and of how one person's voice can inspire change across the globe. 

In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin

By lindsey hilsum.

In her job as a foreign correspondent, Marie Colvin reported from some of the most dangerous places in the world. It was a job that would eventually cost her her life. In this posthumous biography of the award-winning news journalist, Lindsey Hilsum shares the story of one of the most daring and inspirational women of our times with warmth and wit, conveying Colvin's trademark glamour. 

The best memoirs

This is going to hurt, by adam kay.

Offering a unique insight into life as an NHS junior doctor through his diary entries, Adam Kay's bestselling autobiography is equal parts heartwarming and humorous, and oftentimes horrifying too. With 97-hour weeks, life and death decisions and a tsunami of bodily fluids, Kay provides a no-holds-barred account of working on the NHS frontline. Now a major BBC comedy-drama, don't miss this special edition of This Is Going To Hurt including a bonus diary entries and an afterword from the author. 

The Colour of Madness

By samara linton.

The Colour of Madness  brings together memoirs, essays, poetry, short fiction and artworks by people of colour who have experienced difficulties with mental health. From experiencing micro-aggressions to bias, and stigma to religious and cultural issues, people of colour have to fight harder than others to be heard and helped. Statistics show that people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds in the UK experience poor mental health treatment in comparison to their white counterparts, and are more likely to be held under the Mental Health Act. 

Nothing But The Truth

By the secret barrister.

How do you become a barrister? Why do only 1 per cent of those who study law succeed in joining this mysterious profession? And why might a practising barrister come to feel the need to reveal the lies, secrets, failures and crises at the heart of this world of wigs and gowns? Full of hilarious, shocking and surprising stories,  Nothing But The Truth  tracks the Secret Barrister’s transformation from hang ‘em and flog ‘em, austerity-supporting twenty-something to a campaigning, bestselling, reforming author whose writing in defence of the law is celebrated around the globe.

by Michelle Obama

This bestselling autobiography lifts the lid on the life of one of the most inspiring women of a generation, former first lady Michelle Obama. From her childhood as a gifted young woman in south Chicago to becoming the first black First Lady of the USA, Obama tells the story of her extraordinary life with humour, warmth and honesty. 

Kitchen Confidential

By anthony bourdain.

Regarded as one of the greatest books about food ever written, Kitchen Confidential lays bare the wild tales of the culinary industry. From his lowly position as a dishwasher in Provincetown to cooking at some of the finest restaurants across the world, the much-loved Bourdain translates his sultry, sarcastic and quick-witted personality to paper in this uncensored 'sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine' account of life as a professional chef. Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable, as shocking as they are funny.

Everything I Know About Love

By dolly alderton.

Dolly Alderton, perhaps more than any other author, represents the rise of the messy millennial woman – in the very best way possible. Her internationally bestselling memoir gives an unflinching account of the bad dates and squalid flat-shares, the heartaches and humiliations, and most importantly, the unbreakable female friendships that defined her twenties. She weaves together personal stories, satirical observations, a series of lists, recipes, and other vignettes that will strike a chord of recognition with women of every age. This is a memoir that you'll discuss with loved ones long after the final page. 

The best sports autobiographies and biographies

By chris kamara.

Presenter, commentator, (sometimes masked) singer, footballer, manager and campaigner, Kammy's action-packed career has made him a bona fide British hero. Kammy had a tough upbringing, faced racism on the terraces during his playing career and has, in recent years, dealt with a rare brain condition – apraxia – that has affected his speech and seen him say goodbye to Sky Sports. With entertaining stories of his playing career from Pompey to Leeds and beyond; his management at Bradford City and Stoke; his crazy travels around the world; of  Soccer Saturday  banter; presenting  Ninja   Warrior ; and the incredible friendships he's made along the way,  Kammy  is an unforgettable ride from one of Britain's best-loved broadcasters.

Alone on the Wall

By alex honnold.

In the last forty years, only a handful of climbers have pushed themselves as far, ‘free soloing’ to the absolute limit of human capabilities. Half of them are dead. Although Alex Honnold’s exploits are probably a bit  too  extreme for most of us, the stories behind his incredible climbs are exciting, uplifting and truly awe-inspiring. Alone on the Wall  is a book about the essential truth of being free to pursue your passions and the ability to maintain a singular focus, even in the face of mortal danger. This updated edition contains the account of Alex's El Capitan climb, which is the subject of the Oscar and BAFTA winning documentary,  Free Solo .

On Days Like These

By martin o'neill.

Martin O’Neill has had one of the most incredible careers in football.   With a story spanning over fifty years, Martin tells of his exhilarating highs and painful lows; from the joys of winning trophies, promotion and fighting for World Cups to being harangued by fans, boardroom drama, relegation scraps and being fired. Written with his trademark honesty and humour,  On Days Like These  is one of the most insightful and captivating sports autobiographies and a must-read for any fans of the beautiful game.

Too Many Reasons to Live

By rob burrow.

As a child, Rob Burrow was told he was too small to be a rugby player. Some 500 games for Leeds later, Rob had proved his doubters wrong: he won eight Super League Grand Finals, two Challenge Cups, three World Club Challenges and played for his country in two World Cups. In 2019 though, Rob was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and given just two years to live. He went public with the news, determined to fight it all the way. Full of love, bravery and kindness, this is the story of a man who has awed his fans with his positive attitude to life.

With You Every Step, a celebration of friendship by Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield

At home with muhammad ali, by hana yasmeen ali.

Written by his daughter Ali using material from her father's audio journals, love letters and her treasured family memories, this sports biography offers an intimate portrait of one of boxing's most legendary figures, and one of the most iconic sports personalities of all time. 

They Don't Teach This

By eniola aluko.

In her autobiography, footballer Eni Aluko addresses themes of dual nationality, race and institutional prejudice, success, gender and faith through her own experiences growing up in Britain. Part memoir, part manifesto for change, They Don't Teach This is a must-read book for 2020. 

Touching The Void

By joe simpson.

A million-copy bestseller, Touching The Void recounts Joe Simpson and Simon Yate's near fatal dscent after climbing Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. A few days after reaching the summit of the mountain, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frost-bitten, with news that that Joe was dead. What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship. 

The best celebrity autobiographies and biographies

By adrian edmondson.

From brutal schooldays to 80s anarchy, through The Young Ones and beyond, Berserker! is the one-of-a-kind, fascinating memoir from an icon of British comedy, Adrian Edmondson. His star-studded anecdotes and outrageous stories are set to a soundtrack of pop hits, transporting the reader through time and cranking up the nostalgia. But, as one would expect, these stories are also a guaranteed laugh as Ade traces his journey through life and comedy. 

Being Henry

By henry winkler.

Brilliant, funny, and widely-regarded as the nicest man in Hollywood, Henry Winkler shares the disheartening truth of his childhood, the difficulties of a life with severe dyslexia and the pressures of a role that takes on a life of its own. Since the glorious era of  Happy Days  fame, Henry has endeared himself to a new generation with roles in such adored shows as  Arrested Development and  Barry , where he’s revealed himself as an actor with immense depth and pathos. But Being Henry  is about so much more than a life in Hollywood and the curse of stardom. It is a meaningful testament to the power of sharing truth and of finding fulfillment within yourself.

What Are You Doing Here?

By floella benjamin.

Actress, television presenter, member of the House of Lords – Baroness Floella Benjamin is an inspiration to many. But it hasn't always been easy: in What Are You Doing Here?   she describes her journey to London as part of the Windrush generation, and the daily racism that caused her so much pain as a child. She has gone on to remain true to her values, from breaking down barriers as a Play School presenter to calling for diversity at the BBC and BAFTA to resisting the pressures of typecasting. Sharing the lessons she has learned, imbued with her joy and positivity, this autobiography is the moving testimony of a remarkable woman.

Life Lessons

By jay blades.

‘Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.’ Let Jay’s words of wisdom – gleaned from his own triumphs over adversity – help you to find your best path through life. Filled with characteristic warmth and humour, Jay talks about the life lessons that have helped him to find positivity and growth, no matter what he’s found himself facing. Jay shares not only his adventures and escapades but also the way they have shaped his outlook and helped him to live life to the fullest. His insight and advice give you everything you need to be able to reframe your own circumstances and make the best of them.

A Funny Life

By michael mcintyre.

