Books about Biography

I heard this book on audio CD read by the author himself and it was probably the best way to listen to this excellently written narrative of Obama's family from his grandparents to the present day. The author takes us across the world from Kansas to Hawaii to Indonesia to Kenya. The book is also a wonderful perspective into racial relations and how a minority tends to analyze every action, glance or word from the majority - an aspect which can be frustrating and self-defeating. Obama also shows how following one's dreams can change a person with regard to his roots, culture, community and friends, regardless of which continent you are on. This is not a political book - it is deeply moral and thought-provoking. For me, who has spent every third of my life in different countries, it feels intensely personal.

Tags: biography politics

Excellent book of interviews with founders of different software and hardware companies. The author interviewed many industry icons such as Steve Wozniak and Dan Bricklin, Web 2.0 application creators such as David Hansson and Mena Trott, as well as popular software entrepreneurs and writers like Paul Graham and Joel Spolsky. The founders talk about their dreams and fears, and what they think success is about and how it can be achieved. The book also contains their experiences in many unglamorous aspects of their work such as raising venture capital, dealing with legal issues, etc. A great resource for budding entrepreneurs.

Tags: biography technology

The story of the final days of the British Raj and the horrors of Partition amidst the joy of independence, this book is a breath-taking work. It cover many of the prominent individuals who would have a part to play in the historic events in 1947 and early 1948. Gandhi's assassination is also covered in significant detail.

Tags: history biography

Sprinkled with anecdotes, Mark Twain remembers his life as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi. In the second part of the book, he takes another trip on the river to see what has changed.

Tags: biography

In his autobiography, Gandhi covers the first 50-odd years of his life till 1920, when he became the leader of the Indian freedom movement. He talks about his childhood, education in India and in England, and his employment in South Africa. The book shows the evolution of Gandhi's beliefs, both the political beliefs of non-violence and civil disobedience, and the personal beliefs about food and religion. Gandhi inspired not only the millions in India, but people elsewhere like Mandela and Martin Luther King. But his ideas were not something he was born with. They were the result of years of thought, events and circumstances.

One of the complaints a reader would have with the book is that Gandhi does not seem logical with respect to some of his personal beliefs (some of which frankly seems outdated and primitive today). Gandhi had some core absolutisms. The same rigidity with which he adhered to non-violence also drove his personal behavior. In one respect, this made him become greater than life to the masses of India and earned him respect in the West. A more reasonable or realistic person would not have achieved what he dared to do.

Tags: biography

Obama provides a close look at his life in politics, including various elections and his experiences in the US Senate. He talks at length about his ideas and various public policy matters. Obama talks about ordinary people and the challenges they face in achieving the American Dream. The book is written in a very conversational tone. Highly political issues are handled with great maturity.

Tags: politics biography

Jack Welch's autobiography covers a long breadth of time - from his early childhood and his mother's influence to the selection of his successor at GE and his final GE days. It is a long period with a multitude of events to cover and hence, the book makes compromises on the details of some events and the chronological order. At least a few of the decisions are not explained as much as they should - for example, the decision of choosing Jeff Immelt over Bob Nardelli - the future will show the correctness of this decision, but it would have been good to understand why. For those looking for a straight-forward approach to Welch's management style, a better book would be "Winning". This book, however, explains some of the rationale that went into some of the decisions. One thing that seems very clear from the book is Welch's directness (or brashness, whatever you may call it), whether it is in a company meeting or when he gets hit with a heart attack.

Tags: biography business management

I laughed and laughed and loudly too. A great book if you have time to kill or you are depressed. The writing is superb and the anecdotes splendid. There is Toby trying his hand at screenwriting, playing the role of husband and father, becoming a critic while producing his own play and getting caught up in the most embarrassing and funny situations. The writing does seem to turn a bit corny towards the end, but to people who have gone through similar emotions, it is probably right on the money.

Tags: biography humor

An account of the last days of Morrie Schwartz, the professor of Mitch Albom and their relationship, this book is as heart-warming as it is heart-breaking. The real meaning of life comes to us when we know our days are numbered. A must-read.

