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I think you'll enjoy American Prometheus. It's a very nice read. I am actually addicted to biographies of all the great minds of that era. The other title I recommened about Einstein was one of the best on him I've read to date. But American Prometheus has sort of a "Beautiful Mind" insight into what made Oppie, well, Oppie.
I too have added Cleopatra to my list. That is a book I might never have come across and I look forward to eventually reading it as well. I've started The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin several times and never stayed with it. It's not because it's poorly written or anything like that, just I really was in the mood for something different every time I've begun the thing. By all accounts it's a interesting read.
OT WARNING: If you end up enjoying American Prometheus there is another book that is really about the Institute for Advanced Studies in NJ but is titled "Who Got Einstein's Office" that's really a nice read. The first half really is about good old Albert but the second half is more about the Institute, it's internal politics (and there are ALWAYS politics in education and science) and it's evolution away from the pure sciences and into some experimental/applied stuff. But most of all it's a book about an institution which really gets no mention at all outside academia but has contributed an amazing amount to human knowledge over the decades it's been around. A funny part was as the place is supposed to be just for pure science, meaning theory only nothing applied, then should computers be allowed? And believe it or not, a compelling argument exists in both directions. Oh, if you watch the movie loosely involving Einstein called I.Q. the institute would have been The Institute for Advanced Studies but at that time they would NEVER would have allowed an experimental lab such as the psychology lab shown in the movie.
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