Comic Michael McIntyre specialises in pin-sharp observational routines that have made him the world's bestselling funny man. But when he turns his gaze to himself and his own family, things get even funnier. This bracingly honest memoir covers the highs, lows and pratfalls of a career in comedy, as Michael climbs the greasy pole of success and desperately attempts to stay up there.

by Elton John

Elton John is one of the most successful singer/songwriters of all time, but success didn't come easily to him. In his bestselling autobiography, he charts his extraordinary life, from the early rejection of his work to the heady heights of international stardom and the challenges that came along with it. With candour and humour, he tells the stories of celebrity friendships with John Lennon, George Michael and Freddie Mercury, and of how he turned his life around and found love with David Furnish. Me is the real story of the man behind the music. 

And Away...

By bob mortimer.

National treasure and beloved entertainer, Bob Mortimer, takes us from his childhood in Middlesborough to working as a solicitor in London in his highly acclaimed autobiography. Mortimer’s life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The book covers his numerous misadventures along his path to fame but also reflects on more serious themes, making this both one of the most humorous and poignant celebrity memoirs of recent years. 

by Walter Isaacson

Based on interviews conducted with Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson's biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is filled with lessons about innovation, leadership, and values and has inspired a movie starring Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet and Seth Rogen. Isaacson tells the story of the rollercoaster life and searingly intense personality of creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized the tech industry. Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written and put nothing off limits, making this an unflinchingly candid account of one of the key figures of modern history.

Maybe I Don't Belong Here

By david harewood.

When David Harewood was twenty-three, his acting career began to take flight and he had what he now understands to be a psychotic breakdown. He was physically restrained by six police officers, sedated, then hospitalized and transferred to a locked ward. Only now, thirty years later, has he been able to process what he went through. In this powerful and provocative account of a life lived after psychosis, critically acclaimed actor, David Harewood, uncovers a devastating family history and investigates the very real impact of racism on Black mental health.

Scenes from My Life

By michael k. williams.

When Michael K. Williams died on 6 September 2021, he left behind a career as one of the most electrifying actors of his generation. At the time of his death, Williams had nearly finished his memoir, which traces his life in whole, from his childhood and his early years as a dancer to his battles with addiction. Alongside his achievements on screen he was a committed activist who dedicated his life to helping at-risk young people find their voice and carve out their future. Imbued with poignance and raw honesty,  Scenes from My Life  is the story of a performer who gave his all to everything he did – in his own voice, in his own words.

The best political and historical autobiographies

The fall of boris johnson, by sebastian payne.

Sebastian Payne, Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times, tells the behind-the-scenes story of the fall of former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. After being touted saviour of the Conservative Party, it took Johnson just three years to resign after a series of scandals. From the blocked suspension of Owen Patterson to Partygate and the Chris Pincher allegations, Payne gives us unparalleled access to those who were in the room when key decisions were made, ultimately culminating in Boris's downfall. This is a gripping and timely look at how power is gained, wielded and lost in Britain today.

by Sung-Yoon Lee

The Sister , written by Sung-Yoon Lee, a scholar and specialist on North Korea, uncovers the truth about Kim Yo Jong and her close bond with Kim Jong Un. In 2022, Kim Yo Jong threatened to nuke South Korea, reminding the world of the dangers posed by her state. But how did the youngest daughter of Dear Leader Kim Jong Il, his ‘sweet princess’, become the ruthless chief propagandist, internal administrator and foreign policymaker for her brother’s totalitarian regime? Readable and insightful, this book is an invaluable portrait of a woman who might yet hold the survival of her despotic dynasty in her hands.

Long Walk To Freedom

By nelson mandela.

Deemed 'essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history' by former US President, Barack Obama, this is the autobiography of one of the world's greatest moral and political leaders, Nelson Mandela. Imprisoned for more than 25 years, president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, the Nobel Peace Prize winner's life was nothing short of extraordinary. Long Walk to Freedom vividly tells this story; one of hardship, resilience and ultimate triumph, written with the clarity and eloquence of a born leader. 

The Diary of a Young Girl

By anne frank.

No list of inspiring autobiographies would be complete without Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl . Charting the thirteen-year-old's time hiding in a 'Secret Annex' with her family to escape Gestapo detection, this book (which was discovered after Anne Frank's death), is a must-read, and a testament to the courage shown by the millions persecuted during the Second World War. 

The best literary autobiographies

The immortal life of henrietta lacks, by rebecca skloot.

Born to a poor black tobacco farmer in rural Virginia in 1920, Henrietta Lacks died of cancer when she was just 31. However, her story does not end there, as her cancer cells, taken without permission during her treatment continued to live on being used for research all over the world and becoming a multi-million dollar industry, with her family only learning of her impact more than two decades after her death. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot tells the story of a woman who never knew of her lifesaving impact and asks: do we ever really own our bodies? 

A Fortunate Woman

By polly morland.

Funny, emotional and imbued with great depth, A Fortunate Woman is an exploration of the life of a country doctor in a remote and wild wooded valley in the Forest of Dean. The story was sparked when writer and documentary maker Polly Morland found a photograph of the valley she lives in tucked inside a tattered copy of John Berger’s  A Fortunate Man . Itself an account of the life of a country doctor, the book inspired a woman doctor to follow her vocation in the same remote place. And it is the story of this woman that Polly Morland tells, in this compelling portrait of landscape and community.

Father and Son

By jonathan raban.

On 11 June 2011, three days short of his sixty-ninth birthday, Jonathan Raban suffered a stroke which left him unable to use the right side of his body. Learning to use a wheelchair in a rehab facility outside Seattle and resisting the ministrations of the nurses overseeing his recovery, Raban began to reflect upon the measure of his own life in the face of his own mortality. Together with the chronicle of his recovery is the extraordinary story of his parents’ marriage, the early years of which were conducted by letter while his father fought in the Second World War.

Crying in H Mart

By michelle zauner.

This radiant read by singer, songwriter and guitarist Michelle Zauner delves into the experience of being the only Asian-American child at her school in Eugene, Oregon, combined with family struggles and blissful escapes to her grandmother's tiny Seoul apartment. The family bond is the shared love of Korean food, which helped Michelle reclaim her Asian identity in her twenties. A lively, honest, riveting read.

The Reluctant Carer

By the reluctant carer.

The phone rings. Your elderly father has been taken to hospital, and your even older mother is home with nobody to look after her. What do you do? Drop everything and go and help of course. But it's not that straightforward, and your own life starts to fall apart as quickly as their health. Irresistibly funny, unflinching and deeply moving, this is a love letter to family and friends, to carers and to anyone who has ever packed a small bag intent on staying for just a few days. This is a true story of what it really means to be a carer, and of the ties that bind even tighter when you least expect it. 

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Read an Exclusive Excerpt From Michelle Obama's Revealing Memoir, Becoming

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When Michelle Obama first announced she was releasing her memoir, Becoming , last year, she promised that she'd open up about her roots—"and how a little girl from the South Side of Chicago found her voice and developed the strength to use it to empower others."

In this exclusive book excerpt for OprahMag.com , we're treated to a glimpse of what—or who—exactly gave that young girl the grace to one day stand as our nation's first Black First Lady. Mrs. Obama explains that as she grew up in South Shore, Chicago always focused on school, friends, and the events of the world, there was one comforting constant in her life: her mother, Marian Robinson.

Mrs. Obama writes about recognizing the ways her mother's calm and encouraging presence created room for her to simply be herself.

You'll be able to buy Becoming in stores and at amazon.com on November 13. But your first peek is below. Happy reading!

At school we were given an hour-long break for lunch each day. Because my mother didn’t work and our apartment was so close by, I usually marched home with four or five other girls in tow, all of us talking nonstop, ready to sprawl on the kitchen floor to play jacks and watch All My Children while my mom handed out sandwiches. This, for me, began a habit that has sustained me for life, keeping a close and high-spirited council of girlfriends—a safe harbor of female wisdom. In my lunch group, we dissected whatever had gone on that morning at school, any beefs we had with teachers, any assignments that struck us as useless. Our opinions were largely formed by committee. We idolized the Jackson 5 and weren’t sure how we felt about the Osmonds. Watergate had happened, but none of us understood it. It seemed like a lot of old guys talking into microphones in Washington, D.C., which to us was just a faraway city filled with a lot of white buildings and white men.

My mom, meanwhile, was plenty happy to serve us. It gave her an easy window into our world. As my friends and I ate and gossiped, she often stood by quietly, engaged in some household chore, not hiding the fact that she was taking in every word. In my family, with four of us packed into less than nine hundred square feet of living space, we’d never had any privacy anyway. It mattered only sometimes. Craig, who was suddenly interested in girls, had started taking his phone calls behind closed doors in the bathroom, the phone’s curlicue cord stretched taut across the hallway from its wall-mounted base in the kitchen.

