Book Review: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is such a fascinating man. I am humbled by what he was able to accomplish in his lifetime. He involved himself in all aspects of life. While I thought I knew a lot about his accomplishments, his autobiography opened my eyes to a lot more. I picked up The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin to meet part of Modern Mrs. Darcy reading challenge. I had to read a book from the backlist of a new favorite author. In his book, How to Win Friends & Influence People, Dale Carnegie repeatedly referenced Ben Franklin.

I have mixed reviews about the book I purchased. The content was great; but, I was not satisfied with the book itself. My copy of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is an unabridged version printed on 8.5” x 11” paper. The typeface was microscopic. Even with bifocals, a Franklin invention, I found the book difficult to read. This version had 45 pages. When I got halfway through the book, I elected to go to the library and pick up a copy printed in a different format. The library copy was a 1964 version edited by Leonard Labaree, Ralph Ketcham, Helen Boatfield, and Helene Fineman. This version did include explanatory footnotes and covered 232 pages.

In the purchased version, the editor organized the autobiography into 19 chapters. I appreciated this because it helped to highlight different periods in Franklin’s life. In the library copy, the editors organized the autobiography into fours parts. What I appreciated from the library copy besides the larger print were the footnotes. The footnotes provided extra background information that helped to clarify Franklin’s story.

Through Franklin’s writing, I found Franklin to be quite an honorable man. Due to some early lessons in life, which he describes in detail, he pursued a path of honor. In his autobiography, he outlined his plan for attaining moral perfection. This plan had 13 elements. He created a daily schedule to help develop these attributes. Throughout the book, he referred to these attributes and described how he applied them to different situations.

While I knew that Franklin had been a printer, I did not realize that he was a printer for most of his life. He used his presses to print his views on life. These showed up in different ways such as newspapers, leaflets, books, almanacs, and more.

What I also appreciated about Franklin is that he had an insatiable curiosity. To begin with, he was an avid reader. He was always searching for a new book to read. His interest in reading led to a subscription library system. When Franklin wasn’t reading he was discussing world affairs with others having a curious mind. He valued this so much, he organized groups to get together to debate issues of the day. Junto was the name of the most famous group.

Franklin’s curiosity also led to research and many inventions. He studied electricity and is famously known for capturing electricity with a kite and key. He was also asked by Harvard University to design an electricity lab. Because of the time he spent aboard ships, a fondness he had of the sea, he studied ways to make ships faster. He was always looking for improvements.

He not only found improvements in material things, he managed to improve the societies in which he lived. He did this by serving in countless different roles throughout his life. Quite a number of these positions were because others nominated him to the office. He found himself negotiating between the British military and civilians, between the assembly and governors, and the nation and the British government.

I would consider myself accomplished if I did only a small fraction of what Franklin achieved. As I read Franklin’s words, reading was a center point in his life. He made time to read daily. As I listen to successful entrepreneurs and CEOs, reading is also an important part of their lives. This played a significant part in Franklin’s success. It provided the well from which he could draw his wisdom.

Franklin wrote his autobiography over a 19 year period from 1771 to 1790. I found the language challenging to read in parts. It seems the level of language becomes more and more challenging as you go back in time in fifty-year increments.

I found The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin to be quite fascinating. The story that Franklin shared helped to fill a back story to history I learned in the classroom. This book strengthened my respect for this great statesman. If you enjoy reading about American history, I would recommend The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

Additional Reading

• Build Your Own Library: What We Can Learn From Jefferson and Franklin
• Do You Have a Library Card? Great Time to Get One
• Our Founding Fathers Rocked Their Personal Learning Networks

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