Learning from a Master
Customer Rating: 
The joy of reading this autobiography comes from the personality of its writer, as Franklin discusses Franklin. His style is delightful and he feels present, here, now. His body has been dead for over two hundred years, but not his ideas and not his voice. The core of what he writes is strong, but his ideas and rules for living are alive and speak to the present. Before reading this book, I read a few harsh comments on both the book and Franklin. Writers said that Franklin falsely portrays himself as a fine guy and that he really wasn't so fine. I cannot believe that the writer of this autobiography was anything other than the voice that comes across the centuries. Such a strong and vital voice, such a story, such deeds, these could only come from a great man. Not a perfect man, but a great man. I enjoyed so much the library checkout that I immediately got on Amazon and ordered the book for my own library, to read and reread, learning and connecting with the author.
How can I give Benjamin Franklin fewer than five stars?
Customer Rating: In what began as a letter to his son in 1771, Franklin decided to share the "anecdotes of [his] ancestors" and impart some of his own wisdom learned during his life. But the crisis between America and Great Britain would soon put a halt to his autobiographical work. It would be more than a decade later, at the pleadings of his friends, that Franklin would again take up his pen and complete his memoir.
The first section, the letter to his son, is the best part of the book. Here, the plot drives the story with some divergences into his philosophy. He describes his modest childhood in Boston and his gradual ascent to civic leader in Philadelphia. He shares his many disappointments (friends who had deceived him) and his many accomplishments (establishing a secret philosophical club, a successful printing press, a public library, and the list goes on and on).
In the next half of the book, taken up at the requests of his friends, he delves deeper into his personal philosophy and describes his system to work on the 13 virtues he needed to perfect to arrive at "moral perfection." He notes the impossibility of this project but believes the pursuit in itself made him a better person. He also gives more details on his public works and his role in Pennsylvania's government. Despite divulging his thoughts on religion and ethics, Franklin seems more distant than in the first section, and I didn't get a good grasp on his life in his later years.
But what's most remarkable about Franklin's autobiography is his unpretentious writing style. He strikes a conversational tone, coasting through one anecdote to the next, or what he sardonically describes as "rambling digressions." Only toward the end does this charming tone flags a bit.
I strongly recommend this autobiography to people who've a strong interest in the Founding Fathers. People with a passing interest should try reading at least some background information on Franklin, because you won't get the full portrait of the man here. You learn little about his family or inventions, and the autobiography stops (quite suddenly) when he's in England for a dispute between the Pennsylvania Assembly and governor. Overall, though, the readability of the book for its time is astounding.
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