I listened to the audiobook, if that counts, but Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s autobiography. When I started it I was like “holy shit, this is 25 hours? Dude must be milking it”.

Turns out, he actually glosses over a lot, he’s done THAT much in his life, and his drive and ideologies are inspiring. He was raised dirt poor without running water, was in the Austrian military, became a world class bodybuilder, a real estate mogul, a movie star, and a governor.

Just a riveting life’s story.

Autobiography of Malcom X. I’d had it for years without getting through more than ~30 pages. I couldn’t sleep and opened it to the middle and started reading and holy shit couldn’t put it down. I just needed to get to his activism for it to really grab me. I went back and read the first half after finishing the second half.

I can think of a few that I would want others to read. None of them are “feel good” stories and all get you out of your comfort zone a bit.

“Know my Name” by Chanel Miller.

• about how being assaulted by Brook Allen Turner behind a dumpster at Stanfort University changed and impacted her life.

“The White Rose: Munich 1942-1943” by Inge Scholl

• about Hans and Sophie Scholl and their student resistance group ‘Die weisse Rose’, their arrest and execution by the Nazi regime.

“I Am a Girl From Africa” by Elizabeth Nyamayaro

• Humanitarian and award-winning Activist, about her journey from a starving child in Zimbabwe, saved by a UN aid worker, to executive director for UN Women.

David Attenborough’s Life on Air. He reviews how he got started at the BBC and many of the adventures he took while trying to get some of the world’s animals captured on film, often for the very first time ever. It’s a short chapter when he discusses his wife’s passing but damn does it bring the tears

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

It’s a very easy read and it’s in the public domain. It’s also an incredibly important part of American history.