8 h 10 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can a tired young printer with bread under his arms teach you about building a useful life?
Benjamin Franklin writes to his son William to explain how a poor boy from Boston finds prosperity and purpose. His unfinished autobiography follows him from apprenticeship with his brother James to the streets of Philadelphia, where he arrives dirty, tired and almost out of money.
As Franklin builds his printing business, he studies the habits that help or hinder a life. Hard work, frugality, reading and friendship become practical tools. His lively, often funny account moves from a private plan for moral perfection to public projects: a library, a fire company and a hospital.
What you’ll discover
- An arrival to remember Walk through Philadelphia with a hungry young Franklin carrying bread and looking for a beginning.
- The work behind success Follow a printer who treats honest dealing and steady effort as tools for building prosperity.
- A revealing personal experiment Explore Franklin's attempt to practise one virtue each week in pursuit of a faultless life.
- Private success, public purpose See how a thriving business leads Franklin toward projects that serve the people of Philadelphia.
- Curiosity beyond the printing house Join Franklin as electrical instruments open a field of study to explore with friends.
Who will love it
For readers who love practical wisdom, early American history, and a wry self-portrait told in plain words, and anyone who enjoys exploring habits for a useful life.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A candle maker's youngest son in Boston
- Learn to write, then leave your master
- Arrival in Philadelphia with three rolls
- Building a business and a circle of friends
- The plan to become morally perfect
- Doing good for the town, one project at a time
- Electricity, the stove and a surprising duty
- What Franklin really believes about success
- How the book was made and how it has lasted
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Autobiographie von Benjamin Franklin
by Benjamin Franklin · 1791
A runaway apprentice arrives in Philadelphia with bread under his arms and sets out to build a useful life.
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In short
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the unfinished life story of an American printer, writer, scientist and statesman. Franklin began it in 1771, while staying in the English countryside, and wrote it as a letter to his son William.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A candle maker's youngest son in Boston
The book opens as a letter. Franklin writes to his son William and says he has always enjoyed collecting small stories about his ancestors. He then sets down what he knows of his own family, who were farmers and blacksmiths in the village of Ecton in Northamptonshire. They kept the same trade and the same land for many generations, and Franklin treats this with affection and humor.
His father, Josiah, crossed the Atlantic to Boston in search of the freedom to worship as he chose. There he made soap and candles, a trade he had not been raised to. Benjamin was born in Boston in 1706 and was the youngest son in a very large family. His parents first meant him for the church, and they sent him to a grammar school. But the cost of a long education was too high, and after about a year he left.
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What is the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin about?
It tells of Franklin's early life, from his Boston childhood and printing apprenticeship to his rise in Philadelphia as a printer, civic organizer and scientist. It is also a guide to the habits he thought led to a useful life.
Why did Benjamin Franklin write his autobiography?
He began it as a letter to his son William, wanting to record his family history and the way he rose from humble beginnings. Later he saw that his story could also teach others practical habits.
What are Franklin's thirteen virtues?
They are temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity and humility. He practised one each week and tracked his faults in a small book, hoping to build lasting good habits.
The author
Benjamin Franklin
1706–1790 · American polymath and statesman
Benjamin Franklin was an American printer, scientist, inventor, diplomat, and founding father. His Autobiography, which traces his rise from runaway apprentice to celebrated statesman, remains one of the most engaging self-portraits in all of American literature.
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