The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
First of all, Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography does not cover the last years of his life (I think this might be obvious, but then no one has sat down to actually write what has happened). Which is ok and understandable, and the book does give an ordered list of the important events of his life.
What I found the most interesting, however, was how he set out to conduct himself. He wasn’t a very religious person, so he created for himself a set of virtues he wished to live by and conducted himself accordingly. This is what he attributes to his great success in life and is included within the book.
I found that I couldn’t follow all the politics very well, but then I can’t follow modern politics very well either. And in any case, the book is not completely full of that, but in his later years that is all he did and most of that is very well documented in history.
What I enjoyed reading, was about his early life as a printer, how he moved around, learned from several different employers and set up his own shop and became successful.
At any rate, more people should learn about Dr. Franklin (yes, he had many honorary degrees), and this is not a bad way to go about doing it.
