88 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
John Mack's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of T.E. Lawrence — a psychological biography that is simultaneously a major work of historical scholarship.
American author and former Wall Street insurance analyst who wrote The Snowball — the only authorized biography of Warren Buffett — after meeting him through her work analyzing Berkshire Hathaway's insurance businesses.
British science journalist and author — former The Economist science editor — author of The Man from the Future (biography of John von Neumann) — the most accessible account of von Neumann's life and ideas.
British classical scholar at the University of Oxford whose Socrates in Love reconstructed the early life of Socrates — arguing that Aspasia of Miletus was the model for Diotima and the true teacher of Socrates in the philosophy of love — and who has reconstructed ancient Greek music.
American technology journalist and author whose 2015 Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future was the first serious biography of Musk — written with Musk's cooperation but not approval — and which remains the definitive account of his early career.
Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli's 2015 biography of Steve Jobs — drawing on decades of personal access Schlender had to Jobs — which presents a more complete and sympathetic portrait than Isaacson's authorized biography, tracking Jobs's evolution from the difficult young founder through his Pixar and NeXT years.
Robert Coram's 2002 biography of Colonel John Boyd — who revolutionized fighter jet design, created the OODA loop, and transformed American military strategy — the most widely read military biography of the contemporary era.
American author and former National Geographic editor — author of The River of Doubt, Destiny of the Republic, and Hero of the Empire — who writes narrative history about extraordinary people in extreme circumstances.
American journalist and author who wrote Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America's First Female Tycoon — a biography of Hetty Green — and other business and history books.
Mason Currey's 2013 compendium — cataloguing the daily routines of 161 artists, writers, composers, scientists, and philosophers — revealing patterns in how creative people structure their working lives.
Host of the Founders podcast — which covers the biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs and business builders — producing one of the most influential business biography resources available.
Ancient Greek writer whose Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is the primary source for the lives and doctrines of most ancient Greek philosophers — the only surviving ancient collection of philosophical biography — despite being criticized for accuracy.
Walter Isaacson's biography of Albert Einstein — arguing that his creative genius arose from his rebellious nonconformity and his ability to think in pictures.
Welsh psychoanalyst who was Freud's official biographer — writing the three-volume Sigmund Freud: Life and Work — and who founded the British Psychoanalytical Society and the International Psychoanalytic Association, making him the most politically powerful figure in institutionalizing psychoanalysis.
David Senra's podcast covering the biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs — from Edwin Land to Coco Chanel to Rockefeller — each episode a deep dive into one biography, extracting lessons for founders.
Cade Metz's 2021 narrative history of the deep learning revolution, centering on the researchers — Hinton, LeCun, Bengio, Sutskever — who kept neural network research alive and then rode it to transform the industry.
Italian painter, architect, and art historian — author of The Lives — architect of the Uffizi Gallery — Michelangelo's friend — who created art history as a discipline through his biographies of Renaissance artists.
Michael Lewis's 2023 account of Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX, drawn from extensive personal access to SBF before and during his fraud trial.
Stephen Greenblatt's 2001 book arguing that Hamlet's ghost is Shakespeare's literary response to the Protestant abolition of Purgatory — the Catholic doctrine of a place between heaven and hell where the dead could be aided by the prayers of the living — which was abolished in England when Shakespeare was a child.
Charles Slack's 2004 biography of Hetty Green — the richest woman in America at her death in 1916 — documenting her value investing approach, her legendary frugality, and her battles to preserve and grow her inheritance against men who wanted to control it.
Ben Wilson's podcast examining how history's greatest conquerors, empire-builders, and world-changers achieved their ambitions — covering figures from Alexander the Great to Napoleon to Rockefeller — extracting leadership and strategy lessons from deep historical study.
Sue Prideaux's 2018 biography of Nietzsche — widely regarded as the best one-volume English biography — which places Nietzsche's philosophy in its biographical and historical context and narrates his final descent into madness with clarity and sympathy.
British medieval historian who wrote The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England, biographies of medieval English kings (The Perfect King — Edward III, The Fears of Henry IV), and The Dying and the Doctors — known for making medieval England vivid and accessible to popular audiences.
American music journalist and author who has written numerous books on hip-hop and rock producers and artists, including Rick Rubin in the Studio.
James Boswell was a Scottish biographer and diarist best known for The Life of Samuel Johnson, the most celebrated biography in the English language.
American journalist and author who wrote The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age — a biography of Hetty Green — and other historical biographies.
Jerrold Northrop Moore was an American musicologist and biographer who produced the definitive life of Edward Elgar, 'Edward Elgar: A Creative Life' (1984).
American biographer and journalist — co-author of A Mind at Play (biography of Claude Shannon) and author of The Founders (on PayPal) — who writes intellectual biographies of technology figures.
Walter Isaacson's biography of Henry Kissinger — covering his life through the Nixon-Ford years, combining personal biography with the history of American foreign policy.
