Ask HN: Inspirational Biographies
7 comments
I enjoyed all of Asimov's autobiographical books: In Memory Yet Green and In Joy Still Felt, and the posthumous memoir, I. Asimov. I'm a huge fan of Asimov's non-style literary style (clarity over all), and it works well in autobiography. If you like scifi, at all, Asimov was an eye witness to nearly its entire history from golden age onward, and thus worth reading. He's also perhaps one of the few truly credible witnesses to that history; a number of other genre favorites and stalwarts had psychological issues (Dick), personal feuds and vendettas (Ellison), an aversion to the community (Lem), or were just batshit crazy (Hubbard), and thus their accounts can't generally be taken without large grains of salt.
There are two biographies that I think should be required reading for wannabe Silicon Valley entrepreneurs: (1) High St@kes, No Prisoners by Charles H. Ferguson and (2) The New New Thing by Michael Lewis, about Jim Clark
And two that, while light on content (i.e. math), never fail to stimulate the childlike nature of my inner aspiring mathematician: (1) The Man Who Knew Infinity by Robert Kanigel, on Ramanujan and (2) The Man Who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman, on Paul Erdos.
And two that, while light on content (i.e. math), never fail to stimulate the childlike nature of my inner aspiring mathematician: (1) The Man Who Knew Infinity by Robert Kanigel, on Ramanujan and (2) The Man Who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman, on Paul Erdos.
Forgot Jim Clark. Really liked his story too.
"Surely, You're Joking Mr Feynman"
was a fun read.
I really enjoyed Isaacson's "Einstein: His Life and Universe".
Chuck Yeager
John von Neumann
Gottfried Leibniz
Helen Keller
Kyle Maynard
Brooke Ellison
Gottfried Leibniz
Helen Keller
Kyle Maynard
Brooke Ellison
Nikola Tesla Steve Jobs Steve Woz Larry Ellison Lance Armstrong
HN have suggestions? In general I'm intereted in stories of how everyday individuals became great.
Thanks!