We recommend 5 biographies of great characters to read absolutely to find the strength to get up and the right motivation to move forward in life during those periods, long or short, in which we are demoralized and frustrated for various reasons.
5 biographies to find motivation
Long Walk to Freedom – Nelson Mandela
One of the must-read biographies is that of Mandela. From his childhood in the Transkei countryside to the townships of Johannesburg, from his first militancy in the ANC, through twenty-seven years in prison, to the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. Nelson Mandela’s “The Long Walk to Freedom” is the long walk to political freedom and the conquest of an irreducible value: the dignity of the human being.
Memory makes you free – Liliana Segre and Enrico Mentana
One of the most touching biographies is that of Liliana Segre. “It is one thing to look and one thing to see, and for too many years I have looked without wanting to see.” Liliana is eight years old when, in 1938, the fascist racial laws violently strike her and her family. Discriminated as a “pupil of the Jewish race”, she is expelled from school and gradually her world crumbles: she becomes “invisible” in the eyes of her friends, she is forced to hide and flee until the dramatic arrest on the Swiss border which will open up to her and to his dad the gates of Auschwitz. From the lager she will return alone, an orphaned girl in the rubble of Milan.
If it seems impossible then it can be done – Bebe Vio
Anyone who meets Bebe, or even just sees her on TV, is enchanted by the positive energy that every word, every gesture, every look gives off. How do you explain this way of being that allowed you not only to overcome seemingly insurmountable difficulties, but also to achieve exceptional sporting goals? Seems like a mystery. Instead, if you read the many episodes collected in this book, you discover that Bebe faces all kinds of obstacles using tools and resources that each of us has at our disposal. She has always been aware that it is necessary to find a dream to pursue with her utmost passion: she began to want to go to the Olympics at the age of five.
I am Malala – Malala Yousafzai
Among the motivational biographies that of Malala Yousafzai. Swat Valley, Pakistan, October 9, 2012, twelve o’clock. School is out, and Malala and her classmates are on the old bus that takes her home. Suddenly a man boards her and fires three bullets at her, hitting her in the face and leaving her dying. Malala is just fifteen years old, but for the Taliban she is guilty of having shouted to the world since she was a child her desire to read and study. For this she must die. But Malala doesn’t die: her miraculous recovery will be the beginning of an extraordinary journey from the remote valley where she was born to the United Nations General Assembly.
I just wanted to ride… but I stumbled upon a second life – Alex Zanardi
“And now below with the rest.” Thus ended the first book by Alex Zanardi, from 2003. At the time it seemed like a boutade because Alex, after the terrible car accident at the Lausitzring in Germany, had survived against everyone’s predictions (they had even given him last rites) and had lost his legs. Yep, the rest. But what rest? In his place, many would have been “settled” to still be in this world. Instead, Alex has invented a new life that is, if anything, more thrilling than the first.
