Right, let’s not talk about “1984-ish” books all the time 
If you wish to read about a highly inspirational person’s life in their own words, I recommend : “An Autobiography : The Story of My Experiments With Truth” by Mahatma Gandhi.
A nice online simple html version here hosted at Columbia Uni site : http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/gandhi/ + bottom of page has printer friendly version of chapters grouped together.