If there is one class of books I enjoy reading most, it’s biographies. Given below is a set of biographies I have read, many of which I enjoyed immensely. There are others that were a drag, such as the autobiography of Mussolini, but were rather instructive. As of now, it is just a list. Over time, I hope to write short blurbs about it – depending on how much I remember them now!

1. Gandhi
1. My experiments with truth
2. Biography of Gandhi by Sushila Nair and Pyralal Volumes pertaining to Gandhi’s return to India, Salt satyagraha, Quit India movement, The lull years and the constructive programme, Last phase – I, Last phase – II (total 7 out of 13 volumes). Vol X P – II is the best book I have read in my life
3. Satyagraha in South Africa by Gandhi
4. “The Gandhi Reader” – Homer A Jack
5. Gandhi by Romain Rolland
2. Vivekananda
1. “Vivekananda” by his eastern and western disciples (2 volumes out of 4)
2. Several other biographies
3. Ramakrishna
1. A book by Ramakrishna mission.
4. Lalbhai Kasthuribhai
1. “The Dynamics of Tradition” – Dwijendrnath Tripathi
5. Lala Shriram
1. “Lala Shriram” – Arun Joshi and Kushwant Singh
6. Napoleon
1. Napoleon by Emil Ludwig
2. ‘Bonaparte’ by Corelli Barret
3. ‘Napoleon’ by Jean Savant
7. Adolf Hitler
1. Mein Kempf
2. The Mind of Adolf Hitler
3. Psychobiography of Hitler
4. The war that Hitler won
5. The rise and the fall of third Reich
8. Martin Luther King
1. Two or three bios [I have to retrace the names]
9. Sanjay Gandhi
1. ‘Sanjay Gandhi’ – Vinodh Mehta
10. Bertrand Russel
1. “An Autobiography”
11. Nelson Mandela
1. “The long walk to freedom” – Mandela.
12. Nehru
1. “Nehru – An autobiography”
13. Sardar Patel
1. “Patel – A life” by Rajmohan Gandhi
2. “The Sardar”
14. Vergese Kurian
1. “The milkman from Anand” – Kamath
15. Mumamad Yunis
1. “Banker to the poor” – Md. Yunis
16. R K Narayan
1. “My Days” by R K Narayan
2. My dateless diary by R K Narayan
17. Mussolini
1. Autobiography
18. Prophet Md.
1. A biography titled “Muhomed”
19. Winston Churchill
1. Part I of his biography from his birth to 1921.
20. Abe Lincoln
1. Lincoln by Dale Carnigie
2. “Abraham Lincoln – The Philosophy of commonsense”
3. Lincoln: A psycho-biography, by Leon Pierce Clark
21. Charlie Chaplin
1. “Charles Chaplin: My Autobiography”
22. Ambedkar
1. “Ambedkar – A life and mission” – Dananjay Kheer
2. One other volume in Tamil
23. Lee Iacocca
1. “Talking Straight”
2. Iacocca: An Autobiography (with William Novak)
24. David Niven
1. “The moon is a balloon”
25. Jidu Krishnamurthi
1. “Krishnamurti: A Biography “ by Pupul Jayakar
2. Biography by Mary Luttyens
26. Rajaji
1. “Rajaji: A biography” by Rajmohan Gandhi
27. Indira Gandhi
1. “Indira Gandhi” by Pupul Jaykar
28. John Stuart Mills
1. Autobiography