Customer Reviews

A Benjamin Franklin Reader

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This is a fine selection from Franklin's writings, including the entire 'Autobiography'. All texts have been judiciously chosen by the editor, arranged in chronological order and prefaced by intelligent, concise and well written introductory notes. Franklin's importance and permanence clearly emerge from the reading.

I only wish there were more excerpts from Franklin's delightful 'Poor Richard's Almanac'. The selections presented in this edition come from the Almanacs for the years 1733, 1734, 1736, 1737, 1738 and 1739, and they barely fill 15 pages. Nonetheless they might well satisfy the reader and in any event there is plenty of rarely published letters and articles from the Pennsylvania Gazette to make up for the possible lack of material from the almanacs signed by 'Richard Saunders'.

This is the perfect book to discover Franklin and also a very good one for those who already know him, thanks to the editors insightful notes and to the opportunity to review Franklin's writings in chronological order, from a historical and biographical perspective.

This is a great collection of the writings of Benjamin Franklin. For me, the real value here lies not so much in the fact that he was a self-made man, but in the advice he gave about connecting with people and interacting with others both from a business and from a personal point of view. His ability in that area led directly to his success (along with some luck). I wish more people read the Autobiography and other papers just for that reason alone. In the long run, that may be the greatest contribution made by Ben Franklin.

This is an interesting book and Benjamin Franklin was an amazing man. Walter Isaacson's book "An American Life" was much easier to read. This book is Franklin's actual writings and while he was clever and brilliant it is hard for me to really follow his text.

...actually I can't say it's the best, but I can say I did a significant amount of searching for the perfect compilation of Ben Franklin writings to add to my library. This book (speaking of the hardback) is very nice. The binding is nice and tight. The dust jacked is made of very high quality paper, it almost feels like it's some sort of polyester. It's a nice book... aesthetically.

Inside it has a number of Franklin's writings; stuff he published in his newspapers, essays, letters, and of course it has his autobiography at the end. That's the part that I actually read. The autobiography is excellent. It gives you a real flavor for the kind of life that we all can live. Read it, enjoy it, learn from it, and then put it away for a few years and then read it again.

Buy the hardback if you love books not only for their words but... just because you love having nice books.

Bought the book used - Seller's ad was completely accurate, and the book arrived ahead of schedule.