If you could recommend one biography, what would it be?

I'd highly recommend Dr. Ben Carson's bio. Gifted Hands (written by Dr. Ben with Cecil Murphey). Excellent, excellent book that shows you that, if you believe in yourself, you can do anything you put your mind to. It also shows that if you have someone else that believes in you, it really helps to motivate! ;)

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton

This is the guy who explored India and Africa for the East India Company in the 1850's. He was the first white man to enter Mecca and live to tell about it. He brought the Kama Sutra to the west. He is widely credited with having found the source of the Nile. Later he explores the American SouthWest and South America, looking for El Dorado and/or legendary diamond sources. Facinating Guy!

Definitely it would be:

"Report to Greco" - Nikos Kazantzakis.

Tom

The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H. W. Brands

The Power Broker, by Robert Caro, is a wonderful biography of Robert Moses, and one of my favorite works of non-fiction. Particularly good if you have an interest in the history of New York City.

Wild Swans by Jung Chang- the story of three generations of Chinese women.

My Heart is my Own: The Life Of Mary Queen of Scots by John Guy. Wonderful book!

With only 7 posts here, I was sure my choice would be unique. Wow! Someone beat me to it. The First American by H. W. Brands. Great book.

The Packinghouse Daughter, by Cheri Register. I read it for an autobiography class and I couldn't put it down. It's a great book about a girl and her search to understand a pivotal event in her childhood.

My choise is Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

Miles-Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe

Frida, a Biography of Frida Kalho by Hayden Herrera

Son of the Morning Star, by Evan S. Connell.

Great book on General Custer.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow is absolutely stunning! It's a great picture of the making of a man, a nation, and a philosophy.

The Joke's Over by Ralph Steadman. Not exactly a biography per se, but a beautiful, funny, and twisted telling of the Good Doctor's life.

The Agony and Esctasy - Irving Stone (Biography of Michael Angelo) is beautiful. I'm not sure how accurate it is. It is not a quick read - but a read well worth it. It makes you want to visit Italy. Also, good book to read even if you plan to visit the place sometime soon.

Reluctant Genius by Charlotte Gray. Hands down the best biography I've ever read.

Hello, I'm new to this group. This is a dormant thread, but an interesting topic.

In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and His Times was excellent. I have a review posted if anyone's interested.

The Unforgiving Minute - a biography of Rudyard Kipling by Harry Ricketts.

Utopia Parkway by Deborah Solomon about the pioneering Modern artist Joseph Cornell. Cornell's creative process was unusual and fascinating!

Dancing in the Mindfield by Kary Mullis inventor of PCR which underlies most of molecular biology including DNA fingerprinting. The weirdest person to win the Noble Prize, but very well written.

It really depends on what you're interested in. Some of my recent favorites, more in the memoir department, have been The Year of Magical Thinking, Name All The Animals, and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.

I reviewed the last one my blog http://readerville.wordpress.com

I think one of the most engaging autobiographies I've ever come across is The Green Fool, by the Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh. He wrote it when he was only 34, so it lacks some of the gravity that might come with another 20 years or so, but the prose just shimmers. And if Irish rural life holds any appeal for you at all, the book is a wonderful, loving, chastising evocation of country life in the 1920s and 30s.

Alison Plowden's four part series on Queen Elizabeth I is without equal: Young Elizabeth, Marriage with my Kingdom, Danger to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth Regina.

Titan by Ron Chernow is terrific -- one of those great, big biographies that is also a page-turner and a great slice of American history (not that the events were necessarily good, mind you, but the book is). I know the initial query was for one book but I can't help it: Other Powers by Barbara Goldsmith is another fantastic page-turner, a biography of Victoria Woodhull, the feminist/spiritualist/newspaper publisher/financial advisor/presidential candidate (in 1872, no less). Yep, all that. And the story's well told. And last, Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch is the first in his trilogy on America in the King Years, so it's both a biography of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and another important portrait of American history.

Phyllis Diller, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse. She was going through crap before she was even born!

I just read The Glass Castle, and it was pretty fantastic. I would highly recommend it. Here's my review, if you're interested:http://readerville.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/sunday-salon-book-review-the-glass-castle-by-jeannette-walls/

I strongly reccommend Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee. It is substantial but well worth wading through. Lee has done impeccable research on Woolf's life and given us a definitive biography.

Even if you're not a professional wrestling fan, I would suggest Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks by Mick Foley

Also Tolkien (The Authorized Biography) by Humphrey Carpenter is also quite good.

And finally, even though it's not a biography of an individual, I recommend The Harlem Globetrotters: An Illustrated History by Chuck Menville as well.