Franklin's Autobiography

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.4

Word count: 423K words
Chapters: 43

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. Franklin's Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin. Author: Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790. Language: English. Class: E300: History: America: Revolution to the Civil War (1783-1861). Release Date: May 18, 2011

Editor's review

Franklin's Autobiography is Benjamin Franklin's self-account written in epistolary form, recording his course from printing apprentice to businessman and participant in public affairs, with the passages on self-education through reading, habit formation, and self-cultivation especially often quoted. This Project Gutenberg edition preserves the original English as a public-domain resource, freely accessible and suitable as material for reading English biography and learning to write. The book presents the social landscape of the eighteenth-century North American colonies and a narrative of personal striving; readers can see both a self-taught man's methodology and the narrative strategies of autobiographical form. A caution: the book is not a complete,连贯 final draft—parts were written at different times and the narrative jumps—and Franklin's perspective carries the limitations of his era, so readers should keep a critical eye. It is better as a supplementary reader for biography and English writing than as an introduction to American Revolutionary history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to learn about Franklin's methods of self-education and self-cultivation
English learners who hope to improve reading and writing through an English biography
Readers interested in the social landscape of the eighteenth-century North American colonies
Chinese writing enthusiasts in need of a model of autobiographical style

Not a good fit for

Readers who want a systematic understanding of the course of the American Revolutionary War
Readers expecting a complete,连贯 biographical narrative and disliking the jumps of epistolary form
Beginners with weak English who need sentence-by-sentence Chinese对照

Reading tips

Read first the chapters on self-education through reading and habit formation, then go back and read the whole book's thread.
Keep a pen and copy out the self-cultivation items mentioned in the book, checking them against your own daily habits.
Read alongside background material on the eighteenth-century North American colonies to understand the era's context.
After finishing, write a reading note of about three hundred words in English to practice biographical narration.

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.

FAQ

Is this book a complete autobiography?

Not a strictly complete final draft. Franklin wrote at several periods, and the content breaks off partway through his life, with jumps in the narrative. Readers should treat it as an unfinished self-account rather than a连贯, complete biography.

Do I need to know American history first to read this book?

You don't need to read history first, but a basic background in the eighteenth-century North American colonies will make the people and events easier to understand. You can look up background as you read; there's no need to wait until you're fully prepared to begin.

Is the part about habit formation worth reading closely?

Yes. Franklin's self-cultivation items and daily check methods are part of his self-education practice and still have reference value for today's readers. But understand them in their historical context; there's no need to copy every practice.

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About the author

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 Author

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was a renowned American statesman, scientist, inventor, writer, and publisher, and one of the key figures of the early United States. Born in Boston, he apprenticed as a printer and later ran a printing and publishing business in Philadelphia, gaining wide repute. He conducted important experiments in electricity, argued for the conservation of charge, and invented the lightning rod. As a statesman, he helped draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and served as minister to France. The library holds fifteen of his works, the best known being his Autobiography, which recounts his self-education and moral self-improvement in plain, sincere, and instructive prose, exerting a lasting influence on American literature and inspirational writing.