The Autobiography of Benjamin FranklinDownload Now...
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| Description: | Uniform title: Autobiography |
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Customer Review: The Greatest American, Period!
No matter which of the Founding Fathers was your favorite, Benjamin Franklin will be after this read! An absolute master at all he attempted: politics, engineering, community improvement, and of course, the ladies! It will leave you wondering where are the heroes and patriots like BF today? And when will they wake up?
Customer Review: This book will make you a better person...
I have to say this is the most inspirational book I have ever read in my 51 years. Franklin's efforts to improve himself through his 13-week plan is a brilliant blueprint for success. Just the way he thinks. It is like being in the company of a great man...the greatness rubs off a little. This book has a permanent place on my bookshelf.
Customer Review: How can I give Benjamin Franklin fewer than five stars?
In what began as a letter to his son in 1771, Franklin decided to share the "anecdotes of [his] ancestors" and impart some of his own wisdom learned during his life. But the crisis between America and Great Britain would soon put a halt to his autobiographical work. It would be more than a decade later, at the pleadings of his friends, that Franklin would again take up his pen and complete his memoir.
The first section, the letter to his son, is the best part of the book. Here, the plot drives the story with some divergences into his philosophy. He describes his modest childhood in Boston and his gradual ascent to civic leader in Philadelphia. He shares his many disappointments (friends who had deceived him) and his many accomplishments (establishing a secret philosophical club, a successful printing press, a public library, and the list goes on and on).
In the next half of the book, taken up at the requests of his friends, he delves deeper into his personal philosophy and describes his system to work on the 13 virtues he needed to perfect to arrive at "moral perfection." He notes the impossibility of this project but believes the pursuit in itself made him a better person. He also gives more details on his public works and his role in Pennsylvania's government. Despite divulging his thoughts on religion and ethics, Franklin seems more distant than in the first section, and I didn't get a good grasp on his life in his later years.
But what's most remarkable about Franklin's autobiography is his unpretentious writing style. He strikes a conversational tone, coasting through one anecdote to the next, or what he sardonically describes as "rambling digressions." Only toward the end does this charming tone flags a bit.
I strongly recommend this autobiography to people who've a strong interest in the Founding Fathers. People with a passing interest should try reading at least some background information on Franklin, because you won't get the full portrait of the man here. You learn little about his family or inventions, and the autobiography stops (quite suddenly) when he's in England for a dispute between the Pennsylvania Assembly and governor. Overall, though, the readability of the book for its time is astounding.
Product Description
"The first book to belong permanently to literature. It created a man." -- From the Introduction Few men could compare to Benjamin Franklin. Virtually self-taught, he excelled as an athlete, a man of letters, a printer, a scientist, a wit, an inventor, an editor, and a writer, and he was probably the most successful diplomat in American history. David Hume hailed him as the first great philosopher and great man of letters in the New World. Written initially to guide his son, Franklin's autobiography is a lively, spellbinding account of his unique and eventful life. Stylistically his best work, it has become a classic in world literature, one to inspire and delight readers everywhere.
Customer Review: Content so inspiring and language so tiring!
Franklin's life, works and thoughts have always been an inspiration to me. This time around I decided to wade through his autobiography to drink from the source itself. Upon flipping a few pages, I was sorely disappointed of the extremely tedious language. I found I was caught up more in re-reading a lot of sentences trying to comprehend the great man's words correctly and hence losing out on the joy to mull over his visions. For me, "Benjamin Franklin's the Art of Virtue: His Formula for Successful Living" is a more streamlined book and I am happy with the joy I derive from the inspiration this book evokes.
Customer Review: Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography is an excellent look into the mind of a very important figure in American History. This book is important both for the autobiography literary genre and for its historical context. It is infinately useful for historians, especially those looking at the early life of this highly public-spirited man.
There are also plenty of life lessons sprinkled throughout much of Franklin's writing, and his autobiography is no exception. Therefore it reads both as history, and a how-to manual.
The only shortcoming of this book is that there is not more of it. It ends before the revolution and his employment as an ambassador abroad, so we don't have the same material for the more important and tumultuous period of his life.
This book should be recommended for anyone interested in getting a closer look into the time period. If you want to learn more about Franklin's personality and motives there is no better person to tell you than the man himself.
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Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790
Statesmen -- United States -- Biography
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