Reading the biography of Benjamin Franklin

Not the autobiography, mind you

Growing up, I had learned a little bit about Benjamin Franklin. I had heard of the Silence Dogood letters, his kite-flying experiment, his work as a printer, and the fact that he was one of the few people to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I learned about him peripherally when reading Alexander Hamilton’s biography several years ago. But these few, isolated facts left me with a shallow picture of this influential man.

Inspired by some daydreams I’ve had lately about melding a political career with technical/scientific exploits, I decided to finally pick up Walter Isaacson’s 2003 book, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, and delve into the world of this unique Founding Father.

The first pages of the book reveal a stunning factoid about Franklin’s family background: he was the 15th of 17 children (from two different mothers). He was the youngest son of the brood, so he knew he would have to make his own way — not that he had any interest in taking over his father’s candle-making business, anyway.

Silence Dogood

At first he was apprenticed to his brother James, who had a printing shop in Boston. Franklin began his writing career there, penning a letter series for his brother’s…