Benjamin Franklin
An American Life
by Walter Isaacson, Boyd Gaines, Nelson Runger · first published 2003
64% recommend36% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Fascinating, well-regarded biography of Franklin as a driven, funny renaissance man, with a tour through early American history; suits readers who like learning from the lives of accomplished people.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Chronicles the founding father's life and his multiple careers as a shopkeeper, writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, business strategist, and political leader, while showing how his faith in the wisdom of the common citizen helped forge an American national identity based on the virtues of its middle class.
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It wasn't "An American Life" was it? https://www.amazon.ca/Benjamin-Franklin-American-Walter-Isaa... Great book and what an amazing human being! I remember it covered some of his time in England, but don't recall him staying with Hume. I read it quite a while ago though...
on “The Scotsmen Who Invented Modernity” ↗Franklin Autobiography: http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Benjamin-Franklin-Illust... Franklin Biography by Isaacson http://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-Franklin-ebook/dp/B000FBJG4U
on “Kevin Rose Interviews Elon Musk” ↗Recently read and highly recommended: - Platform Revolution - The Economic Singularity - Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
on “Summer Reading List” ↗Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (Walter Isaacson) Highly recommend it. Don't waste your time with Franklin's autobiography.
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?” ↗…Bhattacharya, a Von Neumann biography. Really helped understand the context of this great man’s achievements. On the Edge by Silver. The signal and the noise was a lot better (which I read last year) Benjamin Franklin by Isaacson. Fascinating renaissance man, interesting tour through US history Can’t Hurt Me by Goggins. This book helped me through some emotionally difficult times and has some really great life advice…
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson
on “Ask HN: What good books have you read lately?” ↗I'm really looking forward to this book, so much so that I just preordered it (which I normally don't do for books). Walter Isaacson is a great biographer. His Einstein and Benjamin Franklin biographies are amazing, definitely worth a read. Since this is Isaacson's first biography of a living person, I'm really looking forward to reading the result. I guess it'll cover a lot of things we…
on “Official Steve Jobs biography set for November 21 release” ↗…Wolfram Language Current Events - Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom Fiction - The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson Music - Jerry on Jerry (audiobook is a recorded interview of Garcia!) Biography - Benjamin Franklin An American Life by Walter Isaacson Autobiography - A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole All of these are highly recomended!
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗Big fan of Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin biography, but also did not enjoy his Jobs one. The most interesting part of the story was when Jobs returned to Apple and executed perfectly on everything. It seemed that he'd learned some very important…
on “Ted Dabney, a Founder of Atari and a Creator of Pong, Has Died” ↗…impact on my life. As an entrepreneur, I found the best way to learn about life is to read biographies of successful people, especially the ones that speak of the transformations. Shoe Dog - Phil Knight Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein - Walter Isaacson
on “Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?” ↗I realize this seems a bit like Valleywag-style tech celebrity gossip. But I posted it because the person writing the biography, Walter Isaacson, wrote a terrific biography of Benjamin Franklin. His Einstein biography is also well-regarded (I haven't read it). I've little doubt the Jobs biography will be very good, possibly superb.
on “Steve Jobs to cooperate on biography” ↗…book comes from how analogous it is to your current life situation and the number of habits it imbues on you thereafter. Two of those for me are: 1. Marcus Aurelius's Meditations 2. Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin
on “Ask HN: What books have changed your mind?” ↗Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson: I assume a HN classic. Good read nonetheless. Crazy imaginative. Prior experience with Stephenson is limited to Snowcrash, which I found to be quite good as well. Benjamin Franklin - Walter Isaacson: Biographies are immensely underrated. A good biography has had the effect of raising my own aspirations by orders of magnitude. Not sure what it is exactly about them. Being reminded…
on “Ask HN: What Are You Reading?” ↗Personally I thoroughly enjoyed both of Walter Isaacson's biographies on Jobs and Benjamin Franklin. I got a lot from both. What specifically makes the other biographies better? More details, wider points of view etc?
on “10,000 Hours with Claude Shannon (2017)” ↗Indeed! I love reading Benjamin Franklin for exaclty that. If you haven't read it, Walter Isaacson's biography on Franklin is absolutely fascinating. Brilliant, hilarious, driven, and wildly accomplished. The dude was (IMHO) one of the most…
on “Why does current flow the opposite way from the electrons?” ↗