Duff McDonald's 2009 biography of Jamie Dimon, tracing his rise from Sandy Weill's protégé to CEO of JPMorgan Chase through the 2008 financial crisis.
Sam Walton's 1992 memoir — telling the story of Walmart's founding and growth from a single variety store to the world's largest retailer — notable for its direct, unpretentious style and specific tactical advice about retail.
A posthumous collection of Steve Jobs's speeches, interviews, and correspondence — edited by the Steve Jobs Archive — providing the most intimate access to his thinking on creativity, design, and leadership.
Les Standiford's 2005 book about the partnership and conflict between Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick — tracing their business partnership, the Homestead Strike, their falling out, and Carnegie's deathbed wish to reconcile (Frick's response: 'Tell Mr. Carnegie I'll meet him in hell').
British historian and journalist who wrote sweeping histories of Christianity, Judaism, modern times, and the United States — and biographies of Napoleon, Churchill, Darwin, and Jesus — combining accessible narrative with strong Catholic conservative perspective.
Greek biographer and essayist — author of Parallel Lives and Moralia — who wrote parallel biographies of paired Greek and Roman statesmen as moral exemplars — the most influential biographer in Western history.
Plutarch's parallel biographies of paired Greek and Roman statesmen and soldiers — written 100 CE — the primary source for ancient Greek and Roman biography and the most influential collection of biographical writing in Western history.
Michael Moritz's 2009 updated account of Apple's history — expanding The Little Kingdom to cover Apple's Jobs-less years, its near-death experience, and Jobs's return and the iPod revolution — with the perspective of Moritz having become a major VC in the interim.
Richard Hack is an American author and journalist who wrote 'Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters' (2001), a biography of Howard Hughes that Castle Rock optioned for Christopher Nolan to adapt.
William Green's 2021 book profiling the world's greatest investors — Nick Sleep, Qais Zakaria, Chuck Akre, Arnold Van Den Berg, and others — extracting the wisdom and life philosophy behind their investment success.
Jake Brown's 2009 account of Rick Rubin's production career — tracing his work from Def Jam through American Recordings — as an overview of his production techniques and philosophy.
American biographer — author of The Power Broker and the multi-volume The Years of Lyndon Johnson — two Pulitzer Prize winners — the greatest living American biographer — whose work examines how power is accumulated and used in American democracy.
American journalist and author — author of Boyd and American Patriot — who wrote the definitive biography of John Boyd and John Glenn.
American biographer — author of Titan, Alexander Hamilton, Washington, and Grant — Pulitzer Prize winner (2011 — Washington: A Life) — the most commercially successful serious American biographer.
American playwright and New Yorker journalist who wrote The Days of Duveen — the definitive profile of art dealer Joseph Duveen — and was one of the most successful Broadway playwrights of the 1930s and 40s.
British journalist and author at the Council on Foreign Relations — who wrote The Power Law (venture capital history), More Money Than God (hedge funds), and biographies of Alan Greenspan and Robert McNamara — making him the leading historian of modern finance.
B.H. Liddell Hart's 1929 biography of General William T. Sherman — arguing that Sherman's indirect strategy (March to the Sea) was more decisive than Grant's direct approach — the most influential military biography of the 20th century.
Armand D'Angour's 2019 book reconstructing the early life of Socrates — arguing that his philosophical transformation was driven by his relationship with Aspasia of Miletus, the intellectual companion of Pericles, who taught him the philosophy of love.
American literary scholar who founded New Historicism and wrote Will in the World (Shakespeare biography) and Hamlet in Purgatory — which argues that Hamlet's ghost is Shakespeare's working through of the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory that Protestant England abolished.
Michael Lewis's 2006 book tracing the evolution of the left tackle position in American football through the story of Michael Oher, linking market dynamics to an individual human life.
S.N. Behrman's profile of art dealer Joseph Duveen — originally published as a series of New Yorker profiles and collected as a book — documenting Duveen's techniques for selling Old Master paintings to American Gilded Age industrialists.
Rich Cohen's 2012 biography of Sam Zemurray — the Russian immigrant who transformed United Fruit into the world's most powerful banana company and staged a corporate coup that gave him control of Central America — a story about obsession, corruption, and the power of will.
Ron Chernow's 1990 Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Morgan banking dynasty — from Junius Morgan's London bank through J.P. Morgan's Gilded Age dominance through the modern JPMorgan Chase — covering 150 years of American and global finance.
Biography or account of DeepMind and the AI revolution — tracing the founding and development of DeepMind from a London startup to a Google-owned AI research powerhouse — covering Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg, and Mustafa Suleyman.
Michael Moritz's 1984 account of Apple Computer's founding and early years — written from direct access to Jobs, Wozniak, and other key figures — which is the most detailed account of Apple's founding available from a contemporary observer.
Giorgio Vasari's 1550 (expanded 1568) collection of biographies of Italian Renaissance artists — from Cimabue to Michelangelo — the founding text of art history and the primary source for the lives of Renaissance masters.
