Let's Talk: The Autobiography

[JohnS]

I received Matthew Perry's autobiography 'Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing' yesterday as Christmas present from my son. It was released in November 2022 and it seems quite a timely read to me, especially as Matthew Perry sadly passed away just a few months ago.

Have you wondered where the template for the modern autobiography comes from? You know, that tendency to be modest and honest? Well, it came from none other that St. Augustine publishing his 'Confessions', at the end of the fourth century AD, to dispel public affirmation of his greatness by systemically listing all the things he had done in his life that he regretted, up to that point. 'Confessions' is considered the first autobiography of the Western World and considered a classic of Western literature. 

I wonder if Augustine wanted to counter Augustus Caesar's 'Res Gestae Divi Augusti', which is an inscription that was published everywhere throughout the Roman Empire after his death in 14 AD, espousing his greatness, his deeds and mentioning barely anyone by name other than himself. In other words, the antithesis of the style of a modern autobiography.

Now, when I mention the word autobiography, please note that in Greek the word is a portmanteau of 'auto' meaning 'self', 'bio' meaning 'life' and 'graphy' meaning 'writing'. So, we're talking about works that are self-written not written by others or even 'ghost-written' by a professional writer or journalist.

What is your favourite autobiography? List it and discuss it below. Feel free to mention more than one, if need be.

As a reference, below are the best-selling autobiographies of all time (source: https://bookauthority.org/books/best-selling-autobiography-books)...

1. The Autobiography of Malcolm X

2. The Happiest Man on Earth, The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor - Eddie Jaku

3. Educated, A Memoir - Tara Westover

4. Open, An Autobiography - Andre Agassi

5. Spare- Prince Harry

6. The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

7. Stories I Only Tell My Friends, An Autobiography - Rob Lowe

8. Autobiography of a Yogi - Paramahansa Yogananda

9. Everything I Know About Love,  A Memoir - Dolly Alderton

10. The Storyteller, Tales of Life and Music - Dave Grohl

11. Finding Me - Viola Davis

12. Diana Her True Story--in Her Own Words

13. Yeager, An Autobiography - Chuck Yeager

14. Let My People Go Surfing, The Education of a Reluctant Businessman - Yvon Chouinard

15. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

16. Paris, The Memoir - Paris Hilton

17. E.A.R.L., The Autobiography of DMX - DMX, Smokey D Fontaine

18. Becoming Michelle Obama

19. Iacocca, An Autobiography - Lee Iacocca

20. On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft - Stephen King

As a footnote, I'd like to make special note of our own @Ken Gargett's favourite autobiography of all time, 'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen.

I would imagine Ken's least favourite autobiography would be a tie between 'Spare' by Prince Harry and 'My Life and Rugby: The Autobiography' by Eddie Jones. Please also feel free to mention your lesser-liked autobiographies you've read, below.

[targa88]

I have been a fan of the autobiography as stated above.

The Matthew Perry book is on my waitlist from the library...

That being said - some of these books provide interesting insight into the mindset (sometimes quite sad) along with historical timelines.

In no particular order - some interesting reading (at least for me)

It worked for me - Colin Powell

Hell and other destinations - Madeleine Albright 

A promised land - Barack Obama

No time like the future - Michael J. Fox

Fortitude - Dan Crenshaw

This time together - Carol Burnett

Postcards from the edge - Carrie Fisher

Medium raw - Anthony Bourdain

[Ford2112]

[Ken Gargett]

9 hours ago, JohnS said:

I received Matthew Perry's autobiography 'Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing' yesterday as Christmas present from my son. It was released in November 2022 and it seems quite a timely read to me, especially as Matthew Perry sadly passed away just a few months ago.

Have you wondered where the template for the modern autobiography comes from? You know, that tendency to be modest and honest? Well, it came from none other that St. Augustine publishing his 'Confessions', at the end of the fourth century AD, to dispel public affirmation of his greatness by systemically listing all the things he had done in his life that he regretted, up to that point. 'Confessions' is considered the first autobiography of the Western World and considered a classic of Western literature. 

I wonder if Augustine wanted to counter Augustus Caesar's 'Res Gestae Divi Augusti', which is an inscription that was published everywhere throughout the Roman Empire after his death in 14 AD, espousing his greatness, his deeds and mentioning barely anyone by name other than himself. In other words, the antithesis of the style of a modern autobiography.

Now, when I mention the word autobiography, please note that in Greek the word is a portmanteau of 'auto' meaning 'self', 'bio' meaning 'life' and 'graphy' meaning 'writing'. So, we're talking about works that are self-written not written by others or even 'ghost-written' by a professional writer or journalist.

What is your favourite autobiography? List it and discuss it below. Feel free to mention more than one, if need be.

As a reference, below are the best-selling autobiographies of all time (source: https://bookauthority.org/books/best-selling-autobiography-books)...

