Ben and Me: In Search of a Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful Life by Eric Weiner: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

 

Today's Featured Book: 

Ben and Me: In Search of a Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful Life

by Eric Weiner

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: June 11, 2024

Page Count: 328 pages

Summary: 

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.

Not a conventional biography, Ben & Me is a guide to living and thinking well, as Ben Franklin did. It is also about curiosity, diligence, 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, quirky, Ben & Me distills the essence of Franklin’s ideas into grounded, practical wisdom for all of us.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

The more I learned about Ben Franklin, the more I suspected he just might be the mentor, the guide to ageing and to living, I’ve been seeking. The last third of his life was by far the most interesting, and the first two-thirds were downright fascinating. It was in his closing act, a time when he could have been doing the colonial equivalent of golfing in Florida, that he accomplished the most and changed the most. This was when Franklin the Loyalist became Franklin the Rebel and, later, when Franklin the Enslaver became Franklin the Abolitionist. This was when he charmed the French into supporting the American cause. It was also, paradoxically, when Franklin found the almost Buddha-like serenity that had long eluded him.

Weiner, Eric. Ben & Me: In Search of a Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful Life (pp. XV-XVI). Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

What would Ben make of the young man I see on Market Street, wearing a red T-shirt and sneakers, cradling a Styrofoam cup and a cardboard sign that reads, “Homeless and Hungry. Please help?” Franklin would feel sympathy for the man and might offer to help him find work, but he would not drop any coins in the cup. Franklin was opposed to handouts, fearing they create dependency and “encourage idleness and prodigality… thus multiplying beggars, instead of diminishing them.” He fell in the teach-a-man-to-fish camp. “I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.” 

If you’re thinking this stance makes Franklin a Reagan Republican, not so fast. He also held views that would tickle a modern liberal’s bleeding heart. He opposed private ownership of “superfluous property.” He thought taxation (with representation, of course) was a good idea and a civil obligation. “He can have no right to the benefits of society who will not pay his club towards the support of it.” He thought elected officials should work for free, and prisons should be humane. There’s something for every political persuasion in Franklin’s words and life.

Weiner, Eric. Ben & Me: In Search of a Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful Life (pp. 54-55). Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. 

Thoughtful. And light. I'm sure I'll have more to say when I finish this book...

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

September is Library Card Sign-Up Month. What role have libraries played in your reading journey? Do you have any recommendations for books or fond recollections involving libraries? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

As self-appointed Queen of the Library, I serve as a cheerleader for libraries. Libraries change lives. Libraries serve as guardians of public access to knowledge. In 2016, Americans visited the public library 1.35 billion times, about 4 million visits each day. That year, 113 million people attended 5.2 million programs at the library, more than all Major League Baseball, National Football League and National Basketball Association games combined. Students in high-poverty schools are almost twice as likely to graduate when the school library is staffed with a certified school librarian....I could go on and on...