Autobiography

An autobiography (from the Greek, αὐτός-autos self + βίος-bios life + γράφειν-graphein to write) is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.

Closely associated with autobiography (and sometimes difficult to precisely distinguish from it) is the form of memoir. However, an autobiography typically focuses on the "life and times" of the writer, while a memoir has a narrower, more intimate focus on his or her own memories, feelings and emotions.

Also see Biography Memoir and Memoir.
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Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma
In the Shadow of the Mountain: A Memoir of Courage
The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir
South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
Lost & Found: A Memoir
Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School
I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home
Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy
Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation, and Non-Monogamy
Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor's Fight for Fairness
Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American
This Boy We Made: A Memoir of Motherhood, Genetics, and Facing the Unknown
Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom
Things I Should Have Said: Family, Fame, and Figuring it Out
Educated
North to Paradise
Greenlights
Will
Yearbook
These Precious Days: Essays
Becoming
In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss
Going There
No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to Hear
Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama: A Memoir
All about Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business
The Choice: Embrace the Possible
Notes on Grief
This Much is True
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. AmbroseBlack Hawk Down by Mark BowdenUnbroken by Laura HillenbrandLone Survivor by Marcus LuttrellWe Were Soldiers Once... and Young by Harold G. Moore
Best Non-fiction War Books
1,689 books — 2,062 voters
The Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsThe Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankAngela's Ashes by Frank McCourtNight by Elie WieselEat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Favorite Memoirs/Autobiographies
1,828 books — 1,677 voters

The God Delusion by Richard DawkinsGod Is Not Great by Christopher HitchensThe Demon-Haunted World by Carl SaganThe End of Faith by Sam HarrisLetter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
Notable Atheist Books
542 books — 993 voters
John Adams by David McCulloughThe Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer1776 by David McCulloughTeam of Rivals by Doris Kearns GoodwinThe Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
Best History Books
3,116 books — 3,408 voters

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeilJust Kids by Patti SmithChronicles by Bob DylanLife by Keith RichardsLove Is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
Best Non Fiction About Music
1,250 books — 1,244 voters
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsNight by Elie WieselAngela's Ashes by Frank McCourtEat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Best Memoir / Biography / Autobiography
5,205 books — 5,720 voters

The Diary of a Young Girl
Becoming
Bossypants
Educated
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #1)
Night  (The Night Trilogy, #1)
The Glass Castle
Yes Please
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
When Breath Becomes Air
Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1)
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

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W.H. Auden
“ Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho Panza, the Self. ”
― W.H. Auden, Selected Essays

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