As Chicago schools went, Bryn Mawr fell somewhere between a bad school and a good school. Racial and economic sorting in the South Shore neighborhood continued through the 1970s, meaning that the student population only grew blacker and poorer with each year. There was, for a time, a citywide integration movement to bus kids to new schools, but Bryn Mawr parents had successfully fought it off, arguing that the money was better spent improving the school itself. As a kid, I had no perspective on whether the facilities were run-down or whether it mattered that there were hardly any white kids left. The school ran from kindergarten all the way through eighth grade, which meant that by the time I’d reached the upper grades, I knew every light switch, every chalkboard and cracked patch of hallway. I knew nearly every teacher and most of the kids. For me, Bryn Mawr was practically an extension of home.

As I was entering seventh grade, the Chicago Defender, a weekly newspaper that was popular with African American readers, ran a vitriolic opinion piece that claimed Bryn Mawr had gone, in the span of a few years, from being one of the city’s best public schools to a “run- down slum” governed by a “ghetto mentality.” Our school principal, Dr. Lavizzo, immediately hit back with a letter to the editor, defending his community of parents and students and deeming the newspaper piece “an outrageous lie, which seems designed to incite only feelings of failure and flight.”

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Dr. Lavizzo was a round, cheery man who had an Afro that puffed out on either side of his bald spot and who spent most of his time in an office near the building’s front door. It’s clear from his letter that he understood precisely what he was up against. Failure is a feeling long before it becomes an actual result. It’s vulnerability that breeds with self- doubt and then is escalated, often deliberately, by fear. Those “feelings of failure” he mentioned were everywhere already in my neighborhood, in the form of parents who couldn’t get ahead financially, of kids who were starting to suspect that their lives would be no different, of families who watched their better-off neighbors leave for the suburbs or transfer their children to Catholic schools. There were predatory real estate agents roaming South Shore all the while, whispering to homeowners that they should sell before it was too late, that they’d help them get out while you still can. The inference being that failure was coming, that it was inevitable, that it had already half arrived. You could get caught up in the ruin or you could escape it. They used the word everyone was most afraid of— “ghetto”—dropping it like a lit match.

My mother bought into none of this. She’d lived in South Shore for ten years already and would end up staying another forty. She didn’t buy into fearmongering and at the same time seemed equally inoculated against any sort of pie-in-the-sky idealism. She was a straight-down-the-line realist, controlling what she could.

At Bryn Mawr, she became one of the most active members of the PTA, helping raise funds for new classroom equipment, throwing appreciation dinners for the teachers, and lobbying for the creation of a special multigrade classroom that catered to higher-performing students. This last effort was the brainchild of Dr. Lavizzo, who’d gone to night school to get his PhD in education and had studied a new trend in grouping students by ability rather than by age—in essence, putting the brighter kids together so they could learn at a faster pace.

With any game, like most any kid, I was happiest when I was ahead.

The idea was controversial, criticized as being undemocratic, as all “gifted and talented” programs inherently are. But it was also gaining steam as a movement around the country, and for my last three years at Bryn Mawr I was a beneficiary. I joined a group of about twenty students from different grades, set off in a self-contained classroom apart from the rest of the school with our own recess, lunch, music, and gym schedules. We were given special opportunities, including weekly trips to a community college to attend an advanced writing workshop or dissect a rat in the biology lab. Back in the classroom, we did a lot of independent work, setting our own goals and moving at whatever speed best suited us.

We were given dedicated teachers, first Mr. Martinez and then Mr. Bennett, both gentle and good-humored African American men, both keenly focused on what their students had to say. There was a clear sense that the school had invested in us, which I think made us all try harder and feel better about ourselves. The independent learning setup only served to fuel my competitive streak. I tore through the lessons, quietly keeping tabs on where I stood among my peers as we charted our progress from long division to pre-algebra, from writing single paragraphs to turning in full research papers. For me, it was like a game. And as with any game, like most any kid, I was happiest when I was ahead.

I told my mother everything that happened at school. Her lunchtime update was followed by a second update, which I’d deliver in a rush as I walked through the door in the afternoon, slinging my book bag on the floor and hunting for a snack. I realize I don’t know exactly what my mom did during the hours we were at school, mainly because in the self-centered manner of any child I never asked. I don’t know what she thought about, how she felt about being a traditional homemaker as opposed to working a different job. I only knew that when I showed up at home, there’d be food in the fridge, not just for me, but for my friends. I knew that when my class was going on an excursion, my mother would almost always volunteer to chaperone, arriving in a nice dress and dark lipstick to ride the bus with us to the community college or the zoo.

In our house, we lived on a budget but didn’t often discuss its limits. My mom found ways to compensate. She did her own nails, dyed her own hair (one time accidentally turning it green), and got new clothes only when my dad bought them for her as a birthday gift. She’d never be rich, but she was always crafty. When we were young, she magically turned old socks into puppets that looked exactly like the Muppets. She crocheted doilies to cover our tabletops. She sewed a lot of my clothes, at least until middle school, when suddenly it meant everything to have a Gloria Vanderbilt swan label on the front pocket of your jeans, and I insisted she stop.

Still to this day I catch the scent of Pine-Sol and automatically feel better about life.

Every so often, she’d change the layout of our living room, putting a new slipcover on the sofa, swapping out the photos and framed prints that hung on our walls. When the weather turned warm, she did a ritualistic spring cleaning, attacking on all fronts—vacuuming furniture, laundering curtains, and removing every storm window so she could Windex the glass and wipe down the sills before replacing them with screens to allow the spring air into our tiny, stuffy apartment. She’d then often go downstairs to Robbie and Terry’s, particularly as they got older and less able, to scour that as well. It’s because of my mother that still to this day I catch the scent of Pine-Sol and automatically feel better about life.

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At Christmastime, she got especially creative. One year, she figured out how to cover our boxy metal radiator with corrugated cardboard printed to look like red bricks, stapling everything together so that we’d have a faux chimney that ran all the way to the ceiling and a faux fireplace, complete with a mantel and hearth. She then enlisted my father— the family’s resident artist—to paint a series of orange flames on pieces of very thin rice paper, which, when backlit with a lightbulb, made for a half-convincing fire. On New Year’s Eve, as a matter of tradition, she’d buy a special hors d’oeuvre basket, the kind that came filled with blocks of cheese, smoked oysters in a tin, and different kinds of salami. She’d invite my dad’s sister Francesca over to play board games. We’d order a pizza for dinner and then snack our way elegantly through the rest of the evening, my mom passing around trays of pigs in a blanket, fried shrimp, and a special cheese spread baked on Ritz crackers. As midnight drew close, we’d each have a tiny glass of champagne.

My mother maintained the sort of parental mind-set that I now recognize as brilliant and nearly impossible to emulate—a kind of unflappable Zen neutrality. I had friends whose mothers rode their highs and lows as if they were their own, and I knew plenty of other kids whose parents were too overwhelmed by their own challenges to be much of a presence at all. My mom was simply even-keeled. She wasn’t quick to judge and she wasn’t quick to meddle. Instead, she monitored our moods and bore benevolent witness to whatever travails or triumphs a day might bring. When things were bad, she gave us only a small amount of pity. When we’d done something great, we received just enough praise to know she was happy with us, but never so much that it became the reason we did what we did.

Advice, when she offered it, tended to be of the hard-boiled and pragmatic variety. “You don’t have to like your teacher,” she told me one day after I came home spewing complaints. “But that woman’s got the kind of math in her head that you need in yours. Focus on that and ignore the rest.”

She loved us consistently, Craig and me, but we were not overmanaged. Her goal was to push us out into the world. “I’m not raising babies,” she’d tell us. “I’m raising adults.” She and my dad offered guidelines rather than rules. It meant that as teenagers we’d never have a curfew. Instead, they’d ask, “What’s a reasonable time for you to be home?” and then trust us to stick to our word.

Craig tells a story about a girl he liked in eighth grade and how one day she issued a kind of loaded invitation, asking him to come by her house, pointedly letting him know that her parents wouldn’t be home and they’d be left alone.

My brother had privately agonized over whether to go or not—titillated by the opportunity but knowing it was sneaky and dishonorable, the sort of behavior my parents would never condone. This didn’t, however, stop him from telling my mother a preliminary half-truth, letting her know about the girl but saying they were going to meet in the public park.

