Best Biography Audiobooks Read by the Author: 10 from £6.79

Quick picks

• Best overall: Becoming by Michelle Obama, read by the author, £11.09 to buy. Her story from the South Side of Chicago to the White House, and the longest listen here.
• Best budget: Straight Outta Crawley by Romesh Ranganathan, read by the author, £6.79 to buy, the lowest price in this guide. A short comedian memoir about a maths teacher who went back to stand-up at 31.
• Best for nature lovers: A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough, read by the author, £9.79 to buy. His witness statement on the loss of wild places over his lifetime, and his ideas for putting it right.

The 10 biography audiobooks in more detail

Becoming by Michelle Obama, read by the author. Read by the author; longest pick at 19 hours and 3 minutes. Audiobook published 13 November 2018. Listening length 19 hours and 3 minutes, unabridged. £11.09 to buy outright on 3 November 2026. Michelle Obama, the first African American First Lady of the United States, tells her own story, from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive juggling work and motherhood, and on to her time in the White House. She reflects on the experiences that shaped her and reads every word herself. At 19 hours and 3 minutes it is the longest pick in this guide.

Straight Outta Crawley: Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human Being by Romesh Ranganathan, read by the author. Read by the author; shortest pick at 5 hours and 41 minutes. Audiobook published 4 October 2018. Listening length 5 hours and 41 minutes, unabridged. £6.79 to buy outright on 3 November 2026. At the age of nine Romesh Ranganathan did his first stand-up set at a Pontin's holiday camp talent contest, then stayed away from comedy for twenty-two years, much of that time working as a maths teacher, before returning to the stage at 31. He tells the full story of how he got there, from Sri Lankan family hospitality to growing up in Crawley. Romesh reads it himself, and it is both the shortest and the lowest-priced pick here.

A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and Vision for the Future by David Attenborough, read by the author. Read by the author; his witness statement and vision for the future (publisher description). Audiobook published 1 October 2020. Listening length 6 hours and 20 minutes, unabridged. £9.79 to buy outright on 3 November 2026. Written when he was 94, David Attenborough's book looks back on how the wild places and biodiversity he saw as a young man have been lost over his lifetime. He calls it his witness statement, and it ends with his vision for how the damage could still be put right if we act now. He reads it himself.

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah, read by the author. Read by the author; eighteen personal stories (publisher description). Audiobook published 17 November 2016. Listening length 8 hours and 44 minutes, unabridged. £15.69 to buy outright on 3 November 2026. Trevor Noah was born in apartheid South Africa to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother, at a time when their relationship was punishable by five years in prison, so he was kept mostly indoors for his first years. Told as eighteen personal stories, the book follows him from a mischievous boy to a restless young man, and it is just as much the story of his fearless, devoutly religious mother. Trevor reads it himself.

Spare by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, read by the author. Read by the author; 15 hours and 37 minutes. Audiobook published 10 January 2023. Listening length 15 hours and 37 minutes, unabridged. £15.79 to buy outright on 3 November 2026. Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, tells his life story in his own words, starting with the death of his mother, Princess Diana, and the walk behind her coffin. He writes about joining the Army at twenty-one, post-traumatic stress and panic attacks, meeting Meghan, and the decision to leave Britain and the Royal Family in the face of press intrusion. He reads it himself.

Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis, read by the author. Read by the author; 9 hours and 15 minutes. Audiobook published 26 April 2022. Listening length 9 hours and 15 minutes, unabridged. £12.49 to buy outright on 3 November 2026. Actor Viola Davis traces her path from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the New York stage and beyond, and how she found her purpose, her strength and her voice. She says she wrote it for anyone trying to understand and overcome a complicated past and let go of shame. Viola reads it herself.

I Haven't Been Entirely Honest with You by Miranda Hart, read by the author. Read by the author; part memoir, part practical ideas (publisher description). Audiobook published 10 October 2024. Listening length 10 hours and 9 minutes, unabridged. £11.99 to buy outright on 3 November 2026. Comedian Miranda Hart opens up about an unexpectedly difficult decade of illness and how she recovered. She shares what she calls her treasures, the practical tools and ideas from scientists, therapists and others that she says helped her find joy and peace again, and promises funny stories along the way. Miranda reads it herself.