1. The Autobiography of Malcolm X

2. The Happiest Man on Earth, The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor - Eddie Jaku

3. Educated, A Memoir - Tara Westover

4. Open, An Autobiography - Andre Agassi

5. Spare- Prince Harry

6. The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

7. Stories I Only Tell My Friends, An Autobiography - Rob Lowe

8. Autobiography of a Yogi - Paramahansa Yogananda

9. Everything I Know About Love,  A Memoir - Dolly Alderton

10. The Storyteller, Tales of Life and Music - Dave Grohl

11. Finding Me - Viola Davis

12. Diana Her True Story--in Her Own Words

13. Yeager, An Autobiography - Chuck Yeager

14. Let My People Go Surfing, The Education of a Reluctant Businessman - Yvon Chouinard

15. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

16. Paris, The Memoir - Paris Hilton

17. E.A.R.L., The Autobiography of DMX - DMX, Smokey D Fontaine

18. Becoming Michelle Obama

19. Iacocca, An Autobiography - Lee Iacocca

20. On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft - Stephen King

As a footnote, I'd like to make special note of our own @Ken Gargett's favourite autobiography of all time, 'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen.

I would imagine Ken's least favourite autobiography would be a tie between 'Spare' by Prince Harry and 'My Life and Rugby: The Autobiography' by Eddie Jones. Please also feel free to mention your lesser-liked autobiographies you've read, below.

interesting stuff, John. good post. 

as a kid, i used to read endless sporting autobiogs, especially cricketers. a few rugby players and mountain climbers (was big on that when younger). a mate still reads any musicians' autobiog he can get hold of. 

but if you rule out ghost writers etc, then your list would be lucky to have 2-3 left. no one is convincing me that paris Hilton or diana wrote their own. and we know that self-entitled pompous whinger harry didn't (normally the fertility of others does not bother me but all i can say is that thank the divinities that kate could pump them out). these days, publishers would not consider a contract without a ghost writer. 

there are about half a dozen there I've never heard of - no doubt that exhibits my lack of education. who is dolly Alderton for example? more importantly, why do so many people care? 

two final thoughts.

if a significant majority of humans prefer reading autobiogs of people like paris Hilton, diana, dolly whoever and that human mudslide, harry, rather than bruce then trust me, the four horsemen have saddled up and are about to come riding. 

finally, always loved what a great mate of mine told me about the legendary shane warne and his autobiog. as warney once said to him, 'you know, i really should read it one day. see what i said'.  

[riderpride]

47 minutes ago, Ford2112 said:

I'll second that bad-boy

I've never laughed so hard reading before.  I weirded-out a lot of people poolside (different reason than usual). Finished in less than 24 hrs 

 

Cheers

[Ford2112]

48 minutes ago, riderpride said:

I'll second that bad-boy

I've never laughed so hard reading before.  I weirded-out a lot of people poolside (different reason than usual). Finished in less than 24 hrs 

 

Cheers

Adam Eget ,under the Queensbury bridge...

[Chas.Alpha]

#16: Paris. Literature for all time…

[JohnS]

@Ford2112, that Norm MacDonald memoir has piqued my interest. Thanks for the recommendation, what a talent we've lost!

@Ken Gargett, so right. The ability to write well takes dedication, time, the proficiency to research well, read an array of sources and actually practise the art of writing itself. It's not easy. And most celebrities, in whatever field they come from, get assistance because they lack  the time and/or writing skills.

I too have read a number of sporting and musician autobiographies/biographies in my time. I tend to find them fascinating.

[joeypots]

There’s famous and there’s famous. 

ht

[Ford2112]

3 hours ago, joeypots said:

This is a good read,as is Stone Alone by Bill Wyman. Good ole Keef! One of the best shows I've ever seen was the stones.

[JohnS]

100% @joeypots!

[Chas.Alpha]

@JohnS One you'd likely enjoy was the autobiography of Hank Aaron. I think it's called "I Had a Hammer" 

[Ken Gargett]

john, get hold of a copy of Col Scotts' autobiog (written by a mate of mine). "All Balls".

great fun and seriously, one of those books that has to be true because no way could you make up a fraction of it. i met Col a few times. really good guy - he reminded me, in a good way, of a huge, extremely athletic mr magoo blundering from one adventure to another, mostly coming up smelling of roses. from saving a kennedy on a fishing trip, to meeting Tom Selleck and falling out of his ferrari and becoming a regular extra on Magnum (and losing literally several hundred cars on the same day), to the WWF stint to the chaos at college and so much more. 

for those not familiar, Col was the first Aussie to play NFL outside of kickers. he was destined for the wallabies but life took a strange turn. This is not a rags to riches story - Col grew up next to the Packers, one of Australia's richest families (Kerry Packer was famous for a great deal but one of the best moments was when some bloke from Texas was bignoting himself in a casino and annoying Packer. Packer had had enough and so asked the bloke just how much he was worth - this was a long time ago - the Texan puffed up and told Packer he was worth $50 million. Packer just looked at him and said, 'toss you for it'. The Texan was not seen again). it is a great read. 

[JohnS]

Thank you @Chas.Alpha and @Ken Gargett for the recommendations.

[Lamboinee]

A fascinating tale of non stop adventure!

