Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]

Benjamin Franklin (Author), Kenneth A. Silverman (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1986

OTHER WRITINGS INCLUDE: A RECEIPT TO MAKE A NEW ENGLAND FUNERAL ELEGY; ADVICE TO A FRIEND ON CHOOSING A MISTRESS; THE SPEECH OF MISS POLLY BAKER; HOW TO SECURE HOUSES, &C. FROM LIGHTNING; THE KITE EXPERIMENT; THE WAY TO WEALTH; AN EDICT BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA; THE MORALS OF CHESS (EXCERPT); THE ELYSIAN FIELDS; INFORMATION TO THOSE WHO WOULD REMOVE TO AMERICA (EXCERPT); AN ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC FROM THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY; A MISCELLANY OF FRANKLIN'S OPINIONS.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Reasonably priced, comprehensive edition with good selection of other writings."--Virginia Caris, George Washington University

"I really like this edition because of the variety of Franklin's writings represented here. The affordability of this text is greatly appreciated by the students as well."--Lynn Searfoss, Purdue University

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Benjamin Franklin's writings represent a long career of literary, scientific and political efforts over a lifetime which extended nearly the entire eighteenth century. Franklin's achivements range from inventing the lightning rod to publishing Poor Richard's Almanack to signing the Declaration of Independence. In his own lifetime he knew prominence not only in America but in Britain and France as well. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; Edition Unstated edition (January 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140390529
• ISBN-13: 978-0140390520
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 3.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #690,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

115 of 120 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Franklin's informal account of his remarkable life, July 10, 2002

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

In many ways, this is, to someone coming to it for the first time, a very surprising book. For one thing, it is amazingly incomplete. Franklin is, of course, one of the most famous Americans who ever lived, and his accomplishments in a wide array of endeavors are a part of American lore and popular history. A great deal of this lore and many of his accomplishments are missing from this account of his life. He never finished the autobiography, earlier in his life because he was too busy with what he terms public "employments," and later in life because the opium he was taking for kidney stones left him unable to concentrate sufficiently. Had Franklin been able to write about every period of his life and all of his achievements, his AUTOBIOGRAPHY would have been one of the most remarkable documents every produced. It is amazingly compelling in its incomplete state.

As a serious reader, I was delighted in the way that Franklin is obsessed with the reading habits of other people. Over and over in the course of his memoir, he remarks that such and such a person was fond of reading, or owned a large number of books, or was a poet or author. Clearly, it is one of the qualities he most admires in others, and one of the qualities in a person that makes him want to know a person. He finds other readers to be kindred souls.

If one is familiar with the Pragmatists, one finds many pragmatist tendencies in Franklin's thought. He is concerned less with ideals than with ideas that work and are functional. For instance, at one point he implies that while his own beliefs lean more towards the deistical, he sees formal religion as playing an important role in life and society, and he goes out of his way to never criticize the faith of another person. His pragmatism comes out also in list of the virtues, which is one of the more famous and striking parts of his book. As is well known, he compiled a list of 13 virtues, which he felt summed up all the virtues taught by all philosophers and religions. But they are practical, not abstract virtues. He states that he wanted to articulate virtues that possessed simple and not complex ideas. Why? The simpler the idea, the easier to apply. And in formulating his list of virtues, he is more concerned with the manner in which these virtues can be actualized in one's life. Franklin has utterly no interest in abstract morality.

One of Franklin's virtues is humility, and his humility comes out in the form of his book. His narrative is exceedingly informal, not merely in the first part, which was ostensibly addressed to his son, but in the later sections (the autobiography was composed upon four separate occasions). The informal nature of the book displays Franklin's intended humility, and for Franklin, seeming to be so is nearly as important as actually being so. For part of the function of the virtues in an individual is not merely to make that particular person virtuous, but to function as an example to others. This notion of his being an example to other people is one of the major themes in his book. His life, he believes, is an exemplary one. And he believes that by sharing the details of his own life, he can serves as a template for other lives.

One striking aspect of his book is what one could almost call Secular Puritanism. Although Franklin was hardly a prude, he was nonetheless very much a child of the Puritans. This is not displayed merely in his promotion of the virtues, but in his abstaining from excessiveness in eating, drinking, conversation, or whatever. Franklin is intensely concerned with self-governance.

I think anyone not having read this before will be surprised at how readable and enjoyable this is. I think also one can only regret that Franklin was not able to write about the entirety of his life. He was a remarkable man with a remarkable story to tell.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Franklin in his own words. What more could you want?, January 15, 2001

By 

Michael L. Morrow (Southern Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Autobiography and Other Writings (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

I find the Autobiography a fascinating look into the everyday life of our country's Colonial age! Franklin's narration is clean and descriptive and totally engrossing! The story of his early life and how he came to be a businessman and statesman is well worth 5 stars but also included in this gem is "The Selected Writings" which includes "The Way to Wealth" as well as five more sections (Essays to Do Good, Franklin the Scientist, Franklin and the Revolution, The Family Man, and Something of His Religion) all include various letters and essays and are an entertaining look into Franklin and his view of the world! For an American History buff this is a must book for the collection and for Children... this book is a fantastic way to introduce any Child to History and the REAL Life of one of our beloved Signers of the Declaration of Independence!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You will be richer from reading this book, January 16, 2004

By 

DAVID-LEONARD WILLIS (Thessaloniki Greece) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Autobiography and Other Writings (Library Binding)

Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is the story of one man's efforts to integrate certain principles and habits - integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty - into his life and to embed them deep within his nature. Franklin was a scientist, philosopher, statesman, inventor, educator, diplomat, politician, humorist and man of letters who led a very full life. He was also a moralist and humanitarian who was happy to be considered unconventional by doing things the way he thought they should be done. His was a life well lived and a model from which we can learn much. In the introduction we are told: "Himself a master of the motives of human conduct, Franklin did not set out to reveal himself in his autobiography. Rather, he intended to tell us (insofar as we, the nation, are the 'posterity' to whom he addressed himself) how life was to be lived, good done, and happiness achieved - how the ball was to be danced."

Franklin did not have an easy life as the tenth son of a candle maker whose education ended at the age of ten. But by hard work and careful planning he was able to retire from business at the age of forty-two and devote his time to science and politics. He was sent to England in 1764 to petition the King to end the proprietary government of the colony. Soon after the Revolution began he was sent to France to negotiate an alliance with Louis XVI. He was a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. It is difficult to image anyone not coming away richer from reading this book.