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Biography & Memoir

Biography & Memoir

Summaries of the life stories of founders, leaders, scientists, artists and athletes. Take the lessons of a whole life, the setbacks as well as the wins, in about 15 minutes per book.

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Nanaville

Nanaville

Anna Quindlen

Embrace grandparenthood as a joyful new chapter of love, connection, changing relationships, and renewed purpose.

8 chapters17 min
Lincoln vs. Davis

Lincoln vs. Davis

Nigel Hamilton

Compare Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis to see how their opposing leadership and visions shaped the Civil War and America’s future.

8 chapters21 min
Freedom

Freedom

Angela Merkel with Beate Baumann

Follow Angela Merkel’s journey from East Germany to 16 years as chancellor, revealing the values, crises, and quiet resolve that shaped her leadership.

6 chapters19 min
The Beatles Anthology

Follow four young musicians whose creativity, struggles, and revolutionary sound transformed culture and defined a generation.

10 chapters19 min
Nasser: The Last Arab

Trace Gamal Abdel Nasser’s rise, his vision of Arab unity, and his lasting influence on the Middle East through a balanced portrait of his achievements, authoritarianism, and political failures.

6 chapters19 min
Patriot

Patriot

Alexei Navalny

Witness Alexei Navalny’s defiance against corruption and repression, revealing the personal cost of truth and the endurance of courage when freedom is taken.

6 chapters16 min
Out of Place: A Memoir

Follow Edward Said’s life across Jerusalem, Cairo, Lebanon, and the United States in a moving reflection on Palestinian identity, exile, belonging, and the search for home.

6 chapters17 min
Becoming Steve Jobs

Becoming Steve Jobs

Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli

Follow Steve Jobs’s evolution from an intense founder to a visionary leader, revealing how setbacks, reinvention, and experience can transform both leadership and ambition into lasting greatness.

9 chapters23 min
Adventures in Human Being

Journey through the human body with a doctor whose global stories connect anatomy to culture, suffering, and what it means to be human.

7 chapters14 min
The Life of Saladin

The Life of Saladin

Beha Ed-Din Ibn Shaddad

Trace Saladin’s rise as a unifying leader during the Crusades and uncover how his strategy, justice, and chivalry shaped one of history’s most enduring legacies.

6 chapters16 min
Liftoff

Liftoff

Eric Berger

Go behind SpaceX’s early failures to see how bold engineering, sacrifice, and persistence transformed the future of spaceflight.

7 chapters16 min
I Shall Not Hate

I Shall Not Hate

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish

Witness a Palestinian doctor transform unimaginable loss into a courageous call for peace, dialogue, and human dignity over hatred and revenge.

6 chapters18 min
Never Finished

Never Finished

David Goggins

Push beyond your limits by mastering your mind, confronting excuses, embracing discomfort, and turning struggle into lasting strength.

8 chapters19 min
Touching the Rock

Touching the Rock

John M. Hull

Experience a moving journey through sight loss, faith, and identity that reveals the quiet strength found in embracing profound change.

7 chapters19 min
The Man Who Solved the Market

Enter Jim Simons’s secretive world, where mathematics, data, and brilliant scientists transformed investing and launched the quantitative revolution.

8 chapters15 min
Strangers in the House

Experience life in occupied Ramallah through a moving memoir of family, identity, resistance, and a son’s complex bond with his politically active father.

6 chapters18 min
Small Animals

Small Animals

Kim Brooks

Challenge the fear, judgement, and pressure shaping modern parenting while rethinking what children truly need to grow with confidence and freedom.

9 chapters18 min
Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew, Graham Allison, Robert D. Blackwill and Ali Wyne

Enter Lee Kuan Yew’s strategic mind through sharp insights on China, the United States, global power, economic development, and leadership.

5 chapters20 min
Buoyant

Buoyant

Susie deVille

Reconnect with creativity, overcome burnout and fear, and build a business and life aligned with your authentic self.

6 chapters17 min
All Creatures Great and Small

Join a young veterinarian in Yorkshire for heartwarming, humorous stories of rural life and the powerful bond between people and animals.

7 chapters18 min

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