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What are some of the favourite bios and ottobios that you have read?


Ralphie

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A few that come to mind for me are Walter P. Chrysler, Henry Ford, Jack Benny, and John Nash made popular by the movie A Beautiful Mind.  I really enjoy reading aboot the twists and turns that comprise a life, as well as their historical context and uniqueness.  After I posted aboot Winnie the Pooh I thought it would be good to know more aboot authors like Milne and maybe EB White, a fairly similar one I think, but one that is interesting by branching out into things like The Elements of Style.

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4 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I tried to read the bios for Control Data Corporations Cyber 17 once.  We made it through the instruction set bit banged through the instruction decode registers transistors and gave up.

I really enjoyed inserting a few lines into some assembly line code because it was so well commented and laid oot that it was easy.  

I was pleased with myself for once crashing a central corporate Cyber something computer by running a program on a terminal with those mouse ear modems. :D  It was just a fill in the blanks program. 

Which reminds me, Insanely Great, a book aboot Steve Jobs and the Mac was good.  I've read quite a few aboot tech people, like Linus Torvalds, and Soul of a New Machine, etc.

 

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3 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

My favorite CDC assembly language instruction was NOOP.  :nodhead:  0b00 in machine code.

POP was always my favourite. Should have also had a WEASEL.

I worked on a weird 24 bit computer that I think was descended from a Sylvania military one.

When I first got a VIC20 I played around just a touch with that stuff.

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I've read a few bios of Sir Frank Whittle who is credited with inventing the jet engine. He had to overcome a lot of obstacles placed by people invested in piston engines for aircraft. The Germans didn't have that problem and Dr. Hans von Ohain quickly caught up with Whittle. Therefore the Germans were able to get jet aircraft, such as the ME-262 into WWII in significant numbers.

I've also read 3 bios on President Teddy Roosevelt. He was quite a character.

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The first US Supreme Court black judge  -- Justice Thurgood Marshall. I read his bio ..twice.  Just reading it from the perspective from a young lawyer during lynching days in the Deep South..in the late 1950's...

Quincy Jones-- more on the inside on what it was truly like in the entertainment industry/Hollywood for black musicians and actors/actresses.

Norman Jewsion -- A Toronto based fim director...who produced move Heat of the Night, Look Who's Coming to Dinner, etc.  He was not Jewish, but did take on actors and themes that were tougher at the time.

Chloe Kim -U.S. 2018 17 yr. Olympic gold snowboarding champ.  I hope the best for this young champion in her future. May she stay rooted in common sense and be the cultural/sport bridge for U.S. and Korea.

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I tend to read more on lesser known interesting people rather than people in big positions.  Three that have stood out, 

"The Man Who Mapped the Arctic", a bio on Arctic Explorer George Back

A couple bios on 'Grey Owl', British born Archie Belaney who passed himself off as a First Nations man to the world.

and "Fires in the Bones" on film maker and canoe legend Bill Mason.  

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32 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

I tend to read more on lesser known interesting people rather than people in big positions.  Three that have stood out, 

"The Man Who Mapped the Arctic", a bio on Arctic Explorer George Back

A couple bios on 'Grey Owl', British born Archie Belaney who passed himself off as a First Nations man to the world.

and "Fires in the Bones" on film maker and canoe legend Bill Mason.  

The Endurance was good, aboot Ernest Shackleton and crew. 

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2 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

A few that come to mind for me are Walter P. Chrysler, Henry Ford, Jack Benny, and John Nash made popular by the movie A Beautiful Mind.  I really enjoy reading aboot the twists and turns that comprise a life, as well as their historical context and uniqueness.  After I posted aboot Winnie the Pooh I thought it would be good to know more aboot authors like Milne and maybe EB White, a fairly similar one I think, but one that is interesting by branching out into things like The Elements of Style.

Years ago I read Christopher Milne's memoir. A jolly good read.

Mike Perry's autobiographical essays are always at the top of my list too. 

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5 minutes ago, dennis said:

Years ago I read Christopher Milne's memoir. A jolly good read.

Mike Perry's autobiographical essays are always at the top of my list too. 

I am just into the iBooks sample of Population 485 and it is enjoyable.  I like those iBooks samples.  Good for reading when I am a passenger on the commute, and it is great to always have books with you for waiting rooms, etc. :)

Cold Beer and Crocodiles is also a very good read so far.  I'm up to Brisbane. Thanks - that worked out great buying a used liberry book.  Sort of sad that liberries thin out books like that though.

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15 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

I am just into the iBooks sample of Population 485 and it is enjoyable.  I like those iBooks samples.  Good for reading when I am a passenger on the commute, and it is great to always have books with you for waiting rooms, etc. :)

Cold Beer and Crocodiles is also a very good read so far.  I'm up to Brisbane. Thanks - that worked out great buying a used liberry book.  Sort of sad that liberries thin out books like that though.

Libraries and bookstores need to reflect the needs of their patrons/customers. Space is always limited. Thinning the collection is critical. If a book hasn't been checked out once in 2-3 years, it needs to move along and make space for something new. Weeding the collection like weeding a garden is necessary.

Cold Beer is a good read. I sold my copy years ago when I weeded my own library.

