Part biography, part travelogue, part self-help, New York Times bestselling author Eric Weiner follows in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, mining his life for inspiration and practical lessons for living a purposeful and virtuous life.
Ben Franklin lingers in our lives and in our imaginations. One of only two non-presidents to appear on US currency, Franklin was a founder, statesman, scientist, inventor, diplomat, publisher, humorist, and philosopher. He believed in the American experiment, but Ben Franklin's greatest experiment was…Ben Franklin. In that spirit of betterment, Eric Weiner embarks on an ambitious quest to live the way Ben lived.
"A warm combination of homage and introspective memoir" (Kirkus Reviews), Ben & Me is a guide to living and thinking well, as Ben Franklin did. It is also about curiosity, respect for virtue, and, most of all, the elusive goal of self-improvement. As Weiner follows Franklin from Philadelphia to Paris, Boston to London, he attempts to uncover Ben's life lessons, large and small. We learn how to improve a relationship with someone by inducing them to do a favor for you-a psychological phenomenon now known as The Ben Franklin Effect. We learn about the printing press (the internet of its day), early medicine, diplomatic intrigue, and, of course, electricity. And we learn about ethics, persuasion, humor, regret, appetite, and so much more.
At a time when history is either neglected or contested, Weiner argues we have much to learn from the past and that we'd all be better off if we acted and thought a bit more like Ben did, even if he didn't always live up to his own high ideals. Engaging, smart, moving, and quirky, Ben & Me distills the essence of Franklin's ideas into grounded, practical wisdom for all of us. Eric Weiner is author of the New York Times bestsellers The Geography of Bliss (now a docu-series featuring Rainn Wilson) and The Geography of Genius, as well as the critically acclaimed Man Seeks God and The Socrates Express. A former international correspondent for NPR, his work has appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the anthology Best American Travel Writing. He lives with his family and a menagerie of animals in the Washington, DC, area. For more information, visit: EricWeinerBooks.com. "This portrait of Founding Father Ben Franklin is part biography, part travelog, and part personal commentary. Because of that, it's eminently suited to audio. Author Eric Weiner is the narrator, and his presentation exactly fits the material. His pace is easy to follow, and his tone is easy on the ears. As he walks in the footsteps of Franklin in the various places where he lived, Weiner's narration is like an ongoing conversation with the listener. You see what the author sees and can easily imagine what Franklin saw. The book is filled with small details that spice the narrative. The book is fun to listen to-any audiobook that can make an hour of weeding the garden fly by is a real winner."