Guilt-ridden before he’d even done it, guilt-ridden for even thinking about it, Craig finally confessed the whole home-alone scheme, expecting or maybe just hoping that my mom would blow a gasket and forbid him to go.

But she didn’t. She wouldn’t. It wasn’t how she operated.

She listened, but she didn’t absolve him from the choice at hand. Instead, she returned him to his agony with a blithe shrug of her shoulders. “Handle it how you think best,” she said, before turning back to the dishes in the sink or the pile of laundry she had to fold.

It was another small push out into the world. I’m sure that in her heart my mother knew already that he’d make the right choice. Every move she made, I realize now, was buttressed by the quiet confidence that she’d raised us to be adults. Our decisions were on us. It was our life, not hers, and always would be.

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Blog – Posted on Monday, Jan 21

The 30 best biographies of all time.

Biographer Richard Holmes once wrote that his work was “a kind of pursuit… writing about the pursuit of that fleeting figure, in such a way as to bring them alive in the present.”

At the risk of sounding cliché, the best biographies do exactly this: bring their subjects to life. A great biography isn’t just a laundry list of events that happened to someone. Rather, it should weave a narrative and tell a story in almost the same way a novel does. In this way, biography differs from the rest of nonfiction .

All the biographies on this list are just as captivating as excellent novels , if not more so. With that, please enjoy the 30 best biographies of all time — some historical, some recent, but all remarkable, life-giving tributes to their subjects.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great biographies out there, you can also take our 30-second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized biography recommendation  😉

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

1. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

This biography of esteemed mathematician John Nash was both a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize and the basis for the award-winning film of the same name. Nasar thoroughly explores Nash’s prestigious career, from his beginnings at MIT to his work at the RAND Corporation — as well the internal battle he waged against schizophrenia, a disorder that nearly derailed his life.

2. Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film The Imitation Game - Updated Edition by Andrew Hodges

Hodges’ 1983 biography of Alan Turing sheds light on the inner workings of this brilliant mathematician, cryptologist, and computer pioneer. Indeed, despite the title ( a nod to his work during WWII ), a great deal of the “enigmatic” Turing is laid out in this book. It covers his heroic code-breaking efforts during the war, his computer designs and contributions to mathematical biology in the years following, and of course, the vicious persecution that befell him in the 1950s — when homosexual acts were still a crime punishable by English law.

3. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton is not only the inspiration for a hit Broadway musical, but also a work of creative genius itself. This massive undertaking of over 800 pages details every knowable moment of the youngest Founding Father’s life: from his role in the Revolutionary War and early American government to his sordid (and ultimately career-destroying) affair with Maria Reynolds. He may never have been president, but he was a fascinating and unique figure in American history — plus it’s fun to get the truth behind the songs.

Prefer to read about fascinating First Ladies rather than almost-presidents? Check out this awesome list of books about First Ladies over on The Archive.

4. Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

A prolific essayist, short story writer, and novelist, Hurston turned her hand to biographical writing in 1927 with this incredible work, kept under lock and key until it was published 2018. It’s based on Hurston’s interviews with the last remaining survivor of the Middle Passage slave trade, a man named Cudjo Lewis. Rendered in searing detail and Lewis’ highly affecting African-American vernacular, this biography of the “last black cargo” will transport you back in time to an era that, chillingly, is not nearly as far away from us as it feels.

5. Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert

Though many a biography of him has been attempted, Gilbert’s is the final authority on Winston Churchill — considered by many to be Britain’s greatest prime minister ever. A dexterous balance of in-depth research and intimately drawn details makes this biography a perfect tribute to the mercurial man who led Britain through World War II.

Just what those circumstances are occupies much of Bodanis's book, which pays homage to Einstein and, just as important, to predecessors such as Maxwell, Faraday, and Lavoisier, who are not as well known as Einstein today. Balancing writerly energy and scholarly weight, Bodanis offers a primer in modern physics and cosmology, explaining that the universe today is an expression of mass that will, in some vastly distant future, one day slide back to the energy side of the equation, replacing the \'dominion of matter\' with \'a great stillness\'--a vision that is at once lovely and profoundly frightening.

Without sliding into easy psychobiography, Bodanis explores other circumstances as well; namely, Einstein's background and character, which combined with a sterling intelligence to afford him an idiosyncratic view of the way things work--a view that would change the world. --Gregory McNamee

6. E=mc²: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis

This “biography of the world’s most famous equation” is a one-of-a-kind take on the genre: rather than being the story of Einstein, it really does follow the history of the equation itself. From the origins and development of its individual elements (energy, mass, and light) to their ramifications in the twentieth century, Bodanis turns what could be an extremely dry subject into engaging fare for readers of all stripes.

7. Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario

When Enrique was only five years old, his mother left Honduras for the United States, promising a quick return. Eleven years later, Enrique finally decided to take matters into his own hands in order to see her again: he would traverse Central and South America via railway, risking his life atop the “train of death” and at the hands of the immigration authorities, to reunite with his mother. This tale of Enrique’s perilous journey is not for the faint of heart, but it is an account of incredible devotion and sharp commentary on the pain of separation among immigrant families.

8. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

Herrera’s 1983 biography of renowned painter Frida Kahlo, one of the most recognizable names in modern art, has since become the definitive account on her life. And while Kahlo no doubt endured a great deal of suffering (a horrific accident when she was eighteen, a husband who had constant affairs), the focal point of the book is not her pain. Instead, it’s her artistic brilliance and immense resolve to leave her mark on the world — a mark that will not soon be forgotten, in part thanks to Herrera’s dedicated work.

9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Perhaps the most impressive biographical feat of the twenty-first century, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is about a woman whose cells completely changed the trajectory of modern medicine. Rebecca Skloot skillfully commemorates the previously unknown life of a poor black woman whose cancer cells were taken, without her knowledge, for medical testing — and without whom we wouldn’t have many of the critical cures we depend upon today.

10. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, hitchhiked to Alaska and disappeared into the Denali wilderness in April 1992. Five months later, McCandless was found emaciated and deceased in his shelter — but of what cause? Krakauer’s biography of McCandless retraces his steps back to the beginning of the trek, attempting to suss out what the young man was looking for on his journey, and whether he fully understood what dangers lay before him.

11. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families by James Agee

"Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.” From this line derives the central issue of Agee and Evans’ work: who truly deserves our praise and recognition? According to this 1941 biography, it’s the barely-surviving sharecropper families who were severely impacted by the American “Dust Bowl” — hundreds of people entrenched in poverty, whose humanity Evans and Agee desperately implore their audience to see in their book.

12. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

Another mysterious explorer takes center stage in this gripping 2009 biography. Grann tells the story of Percy Fawcett, the archaeologist who vanished in the Amazon along with his son in 1925, supposedly in search of an ancient lost city. Parallel to this narrative, Grann describes his own travels in the Amazon 80 years later: discovering firsthand what threats Fawcett may have encountered, and coming to realize what the “Lost City of Z” really was.

13. Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang

Though many of us will be familiar with the name Mao Zedong, this prodigious biography sheds unprecedented light upon the power-hungry “Red Emperor.” Chang and Halliday begin with the shocking statistic that Mao was responsible for 70 million deaths during peacetime — more than any other twentieth-century world leader. From there, they unravel Mao’s complex ideologies, motivations, and missions, breaking down his long-propagated “hero” persona and thrusting forth a new, grislier image of one of China’s biggest revolutionaries.

14. Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson by Andrew Wilson

Titled after one of her most evocative poems, this shimmering bio of Sylvia Plath takes an unusual approach. Instead of focusing on her years of depression and tempestuous marriage to poet Ted Hughes, it chronicles her life before she ever came to Cambridge. Wilson closely examines her early family and relationships, feelings and experiences, with information taken from her meticulous diaries — setting a strong precedent for other Plath biographers to follow.

15. The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes

What if you had twenty-four different people living inside you, and you never knew which one was going to come out? Such was the life of Billy Milligan, the subject of this haunting biography by the author of Flowers for Algernon . Keyes recounts, in a refreshingly straightforward style, the events of Billy’s life and how his psyche came to be “split”... as well as how, with Keyes’ help, he attempted to put the fragments of himself back together.

16. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

This gorgeously constructed biography follows Paul Farmer, a doctor who’s worked for decades to eradicate infectious diseases around the globe, particularly in underprivileged areas. Though Farmer’s humanitarian accomplishments are extraordinary in and of themselves, the true charm of this book comes from Kidder’s personal relationship with him — and the sense of fulfillment the reader sustains from reading about someone genuinely heroic, written by someone else who truly understands and admires what they do.

17. Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts

Here’s another bio that will reshape your views of a famed historical tyrant, though this time in a surprisingly favorable light. Decorated scholar Andrew Roberts delves into the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, from his near-flawless military instincts to his complex and confusing relationship with his wife. But Roberts’ attitude toward his subject is what really makes this work shine: rather than ridiculing him ( as it would undoubtedly be easy to do ), he approaches the “petty tyrant” with a healthy amount of deference.

18. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson IV by Robert A. Caro

Lyndon Johnson might not seem as intriguing or scandalous as figures like Kennedy, Nixon, or W. Bush. But in this expertly woven biography, Robert Caro lays out the long, winding road of his political career, and it’s full of twists you wouldn’t expect. Johnson himself was a surprisingly cunning figure, gradually maneuvering his way closer and closer to power. Finally, in 1963, he got his greatest wish — but at what cost? Fans of Adam McKay’s Vice , this is the book for you.

19. Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Anyone who grew up reading Little House on the Prairie will surely be fascinated by this tell-all biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Caroline Fraser draws upon never-before-published historical resources to create a lush study of the author’s life — not in the gently narrated manner of the Little House series, but in raw and startling truths about her upbringing, marriage, and volatile relationship with her daughter (and alleged ghostwriter) Rose Wilder Lane.

20. Prince: A Private View by Afshin Shahidi

Compiled just after the superstar’s untimely death in 2016, this intimate snapshot of Prince’s life is actually a largely visual work — Shahidi served as his private photographer from the early 2000s until his passing. And whatever they say about pictures being worth a thousand words, Shahidi’s are worth more still: Prince’s incredible vibrance, contagious excitement, and altogether singular personality come through in every shot.

21. Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss

Could there be a more fitting title for a book about the husband-wife team who discovered radioactivity? What you may not know is that these nuclear pioneers also had a fascinating personal history. Marie Sklodowska met Pierre Curie when she came to work in his lab in 1891, and just a few years later they were married. Their passion for each other bled into their passion for their work, and vice-versa — and in almost no time at all, they were on their way to their first of their Nobel Prizes.

22. Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson

She may not have been assassinated or killed in a mysterious plane crash, but Rosemary Kennedy’s fate is in many ways the worst of “the Kennedy Curse.” As if a botched lobotomy that left her almost completely incapacitated weren’t enough, her parents then hid her away from society, almost never to be seen again. Yet in this new biography, penned by devoted Kennedy scholar Kate Larson, the full truth of Rosemary’s post-lobotomy life is at last revealed.

23. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

This appropriately lyrical biography of brilliant Jazz Age poet and renowned feminist, Edna St. Vincent Millay, is indeed a perfect balance of savage and beautiful. While Millay’s poetic work was delicate and subtle, the woman herself was feisty and unpredictable, harboring unusual and occasionally destructive habits that Milford fervently explores.

24. Shelley: The Pursuit by Richard Holmes

Holmes’ famous philosophy of “biography as pursuit” is thoroughly proven here in his first full-length biographical work. Shelley: The Pursuit details an almost feverish tracking of Percy Shelley as a dark and cutting figure in the Romantic period — reforming many previous historical conceptions about him through Holmes’ compelling and resolute writing.

25. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

Another Gothic figure has been made newly known through this work, detailing the life of prolific horror and mystery writer Shirley Jackson. Author Ruth Franklin digs deep into the existence of the reclusive and mysterious Jackson, drawing penetrating comparisons between the true events of her life and the dark nature of her fiction.

26. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

Fans of Into the Wild and The Lost City of Z will find their next adventure fix in this 2017 book about Christopher Knight, a man who lived by himself in the Maine woods for almost thirty years. The tale of this so-called “last true hermit” will captivate readers who have always fantasized about escaping society, with vivid descriptions of Knight’s rural setup, his carefully calculated moves and how he managed to survive the deadly cold of the Maine winters.

27. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

The man, the myth, the legend: Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, is properly immortalized in Isaacson’s masterful biography. It divulges the details of Jobs’ little-known childhood and tracks his fateful path from garage engineer to leader of one of the largest tech companies in the world — not to mention his formative role in other legendary companies like Pixar, and indeed within the Silicon Valley ecosystem as a whole.

28. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Olympic runner Louis Zamperini was just twenty-six when his US Army bomber crashed and burned in the Pacific, leaving him and two other men afloat on a raft for forty-seven days — only to be captured by the Japanese Navy and tortured as a POW for the next two and a half years. In this gripping biography, Laura Hillenbrand tracks Zamperini’s story from beginning to end… including how he embraced Christian evangelism as a means of recovery, and even came to forgive his tormentors in his later years.

29. Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) by Stacy Schiff

Everyone knows of Vladimir Nabokov — but what about his wife, Vera, whom he called “the best-humored woman I have ever known”? According to Schiff, she was a genius in her own right, supporting Vladimir not only as his partner, but also as his all-around editor and translator. And she kept up that trademark humor throughout it all, inspiring her husband’s work and injecting some of her own creative flair into it along the way.

30. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt

William Shakespeare is a notoriously slippery historical figure — no one really knows when he was born, what he looked like, or how many plays he wrote. But that didn’t stop Stephen Greenblatt, who in 2004 turned out this magnificently detailed biography of the Bard: a series of imaginative reenactments of his writing process, and insights on how the social and political ideals of the time would have influenced him. Indeed, no one exists in a vacuum, not even Shakespeare — hence the conscious depiction of him in this book as a “will in the world,” rather than an isolated writer shut up in his own musty study.

If you're looking for more inspiring nonfiction, check out this list of 30 engaging self-help books , or this list of the last century's best memoirs !

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Extract, Preliminary to Autobiography

I said at the end of the last chapter that I was trying to make love to Mrs. Lackersteen, although Lackersteen was my best friend, & although I liked him much better than I liked his wife. He was much more the attractive of the two; more alive, more intelligent, less selfish, & even perhaps better looking. My feeling for him was affection, & for his wife a sort of hostility. Nevertheless I made love to her, & so acted treacherously towards him. This often happens.

To explain why I should do anything so curious, it is necessary to go back & say something about my early life. I am reluctant to do this, & I would not do it if I could help[1] it. To begin with, I hate[2] novels which go in for[3] everlasting[4] parentheses of the hero’s past history; & also I hold that in telling a story you should tell as little as you can of what happened before without[5] explaining how they became like that; & altogether use the least number of words possible[6]. But here[7] as everywhere you have to compromise, or else your novel must logically be reduced to a short story, thence to a paragraph, to a phrase, & perhaps even to a word. Adultery! There is a novel for you. But it lacks something. Very few people would buy it.

I therefore make my compromise, & ask myself, “What is it that I am writing?” Answer “The tale of John Flory.” What is this tale? It is the tale of the degeneration & ruin, through his native faults, of a gifted man?[8] How was he ruined? That is the story; my degeneration began when I came to Burma, aged eighteen. But a boy of eighteen is not a blank sheet to be written on; his character is half formed already, & so, dear reader, you are in for perhaps ten thousand words about my childhood. It is not enough to say “John Flory was a man who got drunk at least once a week, & made love to any woman who would let him.”[9] There are many men like that, but they are not all the same. You have to go˚ little deeper.

To understand any act which a man performs, even the lighting of a cigarette, it is necessary[10] to know his entire history from the moment of his birth, & beyond that the entire history of the universe. Fortunately no novel has yet gone to this extreme. I myself am trying[11] to err in the other direction. Also I shall do[12] my best to avoid weeping over the lost beauty[13] of my youth, & I shall try not to make myself out a more poetic young[14] creature than I was. If, in spite of these promises, the reader feels that he cannot face this chapter, there is an easy[15] remedy. Skip it.

Written 1926-1930?, handwritten in ink on reverse of Government of Burma paper, CW 72. Preliminary sketch for Burmese Days

• On Keeping a Time Capsule - Jennifer Yang
• Blackpool - Cerys Shanks
• Why? - Varscha Arul

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• Published: 3 December 2018
• ISBN: 9780143782476
• Imprint: Ebury Australia
• Format: Trade Paperback
• RRP: $29.99

Billy Slater Autobiography

• Billy Slater

On 16 March 2017 I played my two hundred and seventy-ninth game for the Melbourne Storm. Add twenty-seven State of Origin appearances for Queensland and twenty-five games for Australia, and this was my three hundred and thirty-first game of top-flight rugby league. But this was a game like few others.