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1 minute ago, dennis said:

Libraries and bookstores need to reflect the needs of their patrons/customers. Space is always limited. Thinning the collection is critical. If a book hasn't been checked out once in 2-3 years, it needs to move along and make space for something new. Weeding the collection like weeding a garden is necessary.

Cold Beer is a good read. I sold my copy years ago when I weeded my own library.

It's just that Kirby and I don;t like change.  OK, I do like good change.  There is just too much bad change. :default_sissy-fight-smiley:

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Biographies:

John Marshall, Supreme Court Chief Justice

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Paul Gunn, a pilot and businessman before and after WWII, and also served in WWII

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Francis Marion - a most resourceful leader during the Revolution, and a foresighted and gracious one towards his former enemies after the Revolution.

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Autobiographies:

One of the best autobiographies I've read, by a WWII prisoner of war.

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I liked the author's wit, as he poked fun at himself, his superiors, and life in the Continental Army.

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The story of a slave who sought and won her freedom.

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Some of these are not strictly biographies, but are historical records focusing on how one person passed through interesting times:

Sports:

Mickey Mantle, the Indispensable Yankee, by Dick Schaap (c. 1961).  This was one of those hero-worship books as they were written back then when I was about 10 years-old.  But the perception of Mickey Mantle as someone who had many setbacks due to injuries and fought back again and again left an impression on me - it was probably a good idea to leave his heavy drinking with Billy Martin, etc. out of the book!  I was never a great athlete, but I lettered in three sports in high school then coached three high school sports later on.  The attitude I got from books like ...the Indispensable Yankee was indispensable to me!

Military:

The Campaigns of Alexander, by Arrian: Arrian was a soldier-writer who lived 400 years after Alexander the Great and had all of the great writings that no longer exist available to him, including Ptolemy's (Alexander's General and Cleopatra's Grandfather) biography of Alexander. It is a straightforward no b.s. account that doesn't glorify him, especially when he can't conquer India, which makes some of his brilliant moves shine even more brightly.

The (six volume) History of World War II by Winston Churchill.  Dunkirk, "Our Finest Hour," "We will never surrender," the Blitz, the losses in North Africa against Rommel, all occurred under Prime Minister Churchill.  He relied on his notes and would sometimes write, "It seems to me now that I did something different, but my notes from the time say something else."  So it's very factual.

The Conquest of New Spain, by Bernal Diaz Del Castillo: This is the OLY account of the Conquest of Mexico by one of the Conquistadors serving under Cortes, an important part of Cortes circle who later became governor of one of the Central American colonies of Spain. He was not a great writer,  but he makes you feel like you are THERE. He said he wrote the book only because so many b.s. books had been written already in the 1500's and he wanted to set the record straight. He goes into tremendous detail about battles that you never hear about in other books, like the fact that the soldiers urinated and defecated in their pants during battle, no time to find a lavatory, and cleaning things up after a battle was another battle in itself.

I have Julius Caesar's autobiography on my Kindle, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Music:

Viideo Bios: Amadeus (Mozart), History of the Eagles, Coal Miner's Daughter (Loretta Lynn), Sweet Dreams (Patsy Cline).

Clara Schumann, The Artist and the Woman, by Reich: living in Germany in the mid 1800's, the Romantic Era of Classical music when men like Chopin and Liszt ruled piano music, Clara Schumann became the first woman to make a living by playing the piano and drew audiences as large as those great pianists and composers. At age 12 she became one of the few Protestants to receive a special medial for her musical abilities from the Catholic Emperor of Austria.  She lived from 1819 to 1896, was married to the great composer Robert Schumann who went insane in 1854 and died in 1856, leaving her to raise eight children alone. She was virtually worshiped by Brahms who was a great help to her, and she drew large crowds and made a living on piano up to the end. She was/is considered one of the greatest pianists of all time: she died before modern recordings but she did record her playing on piano rolls in her 70's, leaving a record of proof of her greatness.

Mozart, A Cultural Biography, by Gutman: an interesting bio beginning with the little boy who toured Europe as a prodigy performing enormous musical tricks before the Kings of Europe and the Pope and writing music beginning at age 3, who became the greatest pianist of his time and who, many experts say, was the greatest composer of all time. The movie "Amadeus" (Mozart's middle name meaning "Favored by God"), while it takes many liberties with the truth, is a great tribute to his compositions.  Classical music sales TRIPLED in the USA in the years following that movie's release

Johann Sebastian Bach, the Learned Musician, by Wolff: the top bio of the Father of Modern Music that, while interesting to students of music, is also historically interesting in terms of the German States, playing music and astonishing the highly musically-accomplished Frederick the Great, and how he ended up in one of the few cities not run by noblemen.

Tchaikovsky's Letters, by Tchaikovsky: As someone who has struggled to master the piano and Romantic Era classical music, the insights we get from how Tchaikovsky, one of the few great composers who did not excel until he was well into his 20's, stugglred to write music, feared conducting, yet worked hard desite his other personal traumas is encouraging to any who have tried to scale the heights of their professions.
 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Airehead said:

I love the autos and bios. I will go to the library and start at A and read one of each letter.  A couple of years ago @AirwickWithCheese sent me the biography of Coolidge. It was fabulously written. 

I get as far as browsing the stacks and picking a few that look the most interesting.

Oh, and TK and Mick, those are nice clocks you built me. :)

 

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