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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.3092
EAN: 9780743258074
ISBN: 074325807X
Label: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 608
Publication Date: May 04, 2004
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Sales Rank: 1988
Studio: Simon & Schuster
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Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Highly readable, non-academic treatment
Walter Isaacson's resume reads much like that of his subject; businessman, publisher, head of a non-profit society and author. One wonders where he has found the time to produce this book and the biographies of Henry Kissinger and most recently that of Albert Einstein. He is definitely not an Academic and has produced a highly readable book that is aimed at the general reader, not the academic historian. As a general reader I appreciated this very much. Isaacson includes many of the little touches ... Read More
Rating: - An insight into one of the greatest lives
As a kid, growing up in India, Benjamin Franklin was known more for his contributions to the field of science. Little did I know that he was one of the founding fathers of the USA. And so when Walter Isaacson (a former editor at TIME magazine) wrote this book, I bought this book. Back then, the main reason underlying the buy was the fact that I felt (and I still feel) that TIME was very unbiased and expected the book to paint Benjamin Franklin as the man he was, and not a "whitewash" job of painting the ... Read More
Rating:  - Insightful, yes...entertaining, no.
If you want to learn about Ben Franklin this is a fine read. If you want to be entertained try something else. Isaacson's style is ponderorus and lacks energy and flow. Who would have thought that Franklin's wonderful life could be recounted in such boring detail.
Rating: - A Thorough Biography
Benjamin Franklin's long and productive life has a special appeal to many people. As Isaacson suggests, perhaps he is the founder who appeals to so many people because he seems more accessible. There are several things I learned in this book that I had not really considered before, mainly his relationship with his family and the opinions others had of him in succeeding generations. As the author remarks, we picture him (somewhat inaccurately) as a spectacled, elderly man engaging in his kite experiment or ... Read More
Rating:  - Ben Franklin, the good and the bad
I am a fan of narrative nonfiction history, so I was a bit offset when I started reading Benjamin Franklin. It's not really a narrative biography, but by the end of the first page, I didn't care.
The book is well written by Walter Isaacson and it is about a fascinating man. I knew very little about Benjamin Franklin when I began this book. Not so now.
Isaacson looks at the many facets of the man's life--printer, author, politician, diplomat, revolutionary, inventor, scientist. Franklin ... Read More
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