Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

http://www.amazon.com/Maos-Last-Dancer-L...TF8&s=books

Mao's Last Dancer, it's about a poor peasant boy who danced ballet. His writing is average but his story is so amazing it's a good read, it gets better and better too as the book goes on. He was so poor, might help put some things in perspective. Not sure if this is an OOT thread, Diablo can take care of it if that is the case, do ya'll have some autobiographies to recommend?

ED: Slight edit to subject so everyone knows it's a thread to recommend memoirs, not a book called Memoir.

Re: Book Suggestion: a Memoir
 

"Papillon" - like the greatest adventure/escape story ever. So inspiring, the guy has disaster after disaster and just keeps finding a way out. Fact or fiction, it's a great read.

Re: Book Suggestion: a Memoir
 

also any of Feynman's books about himself. Amazing man and just an inspiring energetic spirit.

Re: Book Suggestion: a Memoir
 

wow thanks cbloom i saw the movie always thought it was fiction. read feynman's book and will second the suggestion

Re: Book Suggestion: a Memoir
 

Bruiser,

Thanks for that, added to my shopping cart.

I've got a recommendation that perhaps is a little different from the norm. Autobiography of a Yogi, by Yogananda. This isn't all spiritual mumbo-jumbo, it is an incredible account of the life of a great holy man in early 20th century India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi

Re: Book Suggestion: a Memoir
 

after finishing the book i upgrade this from a recomendation to a strong recomendation. adsman i've picked that book up a couple times at Barnes and Noble, seemed like writing was academic or just uninteresting but on your rec. will check it out again.

Re: Book Suggestion: a Memoir
 

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also any of Feynman's books about himself. Amazing man and just an inspiring energetic spirit.

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Feynman FTW.

Re: Book Suggestion: a Memoir
 

About Alice

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

Scar Tissue: Autobiography of Anthony Keidis, lead singer of RHCP. Very interesting.

If you've read this can you recommend any other autobiographies? Especially about crazy musicians or extreme personalities?

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

"Blue Rage, Black Redemption: A Memoir" by Stanley "Tookie" Williams

The founder of the crips tells his story

"A Vietcong Memoir: An Inside Account of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath" by Truong Nhu Tang

A member of the National Liberation Front tells his story

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death" by Jean-Dominique Bauby

The chief editor of a top fashion magazine in france has a stroke and suffers "locked-in syndrome" which left his mind functioning but not his body besides one of his eyelids tells his story.

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

majic ninja,

i think marilyn manson is an awful artist. everything he's done blows. the only song that is halfway decent is tourniquet.

having said that I reccomend his memior. drugs, paranioa, ambition, and gossip. quick and fun read.

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

I'd highly recommend Elie Wiesel's Night. It may be standard reading, but if you haven't read it yet I would check it out. Extremely powerful, well written memoir.

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

William Tecumseh Sherman - Memoirs

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

[ QUOTE ]
Scar Tissue: Autobiography of Anthony Keidis, lead singer of RHCP. Very interesting.

If you've read this can you recommend any other autobiographies? Especially about crazy musicians or extreme personalities?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you liked Scar Tissue you will love The Dirt

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

I read most of Night and wasn't taken in. I read most of Bob Dylans autobiography, thought it was terrible.

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

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I read most of Night and wasn't taken in. I read most of Bob Dylans autobiography, thought it was terrible.

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Really? Night got to me in a way that no book has since. And Dylan's memoirs (Tarantula I think?) are definitely an aquired taste. I enjoyed it though.

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

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I read most of Night and wasn't taken in. I read most of Bob Dylans autobiography, thought it was terrible.

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Dylan's a huge poser and not very interesting IMHO.

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

Mark Twain's autobiography is superb. Our greatest writer's greatest work.

Re: Book Suggestion: a Memoir
 

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
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wow thanks cbloom i saw the movie always thought it was fiction. read feynman's book and will second the suggestion

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I guess it's techincally work of fiction, but it's the best chronical of the acid 'revolution' of the 60's and the single best description of what an acid trip is like. The narrative is in the style of an acid trip (read: narrator is tripping) and written with perfect accuracy by a man who never touched a drug in his life, i think. Hunter S. Thompson said of Wolfe that he was too scared of the people that facinated him the most (i probably butchered that quote). The first fourth of the book (about 80 pages) is slow but get past that and i promise you'll finish the book in a few hours.



Make sure you read: "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman". It's the best of his canon.

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

[ QUOTE ]
Mark Twain's autobiography is superb. Our greatest writer's greatest work.

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I got that one Andy. Along with that on my bookshelf ready to read is Ben Franklin's autobiography and Theodore Roosevelts, some good books lined up ahead of me! I think some of the time when I'm disappointed with myself it's because I read so much about great people and that's what I think about and match myself up against. It's cool to hang out with losers every once in a while who I stack up favorably against [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Book Suggestion: a Memoir
 

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The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test


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If you liked that you should read all of Jack Kerouac's novels, starting with "On the Road". Though technically novels, when put together they are one giant memoir. His writing is so incredibly honest that you really get inside his head.

Also, another book authored by one of the beat writers is "Junky" by William Burroughs. A very graphic description of his heroin addiction. The guy was a heroin addict for 50 years and lived to 87.

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

Frederick Exley's "A Fan's Notes" is excellent (though categorized as a "fictional memoir").

Also "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."

As for crazy musician-type memoirs, there's "A Drink with Shane MacGowan." It's written as a conversation he's having with a girlfriend, and the writing is annoying and truly awful, but if you happen to like The Pogues, or self-destructive genius rocker types, it might be worth a read.

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

Gregory David Roberts, "Shantaram". One of the best stories i've ever read. If not the best. Highly highly highly recommend.

Re: Book Suggestions: memoirs
 

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

I haven't read it yet, but I saw the author appear on the Daily Show and this book sounded pretty amazing. A quick description: "This absorbing account by a young man who, as a boy of 12, gets swept up in Sierra Leone's civil war goes beyond even the best journalistic efforts in revealing the life and mind of a child abducted into the horrors of warfare."

I don't usually read memoirs but this one sounds damn interesting.

Edit: Also, in the Daily Show interview with the guy, I was completely blown away by how normal and really upbeat this guy was after having gone through some of the stuff he did.