The Melbourne Storm played the Brisbane Broncos at AAMI Park and won 14–12. To be honest, I didn’t perform particularly well. Coming off the bench, I missed a few passes and didn’t quite have my timing right. Normally I would have been a bit disappointed with my form. This time, I was elated.

This was the game I feared I would never play. After two operations on my left shoulder, there were times I genuinely believed I would not be able to pick up my two children again, let alone compete in a brutal sport like rugby league. To be out there running with the ball, striving to create and contribute, feeling the excitement of the crowd and sharing the triumph with my teammates, was incredible.

The lead-up to that game, and the long months of reha­bilitation, gave me plenty of time to contemplate my career. I like to think I am an optimist. I’m not one who looks back. I prepare the best I can for the next game, I don’t worry about the last. But when you approach the end of your career, or when injury threatens to end it prematurely, things come into focus.

At the same time as I did the hard work needed to get back on the field, I was writing this book. So I spent a lot of time contemplating the long road from my life as a kid in Innisfail in northern Queensland to elite rugby league; the great moments, the significant challenges and the many people who have helped me along the way.

Luck, circumstances and life choices have all played a part in my career. What if I had chosen to stay in Innisfail to play for my local club and not followed my dream to Brisbane Norths, where I played alongside a couple of teenagers named Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk? What if serious injury had kept me on the sidelines at the start of my career, not near the end? What if I had stayed at the Waterhouse stables in Sydney, not hitched a ride on a banana truck back to Innisfail and played rugby league again?

For all that, I would like to think I’ve made my own luck. My parents gave me and my sister a warm and loving home through their sheer hard work and loving devotion. It was an example I’ve followed my whole life. When the media write or talk about me, they often mention my natural gifts. I’ve got some speed, I can catch and use the ball, and I’ve had a knack for finding the tryline. But, as much as anything, I’m proud that I’ve done everything possible on the training track and the playing field to fulfil my potential and achieve my goals. If people take anything from my story, I hope it will be the lesson my parents taught me. You make your own luck with hard work and perseverance.

Just as I don’t look back on my career that much, I don’t look back in anger. There have been times I could have become angry or bitter. The salary cap penalties that saw the symbols of the Storm’s hard-fought achievement removed was just one of those times. I was upset then and am still a bit disillusioned now about punishment that was far greater than any other club has received. But I would like to think looking forward instead of wallowing in the past has helped me move on and contrib­ute to the Storm’s enduring, and now undeniable, success.

The rewards for playing professional sport are significant. I grew up in a rented house as part of a family that had few luxuries. As an eighteen-year-old at Brisbane Norths, I ate rice with barbecue sauce and worked several jobs to pay the rent on my two-bedroom flat. I’ve since made a good living and, when my career is over, will be able to pursue some of my other dreams.

But rugby league has given me so much more than just a comfortable life. I’ve experienced the thrill of many great moments and big wins in front of huge crowds; I’ve formed lifelong friendships with club, state and national teammates; I’ve revelled in that shared pleasure of executing in a big game a set play that we’ve practised for months.

Most importantly, I’ve started my own family with my wife Nicole and our two beautiful kids, Tyla and Jake. They have supported me in the same caring way I hope I can support them long after I’ve hung up my boots.

As much as the game has given me, I hope I’ve given something back. Rugby league is still a very tough and now highly professional sport. I’ve had to change my game over the years to adapt to the demands of coaches and the chal­lenges presented by opposition teams who spend a lot of time analysing your play and trying to curtail your influence by means fair and foul. But the joy and adventure with which I played the game as a schoolboy still remains. I hope kids who watch me play realise you can maintain a sense of fun and excitement right through your career. I’ve come a long way, learned a lot, matured both on and off the field, and loved nearly every minute. But when I have the ball in my hand, I’m still Billy the Kid.

Billy Slater Autobiography Billy Slater

Now in paperback, the autobiography of one the greatest rugby league players of all time.

More extracts

I always wanted to tackle the big kids.

One morning in March 2014, I woke up and wondered just how the hell I’d got here. I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a one-room sleep-out at a community home in South Auckland, with rapists and drug addicts as my neighbours.

Roto. You’ve probably never heard of it and I don’t blame you.

I have a quote written on the walls at my gym, Spudds, that I refer to all the time. Don’t let fear hold you back.

I WAS LYING ON the road next to my car, which was parked in Sydney’s inner south.

‘Can you make a difference?

The morning of Monday 26 September 1988 was cool and crisp in Scone, a country town about a three-hour drive north of Sydney.

From the very beginning there was no doubt that we three Wilson sisters would grow up with horses.

I don’t know where my dad is.

I knew I needed a killer opening line.

I started out in the Melbourne suburbs and I remain happily there to this day.

Our destination was four kilometres from the village of Hommes, 210 kilometres south-west of Paris, and half a planet away from Sydney, Australia.

My Notes From Sports Autobiographies

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ THE DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.

Sports autobiographies are my favourite book genre. I started this page in May 2018 and you’ll find my notes from the sports autobiographies I’ve read from global superstars (players and coaches) to journeymen. I had been wanting to recap the sports books I read for a while now. Thanks to Derek Sivers and Nat Eliason for the inspiration on how to organise my notes.

Click on each title you want to read the notes of.

RIC FLAIR: TO BE THE MAN – by RIC FLAIR (7/10)

Date Finished: January 2018 BUY ON AMAZON

I was never a massive fan of Ric Flair growing up, but in hindsight, I can see why some do call him the greatest wrestler of all time. In this book, you’ll hear plenty of stories an insight into the business and Ric’s key to looking the best. The only downside for me is the book jumped around a bit too much which made it confusing at times.

Cyrille Regis: My Story – by Cyrille Regis. (7/10) Having never heard of Cyrille Regis before opening this book, I wish I got to see him play. One of the pioneers of black footballers becoming a norm in English football. Doesn’t hold back in his story, even if it’s embarrassing.

Best Seat In The House: Your Backstage Pass through My WWE Journey – by Justin Roberts (8/10) The world of WWE is full of drama on the outside, and it looks even more complicated on the inside as we learn from Justin. Lots of gems about building relationships, following your passion, and dealing with bullying.

Running for My Life: One Lost Boy’s Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games – by Lopez Lomong (10/10) If you one a dose of humility, this is a must-read. Lomong was born in Sudan, before being captured by rebel soldiers while attending church. Less than 20 years later he achieved his dream of becoming an Olympian with the U.S.A. on his chest. An inspirational autobiography with bits of humour that put it into the 10/10 category.

Getting A Grip: On My Game, My Body, My Mind… My Self – by Monica Seles (8/10) A great insight into Monica’s life as a tennis prodigy who quickly became a 16-year-old world sensation. She talks about her brief entry into the world of a celebrity, realizing she’s better off being ‘just famous’. Then the stabbing and all the after effects. She’s brutally honest and doesn’t mind shying away from emotions, though it felt repetitive at times and there were some areas that could have gone deeper. Definitely, one of the toughest and best athlete autobiographies someone has had to write.

A Life Well Played: My Stories – by Arnold Palmer (9/10) The smile of Arnold Palmer is far from fake. This book features various stories from Arnold’s life, many leave you saying “only Arnie” . In between smiles you’ll get lots of glimpses of how to live a moral life. And yes, a few golf tips along the way. This is always going to be on the list of best sports memoirs.

The Power of Negative Thinking: An Unconventional Approach to Achieving Positive Results – by Bob Knight (10/10) EVERYONE can learn a lot from this book. Don’t make assumptions about the book based on the title as there’s no weird new age mythical stuff in this book. Bob gives insights from his successful career about what he thought about when coaching in various situations which when seen in isolation can be negative, but as a whole is totally practical.

Bigger Than the Game: Restitching a Major League Life 9/10 Dirk calls himself an author and you can tell in the flow of the story, he is serious. A great candid read where Dirk goes through a tough period of his career, and for us, we get to hear him talk about it openly. This must have been tough to write, but a great story told by a quality writer who experienced what many of us can only dream of.

David Beckham: My Side 7/10 Published in 2004, there are lots of gems in this book right from his childhood through but it dragged on a bit too often at times (especially during the times he retold details from matches). Considering it was written during an interesting time in David’s career (one year into playing with Real Madrid) there is so much that happened afterward, you need to read all his books to get the full picture (I haven’t yet).

