Miles: The Autobiography
By Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe

There are many biographies about Miles Davis's life, and there's always a certain amount of controversy that swirls around them, largely because Miles could be a very guarded and very contradictory person—sometimes purposefully contradictory. I know some of his family members, and even they say that they don't know everything that went down. But if you have any interest in Miles Davis, and I have great interest in Miles Davis, this is a terrific book. What strikes me is Miles's earliest memory—the "whoosh" of the blue flame of a gas stove coming to life: "I saw that flame and felt…fear, real fear, for the first time in my life…. The fear I had was almost like an invitation, a challenge to go forward into something I knew nothing about. That's where I think my personal philosophy of life and my commitment to everything started, with that moment."