Tags: biography

Phil Rosenthal is the creator and writer of the famous sitcom, "Everybody Loves Raymond". This book is his biography from his childhood to his years on the show. I heard the audio version of the book and it was really funny. Filled with anecdotes and delivered with his Bronx accent, Phil talks about the various aspects of producing the show from writing to managing the crew. It does help if you have seen the show because he talks about how some of the more famous episodes were created from real-life incidents.

Tags: humor biography

Toby's narrative of his "adventures" in the fashion magazine industry is a good read. Being a stranger to this world, it struck me as less funny and more like an exposé of the egos, the insecurities and the extravagance in the industry. While I agreed with some of Toby's observations of misconceptions regarding meritocracy in the United States, his conclusions of the superiority of the British system do not become true from those arguments. The book would have been better if he had stopped just short of expounding theories using logical fallacies.

Tags: biography humor

This is a great collection of interviews with legends in the information technology world. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Andy Grove, Bill Hewlett, etc. - the list goes on. Since the interviews took place in 1997 (during the Internet boom), some of the content is less relevant today. However, each person talks about entrepreneur ship, innovation and leadership and that makes the book worth reading.

Tags: software technology biography

Linus Torvalds' autobiography from his childhood days to his work on Linux and ending with his job at Transmeta. The book also provides a glimpse into Linus's interests and views on various subjects related to Linux and open source. But it is almost pop-like in its approach to the subject matter and ends up doing an average job. You get a feeling that many important issues and events have been glossed over.

Tags: biography technology

Sam Walton, writing this sometime near his death, explains the ideas, principles and actions that helped Wal-Mart grow from a single store to the largest retailer in America within a few decades. Even with all the employee issues (low wages, discrimination, anti-union), Wal-Mart is still an amazing story of entrepreneurship, hard work, customer focus, constant improvement and managing opportunities well. Walton tackles some of the criticism of Wal-mart in this book, but some explanations take a different tangent instead of addressing the problems directly. And, as you would already know, Wal-Mart is not "Made in America" anymore.

Tags: biography business

Bill Clinton's biography covers a lot of ground from his childhood to the last years of his presidency. Many events of his public and private lives are covered here. He also vents a lot of anger at his opponents in the impeachment crisis. However, despite the size of the book, some events are not really provided the amount of detail they deserve. In fact, it might have been a better idea to have written different books touching on various periods of life. For example, one book on the Presidency, one on the Governorship, etc.

Tags: politics biography

The author brings us a close portrait of Jim Clark, one of the most successful serial entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. In the book, he details the journey of Clark from humble beginnings in Plainview, Texas to his founding of several multi-billion corporations. Lewis also devotes considerable space to Clark's obsession with his computer-controlled boat Hyperion. A good read, but note that the book does not cover the period after the dot-com bust.

Tags: biography technology

"Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?" is a first-hand view of the turnaround of the fortunes of IBM from near-collapse back to market leadership. The author, Louis Gerstner was the CEO of IBM during the critical period from 1993 to 2002, when he steadied a tottering IT giant and created a remarkable success story.

While the book generally covers the events from Gerstner's recruitment into IBM to his retirement, it does not follow a strict chronological path and is not meant to be a summary of events. Moving easily between various time periods, Gerstner outlines the original rationale behind the old IBM culture, the failure of that style of working in the hyper-competitive late twentieth century and the decisions and strategies that took IBM back to the top.

Pulling no punches, Gerstner lays bare the conflicts and bureaucracy that he inherited and that afflicted IBM well into his watch. At times verging into preaching, he describes the principles that drove his decisions and the lessons that he learned. His leadership skills are in display as he talks about passion, nurturing the next generation and social responsibility.

...Continued

Tags: biography business

Interesting history of Ben & Jerry's company and their principles.

Tags: biography business

Books like these irritate me. The author attempts to explore the transformation of Microsoft after the anti-trust trial, but basically spends more ink simply recounting facts and statements. There is very little analysis and opinion. Whenever there seems to be the semblance of an opinion, the author quickly offers a caveat or counter-point. Little mention is made of competitors like Google and Apple. New business and technical strategies are not elaborated upon. When the author describes Microsoft history, many important players like Paul Allen and IBM are given very brief notes. The only saving grace is a description of some of Microsoft's business processes, though some of it is also public knowledge.

Tags: business biography technology