Benjamin Franklin is one of remarkable individuals that ever existed. He was not only part of the founding fathers of the United States but also the founder of the University of Pennsylvania, a great businessman and even a diplomat who was sent to England as a representative from Pennsylvania. As a man, he had such a diverse skill set during his lifetime ranging from science, literary aptitude to musical performance. He also wrote an almanac that became popular under the pseudonym Richard Saunders. It was called “ Poor Richard’s Almanac” where it contains some of the common sayings that we know of today. All of these information can be found inside his own autobiography.

With all of his remarkable achievements, through his own autobiography he lays out his childhood to his prime days. One thing that I personally notice is that Benjamin Franklin values time. It is expressed not only in this Poor Richard’s Almanac that I read previously but also very well stated in his autobiography. In his autobiography he takes you traveling through time and inside this biography, you can find his thirst for knowledge and fondness for reading.

Benjamin had a supportive father who eventually sent him to grammar school because he would make a good scholar. His “bookish” inclination made him a printer and eventually work for his brother James in Boston. Sometime later, he started living in Pennsylvania and as a book lover, he noticed that there was no good book shop so he decided to establish a public subscription library. He started by making some agreement with the promising subscribers and eventually opened the library. With this library in town, he managed to afford constant study and he mentioned that “reading was the only amusement I allowed myself” whereas he mentioned that people his age were going to clubs, games and other forms of entertainment.

Young Benjamin also established 13 virtues in his life that he attempted in doing daily. Some of the virtues include “Temperance’” where he mentioned to eat moderately and “drink not to elevation.” And as I previously mentioned about his seemingly obsession with time, in his virtue, he said

He was trying to do all of that and eventually to accomplish his virtues, he made a schedule which is quite famous among self-improvement and productivity niche today. Benjamin Franklin’s schedule basically starts from 5 AM to 10 PM where he in his book lays out what he did during the 24 hours. He was, according to his schedule, sleeping 6 hours/day.

In the end, in his autobiography, he was also including some letters that he wrote to his acquaintances and that ended the book, from this remarkable man.

I stumbled upon his book many years ago but only about last week, I started reading Poor Richard's Almanac with the selected version of it. That eventually made me curious about Benjamin Franklin and from Project Gutenberg, I found this autobiography. I personally think that his wisdom is quite timeless and still relevant till today. If you’re looking for bite sized reading, the almanac has a lot of wisdom that you can apply into your life or learn from it.

What is quite striking to me is that he created 13 virtues and it inspired me to rethink something similar that would be the guide of my mission and goals in life. Those 13 virtues was the anchor’s from Benjamin’s life and schedule and as you know, he accomplished quite a lot in this lifetime. That being said, almost all of his sayings are my favorite quotes but most importantly, this one sticks with me like a glue

Buy what thou hast no Need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy Necessaries.

I certainly recommend this book for anyone to read. It’s also friendly to all ages and I have to say, the younger they get to be introduced to this book, the better it will be. That being said, see you in my next book review!