The Greatest Autobiography Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
11939 From Immigrant to Inventor Michael I. Pupin 1923 American English
11939 The Autobiography of William Allen White William Allen White 1946 American English
11939 Memoirs George F. Kennan 1967 American English
11939 Fortunate Son Lewis B. Puller 1991 American English
12029 Fighting Mc Kenzie Anzac Chaplain Col Stringer 2002 Australian English
12040 Still Alive Ruth Klüger 1992 German German
12121 Toni At Random Dana A. Williams 2025 American English
12125 The Season Helen Garner 2024 Australian English
12148 Awkward And Definition Ariel Schrag 1997 American English
12191 Mitt Liv Herbert Tingsten 1966 Swedish Swedish
12194 Being Jordan Katie Price 2004 British English
12250 Rocket Boys Homer Hickam 1998 American English
12250 Almost A Woman Esmeralda Santiago 1998 American English
12301 Reflections Of Eden Birute Galdikas 1995 Canadian English
12308 The Hollow Half Sarah Aziza 2025 Unknown English
12458 The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang 2019 American English
12575 My Half Century Anna Akhmatova 1997 Russian Russian
12575 The Diaries Alma Mahler 1997 Austrian German
12587 Potential Ariel Schrag 2000 American English
12656 The Complete Letters Of Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde 2000 Irish English
12681 Theater Kid Jeffrey Seller American English
12731 Waiting On The Moon Peter Wolf Unknown English
12833 Daughter Of Persia Sattareh Farman-Farmaian 1992 Iranian English
12833 Taste Of Power Elaine Brown 1992 American English
12894 The Golden Hour Matthew Specktor 2025 American English
12915 How To Lose Your Mother Molly Jong-Fast 2025 American English
12937 A Mind Of My Own Kathy Burke 2025 British English
13014 The Tell Amy Griffin 2025 Unknown English
13102 Art Work Sally Mann 2025 American English
13114 The Running Ground Nicholas Thompson 2025 Unknown English
13127 We Did Ok, Kid Sir Anthony Hopkins 2025 British Unknown
13128 Vagabond Tim Curry 2025 British English
13129 Truly Lionel Richie 2025 American English
13131 Frankly Nicola Sturgeon 2025 Scottish English
13132 A Different Kind Of Power Jacinda Ardern 2025 New Zealander English
13219 One Hundred Demons Lynda Barry 2002 American English
13227 An Evil Cradling Brian Keenan 1991 British English
13258 She’s Not There Jennifer Finney Boylan 2003 American English
13258 True Notebooks Mark Salzman 2003 American English
13292 My Life Of Absurdity Chester Himes 1990 American English
13361 The Diary of Fanny Burney Fanny Burney 1768 British English
13361 The Sarashina Diary Sugawara no Takasue no Musume 1050 Japanese Classical japanese
13513 Jesus Land Julia Scheeres 2005 American English
13567 Butterfly Boy Rigoberto González 2006 American English
13600 A Man Scans His Past Maurice Constantin-Weyer French French
13716 Tweak Nic Sheff 2007 American English
13748 The Home Place J. Drew Lanham 2016 American English
13818 La Vita Ingenua Vittorio Gorresio 1956 Italian Unknown
13818 Story Of My People Edoardo Nesi 2011 Italian Italian
13886 Stitches David Small 2009 American English
13961 Belonging Nora Krug 2018 German English
13971 The Bridge David Remnick 2010 Unknown English
13971 Book Of Mutter Kate Zambreno 2017 American English
14001 Conquest Of The Useless Werner Herzog 2009 German German
14023 The Man Who Stayed Behind Sidney Rittenberg 1993 American English
14025 Heart Berries Terese Marie Mailhot 2018 Canadian English
14078 Ordinary Girls Jaquira Díaz 2019 American English
14090 Shoe Dog Phil Knight 2016 American English
14122 The Choice Dr. Edith Eva Eger 2017 American English
14130 Passagère Du Silence Fabienne Verdier 2001 French French
14161 My Journey to Lhasa Alexandra David-Neel 1927 French French
