# /research/top1000/biography.htm

originally: http://www.oclc.org/research/top1000/biography.htm

# 2005 Biography, autobiography, and journals This category includes the obvious biographies (Plutarch's Lives) and autobiographies (Ben Franklin's), and also autobiographical novels (Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings), diaries (Anne Frank's) and journals (Thoreau's Walden). In this category, as with other categories, we erred on the side of inclusion. This list has been updated for 2005.
#1 | Walden Henry David Thoreau Library holdings: 23,551 Bibliographic records: 477 Rank on complete list: 41
#2 | Lives Plutarch Library holdings: 22,084 Bibliographic records: 966 Rank on complete list: 47
#3 | Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank Library holdings: 19,541 Bibliographic records: 339 Rank on complete list: 63
#4 | Autobiography Benjamin Franklin Library holdings: 17,505 Bibliographic records: 573 Rank on complete list: 76
#5 | History of Prophets and Kings Tabari Library holdings: 15,599 Bibliographic records: 181 Rank on complete list: 100
#6 | Life of Samuel Johnson James Boswell Library holdings: 15,126 Bibliographic records: 482 Rank on complete list: 109
#7 | Van Gogh Vincent Van Gogh Library holdings: 13,993 Bibliographic records: 373 Rank on complete list: 129
#8 | Confessions Saint Augustine Library holdings: 13,976 Bibliographic records: 730 Rank on complete list: 131
#9 | Travels of Marco Polo Marco Polo Library holdings: 11,472 Bibliographic records: 327 Rank on complete list: 190
#10 | Autobiography Benvenuto Cellini Library holdings: 10,529 Bibliographic records: 254 Rank on complete list: 224
#11 | Commentaries on the Gallic War Julius Caesar Library holdings: 10,515 Bibliographic records: 680 Rank on complete list: 225
#12 | Diary Samuel Pepys Library holdings: 9,729 Bibliographic records: 227 Rank on complete list: 268
#13 | Lives of the Most Eminent Painters and Sculptors Giorgio Vasari Library holdings: 9,395 Bibliographic records: 125 Rank on complete list: 280
#14 | Story of My Life Helen Keller Library holdings: 9,137 Bibliographic records: 155 Rank on complete list: 297
#15 | Profiles in Courage John F. Kennedy Library holdings: 8,950 Bibliographic records: 65 Rank on complete list: 311
#16 | Log Christopher Columbus Library holdings: 8,861 Bibliographic records: 117 Rank on complete list: 320
#17 | Rembrandt Rembrandt [van Rijn] Library holdings: 8,859 Bibliographic records: 241 Rank on complete list: 321
#18 | Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcolm X Library holdings: 8,470 Bibliographic records: 39 Rank on complete list: 351
#19 | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou Library holdings: 8,130 Bibliographic records: 43 Rank on complete list: 377
#20 | True History of the Conquest of New Spain Bernal Díaz del Castillo Library holdings: 7,958 Bibliographic records: 201 Rank on complete list: 393
#21 | Confessions Jean Jacques Rousseau Library holdings: 7,915 Bibliographic records: 330 Rank on complete list: 401
#22 | Out of Africa Isak Dinesen Library holdings: 7,906 Bibliographic records: 74 Rank on complete list: 403
#23 | Roughing It Mark Twain Library holdings: 7,895 Bibliographic records: 160 Rank on complete list: 404
#24 | Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt Library holdings: 7,776 Bibliographic records: 50 Rank on complete list: 416
#25 | Voyage of the Beagle Charles Darwin Library holdings: 7,583 Bibliographic records: 160 Rank on complete list: 434
#26 | Education of Henry Adams Henry Adams Library holdings: 7,365 Bibliographic records: 79 Rank on complete list: 458
#27 | Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave Frederick Douglass Library holdings: 7,132 Bibliographic records: 96 Rank on complete list: 497
#28 | Worldly Philosophers: The Lives Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers Robert L. Heilbroner Library holdings: 7,061 Bibliographic records: 27 Rank on complete list: 511
#29 | Lives of the Caesars Suetonius Library holdings: 6,870 Bibliographic records: 351 Rank on complete list: 550
#30 | Black Boy Richard Wright Library holdings: 6,794 Bibliographic records: 83 Rank on complete list: 567
#31 | In Cold Blood Truman Capote Library holdings: 6,501 Bibliographic records: 94 Rank on complete list: 626
#32 | Black Like Me John Howard Griffin Library holdings: 6,467 Bibliographic records: 46 Rank on complete list: 636
#33 | Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Meriwether Lewis Library holdings: 6,462 Bibliographic records: 30 Rank on complete list: 637
#34 | Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant Library holdings: 6,263 Bibliographic records: 79 Rank on complete list: 679
#35 | Up From Slavery Booker T. Washington Library holdings: 6,203 Bibliographic records: 96 Rank on complete list: 693
#36 | Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians Nicolas Slonimsky Library holdings: 6,105 Bibliographic records: 6 Rank on complete list: 728
#37 | Apologia Pro Vita Sua John Henry Newman Library holdings: 6,083 Bibliographic records: 137 Rank on complete list: 736
#38 | Roots Alex Haley Library holdings: 5,971 Bibliographic records: 83 Rank on complete list: 760
#39 | All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot Library holdings: 5,970 Bibliographic records: 45 Rank on complete list: 761
#40 | Travels with Charley John Steinbeck Library holdings: 5,969 Bibliographic records: 44 Rank on complete list: 762
#41 | Tuesdays With Morrie Mitch Albom Library holdings: 5,962 Bibliographic records: 43 Rank on complete list: 767
#42 | Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Howard Pyle Library holdings: 5,947 Bibliographic records: 116 Rank on complete list: 777
#43 | Kon-Tiki Thor Heyerdahl Library holdings: 5,938 Bibliographic records: 81 Rank on complete list: 783
#44 | John Adams David G. McCullough Library holdings: 5,907 Bibliographic records: 17 Rank on complete list: 789
#45 | Autobiography Mark Twain Library holdings: 5,902 Bibliographic records: 51 Rank on complete list: 790
#46 | Actes and Monuments John Foxe Library holdings: 5,762 Bibliographic records: 292 Rank on complete list: 833
#47 | New Life Dante Alighieri Library holdings: 5,727 Bibliographic records: 312 Rank on complete list: 842
#48 | Heart of a Woman Maya Angelou Library holdings: 5,723 Bibliographic records: 11 Rank on complete list: 844
#49 | Seabiscuit Laura Hillenbrand Library holdings: 5,707 Bibliographic records: 18 Rank on complete list: 848
#50 | Diaries Joseph Goebbels Library holdings: 5,523 Bibliographic records: 51 Rank on complete list: 907
#51 | Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig Library holdings: 5,517 Bibliographic records: 52 Rank on complete list: 910
#52 | Facts About the Presidents Joseph Nathan Kane Library holdings: 5,479 Bibliographic records: 4 Rank on complete list: 924
#53 | Iacocca Lee Iacocca Library holdings: 5,474 Bibliographic records: 26 Rank on complete list: 925
#54 | All Things Wise and Wonderful James Herriot Library holdings: 5,460 Bibliographic records: 40 Rank on complete list: 932
#55 | Hiding Place Corrie Ten Boom Library holdings: 5,444 Bibliographic records: 50 Rank on complete list: 938