Good Auto-biographys/biographys?

[juzzo]

For school we have to read a Auto-biography/biography or memoirs(sp?) about an Australian so im wondering what are some good ones you've read?

[leitch]

A Fortunate Life - A.B Facey

good luck finding it, though....

[RCOH]

The Ice Man - By Mark Carlo about Richard Kukinski, a contract killer for the 5 mafia families in NY in the 70's & 80's. Ripper read.

[floody]

Phil Irving's Autobiography is an interesting read if you have any interest in engineering or motorsport.

He was a remarkable man who had a significant worldwide impact in car and motorcycle engineering and design, designing the motor which powered the Brabham F1 car which won Australias first F1 championship, among other things in an immensely long career. His book Tuning For Speed has been in print for about 50 years.

And of course an Aussie.

[Sewer Cider]

MARK CHOPPER READ and NEVILLE FUCKING BARTOSS!

[PINT of Stella, mate!]

David Niven: The moon's a balloon.
Farkin awesome tale of hollywood decadence and irresponsible behaviour in the officer ranks of the British army during WW2. Possibly the greatest auto-bio ever written!

Jackie Chan: My life in action.
Pretty interesting stuff. His childhood years in the Chinese Opera School were pretty brutal. Worth it for his 'injuries list' alone.

Chuck Yeager: An autobiography.
The man broke the sound barrier, got shot down over france in ww2 and changed the face of modern flying forever.

Motley Crue: The Dirt.
Shit band full of self-absorbed wankers (apart from Mick Mars whom life just shits on at every opportunity) wearing shit clothes and shit hair. Full of lewd tales of drug abuse, perverted sex with groupies and general bedlam. All the fun things in life, really...

Lance Armstrong: It's not about the bike.
Everyone else will say it anyway but I'm including it for the virtue of the fact that the man's knobbed Sheryl Crowe and he'll forever have my undying respect for it.

Bob Woodward: Wired: The John Belushi story.
You know, If I kark it in an unfortunate drug addled state, I too, would like my bio to be written by the most highly regarded investigative journalist of all time! Extremely well written tale of Belushi's life and the circumstances surrounding his death.

Michael Herr: Dispatches / Tim Page: Page after Page
Dispatches is an amazing book about the photojournalists who worked in Vietnam during the war particularly the likes of Tim Page, Sean Flynn (Erroll's son) and Dana Stone - basically young lads who'd spend their evening's partying in saigon doing the 'sixties' thing before heading out into horrific warzones the next day by helicopter/boat/scooter armed with nothing but a camera to take some of the greatest photo's ever. Ended in tragedy for a few of them. Page after Page is the autobio of Tim Page, one of the most colourful charcters of the group (and also one of the few that survived)

Bruce Campbell: If chins could kill (confessions of a b-movie actor)
Hilarious book, full of tales from the shallow end of the movie industry. Also tells how they made Evil Dead for f*** all cash and gave birth to a legend. Great input from Sam Raimi and others as well

[berkyburger123]

For an Aussie? John Eales' biography would be a good start, though if you are allowed to read biographies from other countries, you can't go past Scar Tissue - Anthony Kiedis.

[NCR600]

Spike Milligan's Trilogy of WWII Memoirs

Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall (1971)
Rommel? Gunner Who? A Confrontation in the Desert (1974)
Monty: His Part in My Victory (1976)
Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall (1978, announced as the fourth part of his trilogy)
Where Have All the Bullets Gone? (1985)
Goodbye Soldier (1986)
Peace Work (1992)

Funny for the most part, crushingly sad in others. Captures well the boredom of being 20 years old, in the Royal Artillery, and the self made entertainment anyone who has been a bored young man will be familiar with. I would have read the first four twenty times over the years.

If there was any comedian that I could say I loved as family, it would be Spike. I cried when he died.

[astroboy]

"How to Ride a Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself" - The autobiography of Rodney Mullen, pro freestyle skateboarder. Just finished reading it and it was a corker (found it for $10 at a local book store). For many of the young kids here who don't know who Rodney is he pretty much invented the flatground ollie. He now owns one of the biggest skateboard companies in the world and is up their with Tony Hawk as one of skateboarding's business success stories.

Not Australian at all, but a bloody top read.

Astro...old skool.

[gerry]

hell west and crooked tom cole 9 i thik that was his name

story of a crock hunter adventurer in out back northern territory in early 1900's
great book

[projectsplat]

David Niven
not australian
Jackie Chan: My life in action.
nope, not him either
Chuck Yeager: An autobiography.
definitely not him
Motley Crue: The Dirt.
or them, although the other book written by the bloke that did the motley book (it's not really an autobiography) is the Jenna Jameson book "How to make love like a Porn Star" - another autobiopgraphy written by someone else.....
Lance Armstrong: It's not about the bike.
tops bloke - we should make him an honourary australian, but nope
Bob Woodward: Wired: The John Belushi story
he's not one either
Michael Herr: Dispatches / Tim Page: Page after Page
don't know who he is, but he sure doesn't sound australian
Bruce Campbell: If chins could kill (confessions of a b-movie actor)
love the man, love his work, but there is no way in hell he is australian
Spike Milligan's Trilogy of WWII Memoirs

again, very cool is spikey old son, but unless he is a criminal, he isn't an aussie.....
Rodney Mullens - "How to Ride a Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself"
he wasn't an australian last time I checked.
Not Australian at all, but a bloody top read.
spot on there old chap. full points..... :D

and now for an australian biography.

Neil Davis - One Crowded Hour
- the adventures of a combat camera man during the Vietnam war and beyoond. Famously filmed his own death. Brilliant read.

[NCR600]

again, very cool is spikey old son, but unless he is a criminal, he isn't an aussie.....



Indeed he is not, but as his younger brother and parents migrated to Woy Woy immediately after WWII, and he wrote a great part of the memoirs there, perhaps that could be excused. Spike himself spent a large amount of time in and around Woy Woy, and much of his comedy has references to Woy Woy littered throughout.

And I didn't read the original post properly. Sorry.

[projectsplat]

And I didn't read the original post properly. Sorry.

is all good bloke, I am just shit stirring.

[ScottD]

Man on the Run: The Life and Death of Marco Pantani
by Manuela Ronchi

Chopper:
From the Inside

Tour De Force
Dan Coyle

John Eales, biography