Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (autobiographies of Frederick Douglass)

This book by Frederick Douglass was genuinely recommended once in the episodes we index, on Tim Ferriss. The people who vouched for it on air: Maurice Ashley. It comes up in conversations about focus & dopamine, motivation & discipline, productivity & performance. Every quote below is verbatim, attributed, and linked to the exact second it was said. Sourced expert opinion, not medical advice.

This book is an autobiographical account by runaway slave Frederick Douglass that chronicles his experiences with his owners and overseers and discusses how slavery affected both slaves and slaveholders.

• “he had three autobiographies, right? Those that he wrote... the second one was enough of his life out of freedom that he was able to really describe it in a fresh way”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “He's one of my favorite people in history. And his biography is really what makes me want to do that”
  Maurice Ashley · The Tim Ferriss Show · Jul 202001:11:17

  Said during "Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, The Path and Strategies of World-Class Mastery | The Tim Ferriss Show". The episode features Maurice Ashley: Maurice Ashley is the first African-American International Grandmaster in chess history, a three-time national-championship coach, author, ESPN commentator, and speaker. Born in Jamaica and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, he was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame in 2016. Grandmaster Maurice Ashley traces his path from Brooklyn chess hustles to history-making mastery, plus lessons on focus, teaching, and lifelong reinvention.