I would recomend this book for all readers. This book teaches you about Ben Franklin and how he invented magic squares. It also tell you about some of the other things that Ben Franklin invented. Some things are stoves, a special rocking chair, the first library, and much more. Then it explains how Ben Franklin became a clerk of the Pennsylvania Colonial assembly. For many days Ben listened to the other members argus. Then one day Bean started doodling. Ben doodled people, new inventions, and his pet squirrel. The other members were still arguing so Ben decided to do a math puzzle. The math puzzle had turned into magic squares. This is how we have magic squares today.

I came to find that this book can make history fun to learn about and that young kids should read this great book about Ben Franklin. Ben Franklin was always busy. He was a writer, a scientist, an a inventer. in this book you will learn some of Ben Frankiln's inventions. The main idea of this book is to tell you how Ben came up with magic squares. How do you think he came up with magic squares. Find out what some of Ben Franklin's inventions and how and why he came up magic squares when you read this great book Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares!!
Katie

Mr.Murphy , My teacher was the Author of this book! I just know that last month. I think it was a great book, there were a lot of stuff about Ben Franklin. But if you want to study Ben Franklin, don't read it, because there were not much informnation in it, it will just raise you time. But if you want to read something for fun, read it, there were some funny picture in it.

This book is very good. Ben Franklin has a great style. This book is very short, but he gets to the point. Although this bookw as wriiten before the American Revolution, the suggestions are still relevant today. This book is a good little sermon on what to do if you want wealth, dont sleep all day, dont take on debt, etc. I enjoyed it. The cover and binding are very nice too.

its an awesome book keep it near you at all times teahes a lot in a few a real 5 star book buy it hear and start your succesful life now of wealth and happiness

A great little book, that teaches a lot in a few pages.

Keep it in your Jacket's pocket and read it whenever you have a minute to spare.

A very practical read for especially busy executives; it should take maybe less than a hour.

I have been a student of personal finance for many years (Charles Givens, and others) spent over a thousand dollars on what is good information, too. However, the biggest bang for the buck has to be Uncommon Cents. What they do in 114 pages is concise, entertaining, loaded with cartoons, and right on! The plan to get out of debt works, a personal testimonial, and the financial myths timeless. Highly recommended reading!

This is a must read book. It explains in such a simple format as to how to control your expeditures and curb instant gratification. I first bought it in 1990, and now I have bought a number of copies as presents for friends - and even my accountant. I highly endorse this publication. It is the best financial planning advice.

If you can still get this book, try. This should be a text book that is used in all high schools and by parents giving their children/young adults a very simple and pragmatic way of dealing with and understanding their finances. Although life and finances can get much more complicated, if everyone started out with this book and practiced its teachings, maybe we would do a better job at controlling debt and curb the need for instant gratification.

What would you call Benjamin Franklin? Was he a scientist, an inventor, a printer, a postmaster, a diplomat, or a founding father? Well, to find out, read
" Benjamin Franklin," written by Peter and Connie Roop. Ben Franklin`s life began by being a poor soap maker`s son in Boston. By the time he was 17, he had already run off to Philadelphia to be a printer`s apprentice. During his life he had helped discover and create many different things like bifocals, the Franklin stove, lightning rods, electrical circuits, and the United States Constitution.
In this biograpy, Peter and Connie Roop have shown the readers not their opinions, but Franklin`s instead. This book uses mostly primary sources like Ben Franklin`s autobiography and letters. I liked this book because it was not just a story, but partly a mystery and because it was half story, half fact by fact.
I recommend this book to 8-9 year old readers who enjoy reading about U.S. history. So what is a scientist, an inventor, a printer, a postmaster, a diplomat and a founding father? Benjamin Franklin, of course!

The "In Their Own Words" series tells the story of famous Americans using various primary documents. For the life of Benjamin Franklin, authors Peter and Connie Roop use not only Franklin's autobiography, but his letters, pamphlets, scientific papers, essays, and, of course, his epigrammatic sayings from "Poor Richard's Almanac." However, Franklin's words are not used as much as you would think. So while this is a solid juvenile biography of Franklin, it really does not use his own words much more than an "ordinary" biography. This book has various illustrations, including paintings representing Franklin's life, photographs of a printing press and some of his inventions from his life, and reproductions of some of the things he printed. A photograph of his grave in Philadelphia is accompanied by a reproduction of his handwritten instructions for his epitaph. In the final analysis, despite the irony of the book not living up to its own title, "In Their Own Words: Benjamin Franklin" will give young readers a solid introduction to the life of the greatest American president never to be president.

This book is a very good book because we can follow the good characters Benjamin Franklin did in his life.