14174 Autobiography Bertrand Russell 1967 British English
14176 My Life in France Julia Child 2006 American English
14212 The Confession Of A Fool August Strindberg 1893 Swedish Swedish
14232 Hunger of Memory Richard Rodriguez 1982 American English
14232 This Is Going To Hurt Adam Kay 2017 British English
14232 Journal Of A Solitude May Sarton 1973 American English
14407 Trans Juliet Jacques 2015 British English
14457 A Champion's Mind Pete Sampras 2008 American English
14498 Showing Up For Life Bill Gates 2009 American English
14498 Train Go Sorry Leah Hager Cohen 1994 American English
14598 The Art Of Being Unreasonable Eli Broad 2012 American English
14618 Ten years and Ten Cases of Hysteria Lin Jinlan 1988 Chinese Unknown
14622 The Promised Land Mary Antin 1912 American English
14649 Stress Test Timothy F. Geithner 2014 American English
14679 Becoming Steve Jobs Brent Schlender 2015 American English
14679 A Full Life Jimmy Carter 2015 American English
14697 Late To The Ball Gerald Marzorati 2016 American English
14730 Hit Refresh Satya Nadella 2017 American English
14730 Believe Me Eddie Izzard 2017 British English
14768 A Son Of The Middle Border Hamlin Garland 1917 American English
14775 Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man James Weldon Johnson 1912 American English
14787 Instead Of A Letter Diana Athill 1963 British English
14787 Eastern Approaches Fitzroy Maclean 1949 British English
14787 The Autobiography Of An Unknown Indian Nirad C. Chaudhuri 1951 Indian English
14831 Everything Happens For A Reason Kate Bowler 2018 American English
14827 The Story Of A Life Konstantin Paustovsky 1945 Russian Russian
14857 Alone Richard Byrd 1938 American English
14858 Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile John Hanning Speke 1863 British English
14853 To Be Young, Gifted, And Black Lorraine Hansberry 1969 American English
14853 Memoirs Of A Dutiful Daughter Simone de Beauvoir 1958 French French
14897 The Long Walk Slavomir Rawicz 1956 Polish English
14879 No Picnic on Mount Kenya Felice Benuzzi 1947 Italian Italian
14928 Surprised By Joy C. S. Lewis 1955 British English
14984 A Child Called 'It' Dave Pelzer 1995 American English
14984 My Father and other Working-Class Football Heroes Gary Imlac 2005 British English
14984 Touching the Void Joe Simpson 1988 British English
14984 Carrying the Fire Michael Collins 1974 American English
14984 Grizzly Years Doug Peacock 1990 American English
14984 Naked David Sedaris 1997 American English
14984 Borrowed Time Paul Monette 1988 American English
14984 A Drinking Life Pete Hamill 1994 American English
14984 Reliable Essays Clive James 2001 British English
14984 Make Your Bed William H. McRaven 2017 American English
14984 Alex Ferguson Sir Alex Ferguson 2013 British English
14984 Me Elton John 2019 British English
14984 Scar Tissue Anthony Kiedis 2004 American English
14984 Cash Johnny Cash 1997 American English
14984 How To Be A Woman Caitlin Moran 2011 British English
14984 Bossypants Tina Fey 2011 American English
14984 Blood, Bones, And Butter Gabrielle Hamilton 2011 American English
14984 The Devil Finds Work James Baldwin 1976 American English
14984 The Night Of The Gun David Carr 2008 American English
14984 Spare Prince Harry 2023 British English
14984 Boy Roald Dahl 1984 British English
14984 They Called Us Enemy George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott 2019 American English
14984 The Happiest Man On Earth Eddie Jaku 2020 Unknown English
15563 Confessions Of A Book Lover Maurice Francis Egan 1919 American English
15564 The Ride Of A Lifetime Robert Iger 2019 American English
15564 The Moment Of Lift Melinda Gates 2019 American English