Tell Me About Yourself

The older I get, the more I appreciate a good autobiography.

by Maryann LoRusso | Apr 26, 2024 | Culture

I just spent 48 hours with Barbra Streisand. It’s a lot of time to spend with someone, but it was worth it.

She talked. I listened. For about an hour to three hours at a time. During each of these spurts, I walked several miles through San Francisco, weaving through city streets and over hills (lots of hills) with my Powerbeats tucked into my ears. Sometimes I had to speed up Barbra so I could make it home before dark. Most of the time I listened at regular tempo as the 82-year-old told the story, in a slightly gravely but still lush voice, of how she ascended from working class Brooklyn girl to superstar performer and political activist.

When I was younger, I didn’t particularly love autobiographies, preferring the escapism of fiction over the reality of memoir. Reading Anne Frank’s devastatingly Diary of a Young Girl during the innocence of sixth grade only made me sad and horrified. And as I traversed adolescence, I was too focused on my own life, with its struggles and ambitions, to properly focus on someone else’s. Even one of my favorite autobiographies, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, didn’t resonate as strongly back in high school as it does now.

Now, in midlife, I find myself gravitating toward other people’s stories. Finding relatable moments in their trials and tribulations, and having emotional reactions to their most painful or ecstatic moments. Sure, famous people are living on a whole other plane. But a good autobiography doesn’t just celebrate someone’s successes. It also highlights, in retrospect, those make-or-break events that end up defining people. It can inspire us to reflect on our own lives, ponder where we’ve been and where we still might want to go.

I believe a great autobiography can also:

Remind you that everyone starts from the beginning. Some have a little (or a lot) more help launching, but everybody begins life with a blank slate, and their choices have an impact on their journey.
Help you see the world beyond yourself by tapping into another person’s perspective, especially when the author is someone very different from you.
Strengthen your empathy muscle and EQ as you realize that even the most successful people are imperfect, vulnerable, and insecure in some way.
Inspire and motivate you to pursue a long-forgotten dream or simply do more of what you love.
Provide you with a short-term mentor. While I was listening to My Name is Barbra, it felt like I was taking a master class in filmmaking, songwriting and love.
Comfort you by revealing that everyone encounters adversity, makes mistakes, and suffers heartbreak. And that how you handle those moments—and what you learn from them—is what matters most.

A good autobiography doesn’t just celebrate someone’s successes. It also highlights those make-or-break moments that end up defining people. It can inspire us to reflect on our own lives, ponder where we’ve been and where we still might want to go.

Besides Streisand’s nearly 1,000-page-long book (its daunting size is probably why I opted to listen to it, instead of read it), here are some other good autobiographies worth diving into: