A Book of Gems, or, Choice Selections from the Writings of Benjamin Franklin

Franklin, Benjamin, 1812-1878Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5
Word count
744K words
Chapters
75

Tags

English Originals Classic Works Benjamin FranklinLife WisdomInspirationSocial ConductPractical PhilosophyAphorismsAmerican ThoughtSelf ImprovementMoral CultivationAnthology

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin FranklinAuthor: Franklin, Benjamin, 1812-1878,Language: English, Class: BX: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Churches, Church movements, Release Date: Jan 20, 2018

Editor's review

This Project Gutenberg edition of A Book of Gems is an English selection drawing on the writings of Benjamin Franklin. Its value lies not in offering a complete biography or a systematic philosophical treatise, but in presenting, in fragments, Franklin's views on diligence, temperance, self-cultivation, public affairs, and the lessons of life, giving readers quick access to the contours of his style and thought. As a public-domain electronic text, it serves well as English reading material and as an introduction to intellectual history: it lets readers feel the rhythm of eighteenth-century English aphoristic and epistolary prose, and it can also serve as a small sample for studying Franklin's reception history. Readers should note that this is a selection, not a complete works; the entries do not necessarily form a continuous argument, so it is better suited to casual browsing, excerpting, and annotation, or for use alongside complete texts such as Franklin's Autobiography. Because the original is in English and includes Project Gutenberg version information, readers need basic English reading ability and patience with the historical context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. First browse the table of contents or section headings, then choose three to five thematically related selections for concentrated reading and note-taking.
  2. Keep a pen handy to record sentences that strike you, and after finishing, summarize in one paragraph Franklin's stance on that theme.
  3. For deeper study, compare with Franklin's Autobiography or relevant historical background materials to verify the context of the selections.
  4. Read a fixed number of pages each week, treating the selections as a book of maxims to browse at leisure; there is no need to finish it in one sitting.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75

FAQ

Is this book Franklin's complete works? No. The title indicates that it is a selection from Franklin's writings, gathering chosen passages rather than complete treatises or the full autobiography. It suits fragmentary reading and preliminary understanding; for systematic research, use complete editions and scholarly annotated versions.
What level of English is needed to read this book? The original is eighteenth-century English, whose sentence patterns and vocabulary are distant from contemporary English. Intermediate or higher English reading ability is recommended, along with a willingness to look up unfamiliar words and historical background. If the goal is language learning, it can be used as short intensive reading material, with each passage checked and understood carefully.
What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition? Project Gutenberg is known for providing free public-domain ebooks, and this edition belongs to its electronic text series, typically including project notes and version information. Readers can obtain it free of charge, but should not expect modern publishers' translations, annotations, introductions, or typographic design; they will need to supply background knowledge themselves while reading.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Franklin, Benjamin, 1812-1878 Author

Benjamin Franklin (Franklin, Benjamin, 1812-1878) is an author about whom relatively little is known; publicly available information is limited, and his nationality, education, and specific career are not recorded in the existing materials. The library holds one work under his name, A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin Franklin. Judging from the title, it is an anthology compiled from the writings of Benjamin Franklin, gathering particularly refined pieces so that readers may read them in a concentrated form. The book belongs to the category of selected readings, tending toward reflective essays and aphoristic prose, concise and practical in style and moral in tone. On the available evidence, this author is closer to a compiler or editor, whose contribution lies mainly in the selection and circulation of the relevant texts. Owing to limited materials, further details of his life and the full scope of his writing remain to be examined.