[JohnS]

If there's one autobiography that the world has sadly missed out on, surely it would have been one by none other than John Lennon. And rest assured, it would have come and been a runaway bestseller for sure. We can be fairly certain of this because George Harrison released 'I Me Mine' in 1980 and Paul McCartney released 'Many Years from Now' (co-written with Barry Miles) in 1997. Lennon lamented that he was barely mentioned in Harrison's autobiography, I think it was six times in all that he cited, but with typical Liverpudlian humour he remarked that at least he was mentioned more than Paul McCartney!

John Lennon was notoriously and brutally honest in his interviews. In fact, at times, a bit too much. His three-and-a-half hour interview with Rolling Stone magazine editor, Jann Wenner in late 1970 was so brutal that he managed to offend everyone he mentioned; Paul McCartney, George Harrison, George Martin, Bob Dylan, Beatle Assistants Neil Aspinall, Pete Brown and Derek Taylor. The only reason Ringo wasn't criticised was because he helped out on John's first solo album after the Beatles broke up, 'Plastic Ono Band'. That interview was conducted in Allen Klein's New York office over two sessions and the interview was included in Rolling Stone Magazine in two editions also; late-January 1971 and early-February 1971. Both editions quickly sold out.

This interview detailed the behind-the-scenes fallout of the Beatles break up. It held nothing back, whatsoever. The interview caused a fallout with Jann Wenner because he used it to publish a book soon after titled, 'Lennon Remembers' against John Lennon's wishes. Lennon refused to speak to him ever again, referencing the book as 'Lennon Regrets'. In time, Lennon publicly tried to repair the fallout from his comments against those he criticised. By the time of his final interviews with Playboy magazine (N.B. not Rolling Stone Magazine - see above) prior to his murder in December 1980, he was much more conciliatory. His tendency to be self-critical and honest remained. For example, he talked openly of his desire to improve his relationship with his son, Julian in the future.

Unfortunately, the world got Albert Goldman's drivel in 1988, which was universally condemned. What a shame!

[Chas.Alpha]

13 hours ago, JohnS said:

If there's one autobiography that the world has sadly missed out on, surely it would have been one by none other than John Lennon.

😞

 

[Hammer Smokin']

A Legend to us Hamiltonians. 

[Ken Gargett]

13 hours ago, JohnS said:

If there's one autobiography that the world has sadly missed out on, surely it would have been one by none other than John Lennon. And rest assured, it would have come and been a runaway bestseller for sure. We can be fairly certain of this because George Harrison released 'I Me Mine' in 1980 and Paul McCartney released 'Many Years from Now' (co-written with Barry Miles) in 1997. Lennon lamented that he was barely mentioned in Harrison's autobiography, I think it was six times in all that he cited, but with typical Liverpudlian humour he remarked that at least he was mentioned more than Paul McCartney!

John Lennon was notoriously and brutally honest in his interviews. In fact, at times, a bit too much. His three-and-a-half hour interview with Rolling Stone magazine editor, Jann Wenner in late 1970 was so brutal that he managed to offend everyone he mentioned; Paul McCartney, George Harrison, George Martin, Bob Dylan, Beatle Assistants Neil Aspinall, Pete Brown and Derek Taylor. The only reason Ringo wasn't criticised was because he helped out on John's first solo album after the Beatles broke up, 'Plastic Ono Band'. That interview was conducted in Allen Klein's New York office over two sessions and the interview was included in Rolling Stone Magazine in two editions also; late-January 1971 and early-February 1971. Both editions quickly sold out.

This interview detailed the behind-the-scenes fallout of the Beatles break up. It held nothing back, whatsoever. The interview caused a fallout with Jann Wenner because he used it to publish a book soon after titled, 'Lennon Remembers' against John Lennon's wishes. Lennon refused to speak to him ever again, referencing the book as 'Lennon Regrets'. In time, Lennon publicly tried to repair the fallout from his comments against those he criticised. By the time of his final interviews with Playboy magazine (N.B. not Rolling Stone Magazine - see above) prior to his murder in December 1980, he was much more conciliatory. His tendency to be self-critical and honest remained. For example, he talked openly of his desire to improve his relationship with his son, Julian in the future.

Unfortunately, the world got Albert Goldman's drivel in 1988, which was universally condemned. What a shame!

john, i must say, as fascinating as it would have been, i really don't see Lennon writing one. just did not strike me as the type. 

[JohnS]

12 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

john, i must say, as fascinating as it would have been, i really don't see Lennon writing one. just did not strike me as the type. 

He was mightily annoyed that George Harrison did not credit him with his contributions during the Beatles in his autobiography just before his death. In fact, they weren't on talking terms. He thought that 'Coming Up' by Paul McCartney in the summer of 1980 was quite a good song and he wanted to top it in his comeback album, 'Double Fantasy'. These guys were very competitive with each other. As a band, that helped to produce better songs for singles (and albums). As solo artists, a number of their creative pursuits were in fact responses or 'digs' at each other. Trust me.