A classic. More than anyone else, Franklin may have been the template for what Americans like to think of as the prototypical American: ambitious, disciplined, enterprising, entreprenurial, gregarious, socially oriented, creative and dynamic.

All of which calls to mind later entities: Horatio Alger,Tom Swift, Dale Carnegie, "Silicon Vallyites" among others... ( )

I've tried reading this a dozen times over the years & had trouble with it. I finally did get through it & am very glad I did. Very interesting man, but not my style of writing. ( )

Ben Franklin was not the best guy. The editorializing of his life by himself during the writing forces me to view him in a more negative light than I should, probably. I wasn't really impressed by anything that Franklin achieved through guile, and the idea of making yourself morally perfect is utterly pointless. In the end, he was a man, just like many other men. ( )

an inspiration. the language style can be a hard read at times. ( )

Kasual Kafes review of this book ( )