Pacman: My Story of Hope, Resilience, and Never-Say-Never Determination (7.5/10) This book could easily be one of the best books written by athletes if there was some basic editing done. That was frustrating at times, but as long as you can see past that, you’ll find this book all about focus, appreciation, and giving back. It’s to give back to his people that Manny has transcended boxing and gone into politics, he has seen the possibilities that exist beyond the Philippines and wants to give his people the opportunity to experience that. Boxing is his segway to his community though, that is something he really understands and is the reason he has fought so many times. He gives them hope!

Strongman: My Story – by Eddie ‘The Beast’ Hall (8/10) A good length of a book that takes you from Eddies somewhat troubled childhood (that included being a prominent swimmer) to achieving success in business through to being one of the worlds best in strongman competitions. Not hiding behind words in this book, plenty of inspiration for you to apply to your life in and out of the sports industry.

Letters to a Young Gymnast – by Nadia Comaneci (9/10) Written to the young who write her letters, we can all learn from Nadia in this book. I loved her positive outlook on sacrifice, and while she doesn’t open up 100%, she shows a lot of vulnerability in throughout the book. The other lesson I took away is perfection, there is no such thing as perfection even though we constantly seek it.

Jonah Lomu Autobiography – by Jonah Lomu (6/10) The great man wouldn’t appear again in the black jersey after this book was published, but he went on to achieve great work post-rugby. Some nice touches on the All Blacks culture and fellow players are in the book but lacks depth in personal areas he could have opened up about (kidneys, relationships, expectations). Hated having to give this a 6 but also confirmed to be the best sports autobiographies are written at least five years after retirement from the top level.

Roberto: Kicking Every Ball – by Roberto Martinez (4/10) I don’t understand the layout of the book. The chapters jump back and forth, it would have been easier to stick to a chronological order. The last chapter was complete filler. Some gems in there, but his followup book will be 10x better.

Neymar: Conversations With My Father (7.5/10) Wowee, an interesting book despite coming so early in his career. The sections by his Dad (Neymar Sr) are brilliant as he has so much experience and his lessons are way deeper imo. But the passion you sense from Neymar Jr is also impressive. A great read on one of the biggest superstars ever (can’t wait for the sequel).

This Road I Ride: – by Juliana Buhring (7/10) 1. Growing up in a cult | 2. Losing the love of your life. Those two events are enough suffering for everyone to push themselves to extremes in life. This ike chronicles the events leading up to her decision to cycle around the world (in a world record time), with various events coming into play throughout the book from past events.

Jamie Vardy: From Nowhere, My Story – by Jamie Vardy (7/10) The title of one of the more inspirational autobiographies I’ve read so far is totally accurate. After excelling as a child, Jamie fell off the bandwagon when he was rejected by the club he loved so dearly. He hit some low points, but with a combination of family, talent, and the belief of a few individuals Jamie again the tools to not only win a Premiership but to go on and represent England after turning professional at the age of 24. The dream was always there, yet the journey was certainly rocky. One of the top sports autobiographies with a story of redemption.

Blood, Sweat, and Treason: My Story by Henry Olonga (8/10) Most well known for taking a stance against Robert Mugabe while playing for the Zimbabwean cricket team which meant he couldn’t safely return to Zimbabwe. Has some interesting insights from how mentors affected him throughout life in a professional career where he was a good cricketer but was never going to be a great.

Relentless: From Good To Great To Unstoppable – by Tim Grover (8/10) Tim was the coach of some of basketballs greatest players. His methods have been tried and tested throughout the years, and he knows what works. You’ll learn about the Zone, stress, being a leader, all about striving to be the best. Lots of quotables.

Quiet Leadership: Winning Hearts, Minds and Matches by Carlo Ancelotti (9/10) I resonated with this book as a quieter person. This autobiography about a leader of various teams gives some great advice on relationships, communication, and leadership. A valuable book that you can learn from about leading teams in any industry. His early chat about the leadership arc chat was also an interesting insight.

My Story: Crossing the Line by Luis Suarez (7/10) Growing up in Uruguay, Luis had to fight his way to get from the backstreets of his homeland all the way to Barcelona. You’ll learn a lot about how much it takes to fight to reach your goals and dreams from this book in addition to learning about Luis Suarez thinks about some of the more controversial moments in his career.

Sir Curtly Ambrose: Time To Talk (5/10) If you’re not a cricket fan, you’ll struggle with this cricketers autobiography as there is a decent amount of cricket speak involved. But if you want to hear from someone who has succeeded when they others might not have because of pride, this is for you. Considering he wrote this book 15 years after retiring from international cricket, this book left a lot to be desired other.

A Different Kind Of Daughter by Maria Toorpakai (9/10) Wholly shit, this is real. Since 2001 we’ve heard a lot about the Taliban in the media, but Maria grew up surrounded by the Taliban. And they wanted her dead. She had liberal parents (they were Muslim) and the family is crazy strong, and Maria drew strength from them clearly as she was determined to not let them control her life. An amazing, vivid, powerful sports biography about the story of a professional squash player from Pakistan.

The Artist: Being Iniesta by Andre Iniesta (7.5/10) I’m not the biggest football fan, but Andre Iniesta is one of the faces I recognise. In a star-studded team like Barcelona, he was a fixture in the team, his teammates acknowledge the things he did in the middle of the field helped them win a lot of games. This family man is open and honest throughout the book and has asked for input in the book from those he has learned to trust most throughout his career.

Gunning for Greatness: My Life by Mesut Ozil (8/10) In the current world, immigration is a big issue and while Mesut grew up and has represented Germany, his Turkish blood still causes many, many issues. Even after living there for 20+ years! He talks openly about the conflict and his viewpoints, and how we should all be integrated and work together. Just like millions do on the football pitch.

Pepe: My Autobiography (8/10) Pepe, a goalkeeper, usually remembered for his bad saves than his great saves. It takes a certain personality to be a great goalkeeper, and if I was too take three quality from this book that applies to Pepe’s success they’re luck, gratitude, consistency. He knows luck plays a role in making it to the top of the football world and is forever grateful he has the chance (and is grateful for the fans and his family). But he has always worked hard to maximize his success. An inspirational autobiography from a positive human.

Johnathan Thurston: The Autobiography (8/10) If you’re a fan of rugby league or familar with the sport at all, you’ll love this tell-all autobiography from one of the games best players the game has seen. From growing up with a massive family, struggles in his teenage years to get any kind of recognition, to numerous off-field incidents that could have snowballed into a disaster. Johnathan had to work hard to get where he ended his playing career, a rugby league legend. But as they say, nothing comes easy. If you’re not familiar with the sport, this rugby league autobiography might be hard to follow at times.

I Am Duran: The Autobiography (4/10) I am definitely not a Roberto Duran fan. This may be why I’ve given him such a low score, but the book in fairness is written in a conversational style which is cool…he also owns up to his mistakes, but it’s the contradictions throughout the book which frustrates me. He isn’t someone you’ll want to look up to, but you can take bits and pieces from his grit and determination when he is inside the ring (oh, except for the fight when he quit).

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If you ever spot a man with a cat shirt and a beard, it's probably me :)

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• Features Of An Autobiography Resources For Ks2 English

Features of an autobiography – 6 of the best resources for KS2 English

Getting kids to talk about themselves shouldn't be hard, but getting them to create good autobiographical writing, you might need these activities, ideas, templates and worksheets…

Back before selfies and Instagram feeds the way to tell your own story was to write it.

And sure, your average Key Stage 2 student probably won’t have accumulated enough life experience for the next Long Walk to Freedom , but they can probably do a better job than half the ‘celebrity’ books that hit the shelves in the run-up to Christmas.

And that’s before you’ve even started with these great resources.

1 | Characteristics of an autobiography

This nifty little resource not only includes the great quote in the pic above, it has a good summary of autobiographical writing, explains where the word ‘autobiography’ comes from, and has a few good examples of autobiographical passages to boot.

Check it out here.

2 | Roald Dahl book topic

The Great Mouse Plot was one of the stories from Roald Dahl’s childhood autobiography, Boy , where he and his friends pranked the local sweet shop owner by placing a dead mouse in a jar of sweets.

They were duly caught, and caned by their headmaster.

Carey Fluker Hunt’s book topics explores using memories for engaging creative autobiographical writing.

Get this resource here.

