I am wondering if anyone can give me any suggestions on some of the best real life memoirs or biography books that you have read? I like reading war memoirs, stuff about history such as the fur trade, business titans of the 1800's, gold rush, logging, whaling etc.

If anyone has some good suggestions on the above topics let me know? I typically don't like to read books over 300 pages.

Check out a biography of David Thompson. He mapped out much of the current BWCA as well as points further west and south. Amazing life...and it's very fun to read about him while sitting on a lake that you know he paddled through.

Mark Twain's "Roughing It" and "Life on the Mississippi" are excellent if you haven't read them. "Roughing It" covers his first trip West as a young man, lots of stories of the gold and silver booms in Nevada and California. The other follows his career as a Mississippi River boat pilot, fascinating history.

John Muir's books are also excellent. "The Story of My Boyhood and Youth" and "My First Summer in the Sierra" are very good.