A 2020 critical biography by Tom Shone that interweaves deep-dive interviews with Christopher Nolan with thematic analysis of his complete filmography.
Robert Caro's 1974 biography of Robert Moses — the unelected New York City parks commissioner who shaped the city's physical form through 44 years of power — Pulitzer Prize — the greatest American political biography and one of the greatest works of American nonfiction.
Janet Wallach's 2012 biography of Hetty Green in the context of the Gilded Age — focusing on her life and investing in the context of post-Civil War American finance.
Alice Schroeder's 2008 authorized biography of Warren Buffett — the most comprehensive account of his life and investing philosophy — tracing his childhood fascination with business, his apprenticeship under Ben Graham, the building of Berkshire Hathaway, and his personal relationships.
Tom Wolfe's 1983 Esquire essay profiling Robert Noyce — co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel — which is widely considered the best single piece of writing about the founding culture of Silicon Valley.
Ron Chernow's 1998 biography of John D. Rockefeller — the definitive account of the first American billionaire — combining intimate biographical access with business and social history.
Tom Hiney is a British journalist and author who wrote the biography 'Raymond Chandler' (1997), widely regarded as the definitive life of the noir novelist.
Tom Shone is a British film critic and author best known for his book-length studies of blockbuster cinema and director Christopher Nolan.
Bob Thomas's authorized biography of Walt Disney — the standard single-volume biography, drawing on company archives and the cooperation of Disney's family and colleagues.
American biographer, journalist, and former CNN chairman whose biographies of Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Elon Musk defined the genre of technology genius biography and became the primary public intellectual accounts of each subject.
Athenian soldier and writer who was a student of Socrates and who wrote the Anabasis — the account of his leadership of 10,000 Greek mercenaries out of Persia — and the Cyropaedia — a biographical account of Cyrus the Great as ideal leader.
Joachim Köhler's 2002 book arguing that Nietzsche was homosexual and that this 'secret' structured his philosophy — specifically his relationship with Wagner and Paul Rée, his attitudes toward women, and the male-dominated values of master morality — a controversial psychobiographical reading.
Candice Millard's narrative history of Winston Churchill's capture and escape during the Boer War — the adventure that launched his political career.
Paul Johnson's gallery of historical heroes — examining figures (Washington, Lincoln, Churchill, etc.) who shaped history through moral courage and personal virtue.
James Dyson's autobiography — documenting the 15 years and 5,127 prototypes it took to develop the cyclone vacuum cleaner and build the Dyson company.
Lee Kuan Yew's memoir of Singapore's transformation from a poor colonial backwater to one of the world's wealthiest nations — the most detailed insider account of development policy ever written by its architect.
Robert Caro's third volume of his LBJ biography — covering Johnson's Senate years (1948-1960) and the passage of the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.
Ananyo Bhattacharya's biography of John von Neumann — the polymath whose contributions to quantum mechanics, game theory, computing, and nuclear weapons design make him perhaps the most consequential scientist of the 20th century.
Paul Johnson's short biography of Jesus written explicitly from a believer's perspective — a devotional account that integrates historical scholarship with personal faith.
A collection of Hendrix's own words — interviews, letters, and statements — assembled into a self-portrait of the musician in his own voice.
David Bell's compressed biography of Napoleon — synthesizing recent scholarship into a brief, interpretively rich account for non-specialist readers.
Herbert Bix's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography arguing that Emperor Hirohito was an active participant in Japan's wartime aggression — overturning the postwar myth of the passive monarch.
Albro Martin's comprehensive biography of James J. Hill — detailing the building of the Great Northern Railway and Hill's role in developing the American Northwest.
Brock Yates's biography of Enzo Ferrari — the obsessive, autocratic founder of the Ferrari racing and automobile empire.
David Freeman Hawke's biography of John D. Rockefeller — one of the key accounts of the Standard Oil founder alongside Ron Chernow's Titan.
American historian who wrote biographies of major figures in American history — including John D. Rockefeller and Benjamin Franklin.
Kevin Maney's biography of Thomas Watson Sr. — documenting the IBM founder's extraordinary management philosophy and the corporate culture he created.
Mark Robichaux's biography of John Malone — one of the best accounts of cable industry building and unconventional capital allocation in American business history.
Exhibition catalog and essay collection from the 2007 MoMA exhibition reassessing Robert Moses's legacy — presenting multiple perspectives on his contributions and his methods.
Brian Jay Jones's biography of George Lucas — covering the creation of THX 1138, American Graffiti, Star Wars, and the building of the LucasFilm empire.
American biographer who wrote acclaimed biographies of George Lucas and Jim Henson — establishing himself as the leading biographer of science fiction and fantasy filmmakers.
Kenneth Roman's biography of David Ogilvy — the most authoritative account of the founder of Ogilvy & Mather and the advertising industry's most influential practitioner.
Susan Berfield's account of the clash between Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan over United States Steel — the antitrust case that established the precedent of federal power to regulate corporate concentration.