The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Volume 2)

by Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the unfinished record of Benjamin Franklin’s life written by Franklin himself and is one of the most influential examples of an autobiography ever written. Franklin’s account of his life is divided into four parts, reflecting the different periods at which he wrote them. The first publication of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin , Part One, was published in Paris, in French in 1791. It wasn't until 1818 that the full version of Franklin’s autobiography was published by his grandson, William Temple Franklin, who did not include Part Four because he has previously traded away the original holograph of the Autobiography for a copy that contained only the first three parts. In addition, Franklin’s grandson felt free to make stylistic revisions to his grandfather’s autobiography. W.T. Franklin's text was the standard version of the Autobiography for half a century, until John Bigelow purchased the original manuscript in France and in 1868 published the most reliable text that had yet appeared, including the first English publication of Part Four. This edition of Autobiography of Ben Franklin comes from the original manuscript of Ben Franklin’s Memoirs and is presented in its entirety for enjoyment by all English speakers.

In the series Classic Thoughts and Thinkers , explore some of the most influential texts of our time along with the inner workings of its greatest thinkers. With works from great American figures such as Theodore Roosevelt and Emily Dickinson and seminal documents including the Constitution of the Unites States, this series focuses on the most reflective and thought-provoking writings of the last two centuries. These beautiful hardcovers are the perfect historical perspective for meeting the challenges of the modern world.
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Other titles in this series include : As a Man Thinketh, Collected Poems of Robert Frost, Common Sense, Constitution of the United States with the Declaration of Independence, Helen Keller, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson, and Theodore Roosevelt’s Words of Wit and Wisdom.
 

202 pages, Hardcover

Published November 26, 2015

About the author

Benjamin Franklin was a writer, a philosopher, a scientist, a politician, a patriot, a Founding Father, an inventor, and publisher. He helped with the founding of the United States of America and changed the world with his discoveries about electricity. His writings such as Poor Richards' Almanac have provided wisdom for 17 years to the colonies.

Reviews

[Jess Combs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this autobiography so many times I've lost count. I'm not normally a big non-fiction reader but the autobiographyof Benjamin Franklin is one of my favorite books of all time.

[Austin Bach · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy read with great wisdom on living a virtuous life. Helpful re-introduction prior to reading Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson, which is a more complete and thorough biography of his life and achievement.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like other reviewers have pointed out, there a TON of missing years from his autobiography.
Which brings me to the first point, that it is an extremely dull/dry read for the majority of the book. It's a very slow start, to a extremely disappointing end.
It ends pretty abruptly and with a single chapter where the "author" tried summing up the book.
It was not a great read overall.

I, in all honesty, had to skim most of it just to find the more interesting things he wrote (about himself).
His science experiments and inventions are barely even mentioned, which for me, kind of made the book a bust.

The only few nuggets I gained from reading his first person accounts were:
- How he started learning other languages, such as, French and Italian (Pg. 107)
- How he didn't patent the open furnace (Franklin stove) and his reasons/thoughts as to why not (Pg. 130 & 131)

2/5, I only give it 2 stars for the fact of it is his actual own writing and it's fascinating to get in the mind of a person who is so beloved in American History and in general.
Lack of a 3rd/4th/5th star is due to the fact that content wise I would not recommend someone to read this, or at least NOT start with this book as their first foray into Benjamin Franklin.
Definitely go and check out the dozens of other biographies written by others. Which hopefully, will encompass his life and accomplishments in entirety, which this book does NOT do.

[Khánh Thư · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quyển sách dày vỏn vẹn có 202 trang, khổ sách thì bỏ túi, thế nhưng dây dưa mãi mới đọc hết.
Phần đầu sách mình đọc rất mướt, nhất là lúc thành lập Junto và khúc kể về quá trình tự học, mình đọc như bị hút vào. Thế nhưng khi vào phần public life, mình bị lạc lối rồi cứ hai ba ngày mới đọc được một trang.
Nhớ lại thì hình như đây là cuốn tự truyện đầu tiên mà mình đọc. Mà mình đọc cũng chỉ vì có sẵn ở nhà chứ cũng không phải do mình chủ động mua nữa. Những gì mình biết về Benjamin Franklin chắc chỉ dừng lại ở cột thu lôi mà thôi. Lúc mới quyết định đọc cũng hơi e ngại do sợ tiếng Anh hối xưa hơi khó đọc, nhưng khi đã vào luồng rồi thì cũng không khó khăn gì lắm. Mình rất thích ý tưởng về Junto, và rằng nếu một người như Benjamin Franklin từng có vấn đề về cách diễn đạt (nguyên văn là "elegance of expression"), thì mình cũng có khả năng cải thiện vấn đề diễn đạt của mình lắm chứ.