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December 1, 2008 10:53:40 AM CST


biography

biography news stories

19 Stories

Lennon Not a Nice Guy, New Bio Says

Tell-all portrays him as callous, abusive; Ono calls it 'too mean'

(Newser) - Not everything John Lennon could Imagine was so nice, the New York Post reports. The ex-Beatle callously cheated on his first wife, groped a girl in front of Yoko Ono, and upset Ono by treating her like a lay du jour when they first met, a new biography says. But Ono, who contributed to Philip Norman's John Lennon: The Life , calls the book “too mean.” More »

More about:  Beatles John Lennon biography The Beatles Yoko Ono

Women Tower
in Buffett's Biography

Oracle of Omaha needed 'to be loved
and never criticized'

(Newser) - Warren Buffett’s personal life is a lot messier than his balance sheet, according to a biography. In The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life , which hits stores Monday, the Oracle of Omaha for the first time cooperates with a biographer, producing a revealing look at the folksy billionaire, Time reports. Buffett had a terrible relationship with his mother, the book reveals, and has since relied on powerful women to guide him as he focuses exclusively on business. More »

More about:  book marriage money Warren Buffett relationship biography Oracle of Omaha

Top-Secret Woodward Tome Gets a Name

White House braces for debut of Iraq-centric The War Within

(Newser) - Bob Woodward’s fourth book on the Bush White House, originally a mere 352 pages, has ballooned into 496 pages of inside dope and is due in stores Sept. 8, Politico reports. And the mystery-shrouded volume, which focuses on the Iraq conflict, officially has a name: The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 . Simon & Schuster says it plans to print 900,000 copies. More »

 Porn Claim Riles Kafka Scholars  

Experts have uneasy dreams about author's proclivities

(Newser) - Literary circles are in an uproar over a new biography of Franz Kafka that says the existentialist author had a penchant for porn, the Guardian reports. Kafka expert James Hawes, who says he unearthed some of the not-exactly-mainstream magazines the author enjoyed, makes the claim in a new book and says he was "genuinely shocked when I first saw it." Other Kafka scholars are outraged. More »

More about:  pornography anti-Semitism biography British Library literary criticism Franz Kafka

Bro Dishes Dirt on Madonna
in Tell-All

Alleges Gwyneth smooch, pill-popping, fighting dirty with Guy

(Newser) - Amid rumors of a crumbling marriage and an A-Rod affair, Madonna’s juicy past is now bubbling to the surface in a new biography written by her brother. At a boozy Hollywood party, the mega-star was dancing on a table when she pulled a surprised Gwyneth Paltrow up onto the table and kissed her full on the mouth, writes estranged bro Christopher Ciconne in Life With My Sister Madonna. More »

More about:  celebrity music drugs Madonna lesbians celebrity tell-alls biography

 Hef Had 
 Family 
 Foursome, 
 Gay Tryst 

Playboy founder green-lights a sex-filled biography

(Newser) - Hugh Hefner has signed off on a new biography that delves into the Playboy kingpin's sexual liberation, the New York Post reports. In "Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream," Steven Watts writes how the skin-mag magnate had a foursome with his first wife, his brother Keith and his sister-in-law, starred in a porno, and received oral sex from a man. More »

More about:  sex pornography homosexuality biography Hugh Hefner oral sex

Book review

Nixonland Gets 'Excellent' Prez Utterly Wrong

Conrad Black, author of rival bio, scorns hit job, recites strong points

(Newser) - The biography Nixonland is a hatchet job on an “excellent president,” media mogul Conrad Black (from behind bars) writes in the New York Sun , picking apart author Rick Perlstein’s slights—and reminding of the profound accomplishments of the 37th president. Beyond crediting Nixon with coarsening the political discourse permanently, Perlstein revels in his “manic, corrupt, rat cunning,” plus, Black notes, “cynicism, opportunism and chicanery.” More »

More about:  book reviews Richard Nixon biography Conrad Black EPA welfare race riot

Spielberg to Shoot Lincoln Picture Next

He ducks rumor that Liam Neeson will portray prez

(Newser) - Once he wraps up Tintin , Steven Spielberg will make a long-awaited biopic about Abraham Lincoln, the Los Angeles Times reports. The director spilled the beans while promoting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , and said he wants to shoot the flick next year, Lincon's 200th anniversary—but did not confirm rumors that Liam Neeson will play the 16th US president. More »

More about:  movie film Steven Spielberg Abraham Lincoln biography Liam Neeson

(Newser) - The stories on the small-screen version of “This American Life” start out small—a husband’s protest over the oppressive American trend of lawn-mowing, a young man living with spinal muscular atrophy—and become something universal, both dark and light, even a little magical, writes Heather Havrilesky on Salon.com. On the second season, which premieres tonight on Showtime, everyday snapshots of people’s lives become art. More »

More about:  television art radio biography Showtime Ira Glass This American Life

Robocop Director Pens Shocking
Jesus Bio

Claims Jesus' dad
was a Roman rapist

(Newser) - Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, best known for directing films like Robocop , Basic Instinct , and Total Recall , is releasing a biography of Jesus which is bound to spark an angry response, reports AP. The book, which Verhoeven has been working on for 20 years, suggests that Jesus' father was a Roman soldier who raped Mary. The director hopes the book will lead to a film. More »

More about:  religion biography film director Jesus Christ

book review

 Cracking the Steve Jobs Code 

Author peers into the brain of Apple's elusive guiding force

(Newser) - Though it’s near impossible to get an interview with Steve Jobs, author Leander Kahney’s book Inside Steve’s Brain gives a “fresh, noble perspective” on the Apple icon’s impenetrable mind, Jon Swartz writes in USA Today . Like most who try, Kahney couldn’t score facetime, but his book illustrates the opposing traits that make his subject—equal parts Disney and Barnum—who he is. More »

More about:  Apple book Steve Jobs iPod book reviews biography Pixar

New Site Wants Your Wikipedia Rejected Bio

Biographicon invites the real average Joes to tell their tales

(Newser) - While Wikipedia may promote itself as an encyclopedia of, for, and by the people, anybody who's had his stint as autobiographer cut short by the infamous "notability" requirement knows the site to be otherwise. Or so hope the creators of startup Biographicon, a website that invites the nobodies of the world to publish their life stories, writes Ars Technica. More »

More about:  Internet Facebook Wikipedia biography autobiography online encyclopedia

'Bossy? Aloof?' Index of Hillary Bio Is Way Off

Blogger dissects
back pages of book
on Dem hopeful

(Newser) - Readers looking for a crash course in everything Hillary can try the index of Carl Bernstein's A Woman in Charge, and find a laundry list of moody traits: "bossiness," "aloofness," "anger, temper and hurt" are only the A's and B's. But New York Times blogger David Kelly uncovers just one problem: the bio doesn't live up to its index. More »

More about:  Hillary Clinton book Clinton 2008 biography personality Carl Bernstein

NEW RELEASE

Dewey Cox Rocks!

Despite being a little uneven, Judd Apatow parody provides lots of laughs

(Newser) - Judd Apatow's Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story "is less thoughtful satire and ... more the distant cousin of Airplane! ," writes Brian Orndorf of OhMyNews.com. Starring John C. Reilly as a blues prodigy who ultimately experiences success, failure, and redemption, it plays like "an extended riff on the likes of severely mediocre Oscar-bait" such as Walk the Line and Ray , Orndorf says. More »

More about:  movie review comedy biography Judd Apatow parody Johnny Cash John C. Reilly

Wharton Letter Bolsters
Suicide Theory

Heroine Lily Bart overdosed deliberately, note implies

(Newser) - A recently-discovered letter by Edith Wharton provides new evidence in The House of Mirth's lingering literary mystery , suggesting that heroine Lily Bart does, in fact, intend to kill herself at the book's end, the New York Times reports. Though the ambiguous text has led ma