Benjamin Franklin

I am presently looking for a good biography on Benjamin Franklin. One that documents his ideas, actions, accomplishments, and character. I have already read several intermediate books about him, but that was a few years ago and I am looking to reimmerse myself in his life.

In my opinion, Benjamin Franklin is, perhaps only behind leonardo da vinci, the paragon example of a Renascence man. He constantly applied his voracious mind to almost every task in what lead to a seemingly endless list of accomplishments. He wrote insatiably, invented many practical devices as well as a musical instrument, he pioneered into the then-scientifically novel subject of electricity, he made a huge mark in every community that he inhabited, and was one of the most influential founding father of the greatest nation on earth. And yet this ever so lofty list hardly does justice to the scope of his achievements.

Man needs role models; Benjamin Franklin was one of mine a few years ago. After reading that Ben made an 8x8 magic square, I endeavored to do the same. I completed it in roughly 3 hours of mentally stimulating elbow grease, which unfortunately I misplaced somewhere. But for some reason, my interest in him faded for the last two years, looking more towards other renascence men such as da vinci to provide for a model.

This changed recently, however, as my inspiration derived from Franklin's legacy has been renewed. He truly was a great man, and as I read about his life and accomplishments in further detail, I will not fail to document the one's I see fit on this blog. In fact, I am even ruminating about writing a novel based on a mentor developing an uber renascence man. But that is a subject for a different post