A keepsake fill-in book contains more than two hundred prompts divided into three life phases–Early, Middle, and Later Years–and separates each phase into five subject categories–Family, Friends, Education, Work/Responsibilities, and The World.

Available on Amazon

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My Review

I have always felt it was important to leave one’s life story for family to read. I was interested in my family history starting at an early age and listened to the stories my dad and my grandpa told me as far back as I can remember. I cherish those stories and want to pass those on. When I came across a book a few years ago titled Mom…Share Your Life with Me, I gave it to my mom and asked her to answer the questions when she had time. I asked her a couple of years ago if she still had the book and she said she did, and every once in a while she’d answer a few more questions. She passed away suddenly a year ago and I have found that I have learned a lot about her through that book, and it also makes me feel closer to her. 

I found The Book About Myself a few years ago also.  I set it aside thinking I’d answer the questions in it “sometime.” Now I feel the significance of answering those questions even more, so I’ve started writing my own autobiography by answering the questions in this book. 201 questions are a lot of questions! I scan through them each day and pick out at least one I want to answer. There are a wide variety of questions about every stage in a person’s life. I’ll never answer them all because some don’t pertain to me, but I feel there are enough questions that my family will learn a lot more about me and maybe feel closer to me like I do to my mom.

I definitely recommend this book or one like it to leave behind for your family, whether it’s your spouse, siblings, children, or parents (hopefully not your parents). This particular book is a little difficult to read because the questions are printed in green and are small so anyone with a visual impairment might want to consider a different book.

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About David Marshall

I am a PK (preacher’s kid) from Texas, grew up in Chicago, and lived in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta, Denver, Mexico City, Munich, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before settling back in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have two lives. During the day, I’m a nonfiction publisher, working for Berrett-Koehler in Oakland. We publish books to help our readers create positive change. Our mission is connecting people and ideas to create a world that works for all.

My other life is as an author. I write prompted journals to foster family communication and self-discovery. The Book of Myself: A Do-It-Yourself Autobiography, which I wrote with my grandfather Carl Marshall, was the first of our journal series, and remains a bestseller to this day.