This book tells the life of Benjamin Franklin in a first-hand account. He talks about his early aspirations from childhood, his love of knowledge and the drive to expand his mind. It was made so that he could tell people his story, record his life for future generations from his perspective, and tell the story of how a poor, ambitious young man became an icon for an entire country. The novel was written in a very short, almost staccato way, and is very easy to understand and interpret. The language is a little archaic for me, but that's to be expected with a book written in a foreign time with a different dialect than I'm used to. I found the book very inspiring and an incredible story of a man with a dream and who knows how to get it. The first section was addressed to the eldest son and talks about how he cannot relive his past himself, so he would do the next best thing and record it for his son, as Benjamin was very fond of his family history and hoped that his son was interested in his life story. He tells a substantial part of his family history, mostly on his father's side. As a young man he was very intelligent and was sent to school to become a preacher, but his father was too expensive to afford it. He then attended a school of reading and arithmetic, where he learned that he was very good at reading, but very little gifted at arithmetic. He failed arithmetic twice and had to learn it on his own later in life. He was apprenticed to his brother James who worked as a printer when he was very young. One day he and James got into an argument and Benjamin quit his job and moved to Philadelphia, which was a bit dramatic. Once he moved to Philadelphia, he became fr...... middle of paper ......tells of the life of a man whose father is a candle and soap maker by trade, who then goes to school to become a priest, he couldn't afford school, so he attended normal school and then learned various trades that would serve him for the rest of his life. He apprenticed with a book printer so he could follow his dreams, became a writer and sailed to England, went through a hard time and then returned to America to make a name for himself as one of the most important men of his era. .The book is a timeless story, which powerfully demonstrates that anyone can be great if they strive to achieve it. It is one of the best books of its kind and makes a powerful statement about life in general, not just in this time period. Inspires the reader to strive for greatness and follow what they believe they are destined for, even if it is not their original place in life..