3 | Super hero autobiography example

Head on over to Literacy Wagoll’s Biographies and Autobiographies section for a collection of free example texts, including this superhero autobiography.

No doubt your students are more than familiar with comic book movies and have seen countless origin stories, so they should be able to write one for their own created superhero.

It’s the perfect writing hook, coming up with a character and how they got their superpower.

And if you want to actually watch a superhero movie, the first Spider-Man film (AKA the best one) from Sam Raimi is an excellent example (although it does have a 12A rating, so maybe just show clips or talk about it).

It’s opening line? ‘Who am I?’. It’s closing line? ‘Who am I? I’m Spider-Man’. Perfect.

In the meantime, download superhero autobiography example here.

4 | Autobiography checklist

Once your pupils get to writing an autobiographical piece, this checklist might come in handy.

It has the basics like ‘Is it written in the 1st person?’ and ‘Is it written in the past tense?’ but also things like ‘Are there dates to show when events happened?’ and ‘Is there any emotive language?’.

Plus, there’s a column on the sheet where they can show evidence that they’ve included all of these elements.

This resource also includes a biography checklist should you need that too.

Click here to download.

5 | The life of Nelson Mandela

This Oxfam set of resources for upper KS2 explores the life of Nelson Mandela and the differences between biography and autobiography.

They also provide ideas for discussing the difference between explicit and implicit points of view, and the differences between first and third person narration.

There are five lessons, all of which can be found here.

6 | Newspaper template

One for younger pupils, this newspaper-style template lets them write all about themselves, their likes and dislikes, their heroes and their hobbies.

Download it here.

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‘A crash could have left us rolling through space': an extract from Tim Peake’s autobiography

The British astronaut describes a close call on arriving at the International Space Station

‘Coming home was a harsh transition. Gravity sucks!’: read an interview with Tim Peake

Yuri Malenchenko is one of the most accomplished Russian cosmonauts in history. By December 2015 he is already the veteran of five separate missions and has logged just over 641 days in orbit, which means he has spent more time off the planet than almost anybody.

He is also the calmest man I have ever met. A quietly spoken, undemonstrative 53-year-old, Yuri is one of those naturally composed people who can reassure you with the smallest gesture. All in all, I could not have hoped for a steadier commander to be strapped in beside on my first voyage into space.

Which is why I know it’s a bad sign when I glance across at Yuri and notice that there’s a tremor in his hands.

And it had all been going so well. For six hours our tiny Soyuz capsule , blasted into orbit by rocket from Kazakhstan, had travelled through space at 25 times the speed of sound towards our destination, around 400km from Earth. With just 400 metres to go until contact, the spacecraft, in automated mode, began its standard fly-around of the International Space Station (ISS) before locking on to the docking port for the final approach.

Creeping softly forward, we are now less than 20 metres away, close enough for me to see the space station’s cluttered docking area. The camera view of our port begins to loom large on the monitor in front of Yuri. And, unbeknown to me, our orbit has just begun to carry us over the United Kingdom, a nice piece of synchronicity with which to kick off this whole adventure: me arriving at my temporary home for the next six months in full view of my permanent one.

And then, at 17 metres from contact, the master alarm goes off and red lights flash on the console. The Soyuz is aborting. Why? There has never been an automated docking that aborted this close to the space station. Even for Yuri, this is new territory.

It’s a thruster sensor failure, apparently. But no worries. There’s a procedure. In space flight, there’s always a procedure. In this case, the procedure is that Yuri will switch to manual control and fly us in by hand. Simple.

Well, in theory. The Soyuz gently backs out to 90 metres from the space station and then Yuri gets ready to bring us forward again. Our orbit is taking us from day to night, and the lighting conditions are less than ideal. In the pitch darkness of space, the searchlight on our little craft suddenly seems to have the feeble range of a bedroom torch. Yuri hunches forward and peers into the periscope in front of him.

That’s when I notice the trembling hands and think, well, if Yuri is anxious, maybe this isn’t such a great situation.

At this point, I should outline some of the consequences of a crash. The ISS cost $100bn to build, took 10 years of multinational collaboration, and is arguably the most advanced structure humanity has ever made. The worst-case scenario would be a rupture to the space station, or a rupture to the Soyuz, or both, leading to a rapid depressurisation – survivable, possibly, but a major catastrophe.

Alternatively, glancing against a solid object could send the craft into a tumble that might prove impossible to arrest. The space station is not able to grapple a Soyuz capsule with the robotic arm; unlike with cargo vehicles, it has no means to reach out mechanically and grab you. You would be left rolling through space for ever.

Coming in practically blind, the Soyuz yaws about 30 degrees off target, drifting towards the back of the space station. This is where Yuri’s experience really tells. A more junior cosmonaut might have ploughed on in the hope of correcting the manoeuvre, with possibly disastrous consequences. Not Yuri. Despite the pressure and the voices from mission control in his ears, he has the composure to gently back the Soyuz away out into space. Then he settles himself and prepares to try again.

Maybe it’s just my habitual mindset as a helicopter pilot, which is to be constantly checking your systems and contingency plans, but uppermost among my concerns at this point is our fuel level. There needs to be enough fuel to get us home safely – and at this stage, yes, there’s plenty. Yet all this unplanned flying on manual control is eating into our precisely budgeted supply. If we stay out here, it’s not impossible that we will have to give up on docking altogether and head back to Earth.

This after the buildup, the hype and fanfare, the ceremonial farewells, the emotional partings from Rebecca, my wife, our two boys, and my parents, the big departure in clouds of smoke with the nation looking on. Suffice to say, I’m going to feel a bit sheepish if I return 12 hours later.

As Yuri once more lowers his face to the periscope and begins to line up the Soyuz for its third attempt at docking, I’m keen that he should get it right.

Yuri hunches forward to peer into the periscope. Once again, Tim Kopra and I are largely powerless to help him, unable to see what he’s seeing. The capsule begins to move in and almost straight away I can sense the difference in Yuri’s demeanour. The tension leaves him, he is steady-handed. He has very clearly got this under control as he brings the capsule in for a textbook-manual docking.

As we put the Soyuz into hibernation mode, we heard the voice of Scott Kelly, our commander who was already aboard the ISS, over the radio. “Welcome to space,” he said. “What would you like for dinner?”

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Sustainable Food Technology

Effect of storage, temperature, and ph on the preservation of the oleuropein content of olive leaf extracts.

* Corresponding authors

a CEB–Centre of Biological Engineering, Campus of Gualtar, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal E-mail: [email protected]

b LABBELS–Associate Laboratory, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

Oleuropein, upon sucessful extraction from olive leaves, is treasured as being one of the major bioactive compounds with great potential for being incorporated into numerous food formulations that are processed under specific surrounding conditions. In this regard, for oleuropein to sustainably exert bio-functional effects, it needs to remain potent in an adequate amount in every step of potential valorizations. That being the case, this study examined the stability of olive leaf extracts obtained through ohmic heating (OH) compared to the conventional heating, (Conven) in terms of the total phenolic content (TPC), oleuropein (the key dependent variable), and hydroxytyrosol. The extracts were subjected to different surrounding conditions: (i) storage temperatures of 25 °C, 4 °C, and −20 °C over different time points for eight weeks; (ii) heating at 70 °C, 90 °C, and 110 °C over different time points (min), and (iii) pH ranging from 3 to 9. The results from storage stability tests revealed that a storage temperature of −20 °C was the optimal condition for the stability of the extracts, while storage at 25 °C was the least desirable condition, particularly for oleuropein and TPC. The thermal study showed that exceeding a high temperature (particularly 110 °C) was detrimental to the oleuropein content. Also, the optimum pH value (pH 5) determined in this study narrowly resembled the pH values observed at the initial point of the extracts (4.8–5.2). Importantly, the data support the preference of ohmic heating over a conventional heating approach because substantial quantities of polyphenols remained in the OH extracts over the course of storage/heating. For oleuropein, ohmic heating at 75 °C was the most preferred approach, whereby the values continued to stay at the highest levels in the varying surrounding conditions/over different time points.

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F. S. Markhali and J. A. Teixeira, Sustainable Food Technol. , 2024, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D4FB00044G

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Autobiography

Subject: English

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Unit of work

Last updated

5 April 2020

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Series of 4 lessons on autobiographical writing:

Features of autobiographical writing

Effective autobiographical writing (looking at an extract from Bear Grylls’ autobiography

Planning your own piece of autobiographical writing

Suitable for KS3 Year 7 or Year 8

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