The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Franklin wrote his own life as a record of habits: how he learned, how he worked, and how he corrected himself. Begun as a letter to his son and continued in stages across later decades, the autobiography follows a printer's apprentice through business, science, public service and diplomacy, with the emphasis falling on method rather than on incident. The famous list of virtues and the daily schedule he kept are set out here, along with his account of founding libraries and other civic institutions. The prose is plain and often funny, and the book still reads as a practical argument for self-education and steady improvement. Notes for new readers: • Composed in stages across Franklin's later life • Sets out his system of thirteen virtues and daily review • Accounts of printing, invention and public institutions • Eighteenth-century prose that remains approachable For readers of biography, history and classic self-improvement writing, available at Boipoka.