Isaacson is a superb biographer. (I've read his book on Henry Kissinger, and even though I don't agree with some of his conclusions, I admit it is a good book.) I'll have more to say about this book when I'm through with it. But I can say this: Isaacson's writing is worth the reading.

And the subject itself? Franklin is only one of four people whose portraits I hang on the wall in my own home......and he is the only American. (The others include Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist, and Mao Zedong.)

I consider Franklin a true hero, a near-universal genius (possibly the only talents he lacked were artistic and musical), a great revolutionary, a loving and loveable man......in short, one of the greatest minds with one of the biggest hearts that ever lived. He succeeded in everything he tried his hand at: business, letters, science, invention, politics, civic duties, philanthropy, even women (Franklin was smoother than James Bond). Franklin founded the U of Penn, the first American fire department, the first American postal service, the first American "knowledge academy" (the prestigious American Philosophical Society), among numerous American firsts. As a self-made businessman Franklin would be worth a couple of billions in today's money, according to one source ("The Wealthy 100"). He honors in the sciences would altogether be equivalent to at least one Nobel Prize in Physics (he won the Copley Gold Medal of the Royal Society, picked up scores of honorary degrees, and was a fellow of both the RS and the French Academy). (As Harvard's I B Cohen pointed out, Franklin's understanding of electricity was much more fundamental than a mere kite experiment. A Nobel Prize, had it existed then, would have been more than appropriate for his theoretical writings on electricity alone - never mind his other scientific contributions.)

Franklin was also a great American. In fact, Franklin, the only signer of all five key documents which created the United States, was really and literally the first American. He was mentor to Jefferson, and was respected by Washington (though not by the slightly unbalanced Adams, who disliked Washington also). If Washington was the Founding Father, then Franklin was the Founding Mother. And while the Father could be cold and distant at times, the Mother was always warm and doting.

I have many books on my great hero Ben Franklin - and I use this term "hero" very selectively. And I'm happy to add this book to my library. I'm sure you'll do the same.

In my review of Edmund Morgan's biography of Franklin, I observed that while reading it I felt as if I had been allowed to tag along throughout the course of Franklin's life in much the same manner that I had while David McCullough examines the life of John Adams. There is a compelling sense of immediacy in Morgan's and McCullough's biographies. That is less true of Isaacson's approach. His primary purpose, rather, is to have his reader understand and appreciate Franklin from a 21st century perspective: "We see his reflection in our own time."

To at least this reader, it seems as if Isaacson had just returned from a roundtrip visit in a time machine and then at a press conference said "Let me tell you all about Benjamin Franklin ...and share my thoughts about his significance to us today." He draws upon the same research sources that other Franklin biographers have. Both halos and warts are duly acknowledged. Of special interest to me is what Isaacson has to say about Franklin's pragmatic approach to both problems and opportunities, from the years of apprenticeship in his brother's printing company in New York until just before his death when he made one final (unsuccessful) attempt to have slavery abolished.

When quoting social critic David Brooks's phrase, "our founding Yuppie," Isaacson correctly suggests that throughout the 84 years of his life and work, Franklin was sustained by an entrepreneurial spirit. He became "America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he was also one of the most practical, though not most profound, political thinkers....But the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself."

Isaacson carefully organizes his material within sixteen chapters (from "Benjamin Franklin and the Invention of America" to "Sage: Philadelphia, 1785-1790") and then in the final chapter shares his "Conclusions." I suggest that two of the sections which follow ("Cast of Characters" and "Chronology") be read first, thus providing a frame of reference within which to gain a better perspective on the life and work of "our founding Yuppie."

Each year, I make it a point to re-read Franklin's Autobiography as well as Thoreau's Walden and Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" inorder to re-connect with some of the most powerful ideas which have guided and shaped our nation's intellectual history. I have always been especially fascinated by Franklin the man with whom I feel a personal rapport that I do not with Thoreau and Emerson. It is Franklin's compelling humanity which enlightens and sustains Morgan's and Isaacson's correlations of Franklin with the age in which he lived. For these and other reasons, I am deeply grateful to them for increasing and nourishing my appreciation of him.

Isaacson's substantial (493-page) but ever-lively examination of Franklin's continuous self-reinvention does indeed leave no doubt whatsoever of his relevance to our own time, centuries later, as we also struggle with a fundamental issue: "How does one live a life that is useful, virtuous, moral, and spiritually meaningful? For that matter, which of these attributes is most important?" Isaacson goes on to suggest, "These are questions just as vital for a self-satisfied age as they are for a revolutionary one." Today and for years to come, how well we answer these questions will to a great extent determine whether or not we prove worthy of a heritage to which Franklin made so many and such unique contributions.