Taste by Stanley Tucci, read by the author. Read by the author; memoir of life in and out of the kitchen (publisher description). Audiobook published 7 October 2021. Listening length 6 hours and 49 minutes, unabridged. £9.79 to buy outright on 3 November 2026. Actor Stanley Tucci writes about where food and life meet: growing up in an Italian American family in Westchester, New York, that ate together every night, making the food films Big Night and Julie & Julia, falling in love over dinner and cooking with his wife for their children. It mixes the good times and the bad, the great meals and the burnt ones. He reads it himself.

Karma: My Autobiography by Boy George, read by the author. Read by the author; his full autobiography (publisher description). Audiobook published 9 November 2023. Listening length 7 hours and 41 minutes, unabridged. £11.59 to buy outright on 3 November 2026. Boy George, born George O'Dowd in Eltham, tells his story in full in his own words: growing up in 1960s London, coming out to his Irish Catholic family, and the 1970s glam rock and punk scenes that led to Culture Club. He also covers addiction and recovery, time in prison and life in the headlines. He reads it himself.

The Elephant to Hollywood by Sir Michael Caine, read by the author. Read by the author; 10 hours and 18 minutes. Audiobook published 30 September 2010. Listening length 10 hours and 18 minutes, unabridged. £12.49 to buy outright on 3 November 2026. Michael Caine was born Maurice Micklewhite, with rickets, in a poor part of Elephant & Castle in London. Here he looks back over a film career of more than five decades, with his insider's view of Hollywood, the films, the stars and the moments off screen. He reads it himself.

How we chose these biography audiobooks

• Read by the author. Every pick credits the author as the narrator on its Amazon UK listing. We left out memoirs read by an actor or professional narrator, however good, because this guide is about hearing the story in the writer's own voice.
• Autobiography and memoir, not biography by someone else. All 10 are first-person life stories. Biographies written about a person by another writer are a different kind of book.
• A spread of lives. The 10 picks come from 10 different people across politics, the royal family, film, comedy, music and natural history, with British, American and South African voices.
• The full recording. All 10 are listed as unabridged on Amazon UK.
• A real price. Each pick showed a price to buy the audiobook outright on its Amazon UK listing on 3 November 2026. We used the price shown in the Buy row, not any struck-through list price, and skipped anything without a price.
• Nothing repeated. None of these 10 titles appears in our other audiobook guides, so memoirs already in our comedy audiobooks guide, such as Billy Connolly's and Bob Mortimer's, are not repeated here.

How to choose a biography audiobook read by the author

• Check the narrator line. On Amazon UK the details list both an Author and a Narrator. If you want the author's own voice, make sure the same name appears in both, as it does for every pick here.
• Decide how much time you have. Straight Outta Crawley (5 hours and 41 minutes), A Life on Our Planet (6 hours and 20 minutes) and Taste (6 hours and 49 minutes) are the shortest picks. Becoming (19 hours and 3 minutes) and Spare (15 hours and 37 minutes) are much longer and suit long drives or a few weeks of commuting.
• Light or heavy? Many memoirs mix funny stories with hard ones. Born a Crime is set under apartheid, Spare deals with grief and post-traumatic stress, Karma covers addiction and prison, and Miranda Hart's book is about a decade of illness. Taste and Straight Outta Crawley are lighter listens.
• Pick a world you are curious about. Food lovers may prefer Taste, music fans Karma, film fans Finding Me or The Elephant to Hollywood, and nature lovers A Life on Our Planet.
• Play the free sample. Voice matters most with an author-read book, so listen to the sample on the Amazon UK listing first to check you enjoy how they read.

Buy outright or use a membership?

Each title above can be bought outright on Amazon UK, and you keep it. Prefer a membership? At the time of writing, eligible new Audible members can get Audible Standard for £0.99 a month for 3 months, then it renews at the standard monthly price shown on Amazon. Offer ends 17 December 2026; terms apply, cancel anytime. See the Audible offer box near the top of this page for the details.

Prices were checked on Amazon UK on 3 November 2026 and can change at any time. Check the current price on Amazon before you buy.