This may be the last word on Americana. Ben Franklin, perhaps like Isaacson himself, is a journalist...technologist... entrepreneur...politician who wants the best for his country and his time. His take on Franklin is a look into the soul of America, though Isaacson goes a little light on Franklin's philandering and cuts him a break on the veracity of his kite-flying experiment. But still, wow, what a read. It makes you wish we could live in the time of Franklin. At least we get to live in the time of Isaacson.

Giblin and Dooling have collaborated to make a perfect picture book biography. Roy Goodman's (leading Ben Franklin historian) expertise makes this book a wealth of information that can assist children in the writing of school reports. This book is so rich with detail. The fact that there is an Illustrator's Note by Dooling makes this a real candidate for at least a Caldecott Honor. I have visited Dooling's web site and now plan to purchase a sketch or original painting from this book! Outstanding!

What famous person helped start the first library in the American colonies? Who also helped to establish the first fire department in the American colonies? Who helped establish the first hospital in Philadelphia? Who first proved the electricity and lightning were one and the same thing? Even if you didn't guess right, you will probably agree that the man who did all of these things, plus a whole lot more, had to be a very interesting fellow. And he was. In THE AMAZING LIFE OF BEN FRANKLIN, James Cross Giblin tells us all about it. Ben was born in Boston, the youngest of ten sons, and one of seventeen children. When he was ten years old, he started helping out in his father's soap and candlemaking shop, and he absolutely hated it. His father then apprenticed him to his brother, a printer, and printing turned out to be one of the many things that Ben loved to do. In fact, on his tombstone, that is all he wanted said-B. Franklin, a printer. But we all know now that Ben turned out to be one of the most famous and most beloved people in American history-and this is his story. There are great color illustrations. This is the best possible introduction to our own beloved Ben Franklin.

What can I say? It's Benjamin Franklin! One of our beloved American forefathers with so much wisdom, it applies to not only our fellow Americans, but to the worldly human race. This compilation is full of tidbits from his "Poor Richard's Almanac" columns written for the hungry wisdom and logical seeking people back in early America. This is a timeless collection of suggestions and instructions that make perfect SENSE. Buy this and learn about YOUR life and how to make life better for not only yourself, but the others around you.

A wonderful book of sayings that espouse Ben Franklin's views on life. In general, he was an advocate of honesty, hard work, moderation in all indulgences, and being a good person. While these may sound like simple principles, the wittiness and cleverness with which they are presented make them memorable and therefore useful.

Buy two copies of this book -- one for yourself and one for your child when they reach their teenage years. You'll both be better off. My copy is marked up so I can easily find my favorite sayings, and I find myself flipping through it often.

Anyone, whom has any ounce of education, common sense or wit for that matter, should know that Benjamin Franklin should be and is still (even as I write this very moment) considered one of the smartest, wittiest and most cerebral person/scholar/learned man to have live in (or have been born for that matter) in this country. Poor Richards Almanack by Benjamin Franklin is not an exception and is filled with a plethora of witty, funny and educational allegories, poems and short parables, e.g., "Fish and visitors stink after three days". I absolutely loved this book and would definitely recommend it to the aspiring scholar/learned man or philosopher; and I do consider it, i.e., Poor Richards Almanack by Benjamin Franklin to be one of the cornerstones in the intellectual man's library.

I've read a lot of books about Franklin, but this one is in a class of its own. It's a psycho-biography (kinda) that traces Franklin's religious development from his early childhood through the rest of his life. Nope, he's not the deist we learned about in school. Instead, he's what Walters calls a "perspectivist." If that sounds boring or dry, think again. The book reads like a novel. I definitely recommend this one. It puts a new spin on old Benjamin. My only objection is that sometimes you have to wonder how much of this is Walters, and how much Franklin. So it loses one star.

Kerry S. Walters has written one of the best studies of 18th century religion yet produced. Benjamin Franklin is a difficult subject, in part because as Walters puts it, Franklin "wrote both too much and too little about his religious thought." (p. 4) Different historians read the same documents and come up with radically different interpretations of their meaning. Walters, however, has produced a nuanced study, sensitive to the wider religous context in which Franklin lived his life, and profoundly learned too in the cultural and intellectual developments of the Atlantic enlightenment. By meticuously locating Franklin within this larger context, he has written a work which sheds insight both into Franklin himself, as well as the larger society in which he lived. To do this in 151 pages of lucid and economical prose is quite a worthy achievement.

Walters argues that Franklin's religious views developed in tension between two ultimately irreconciliable religious traditions. On the one hand was the Calvinism of his native Boston, the faith of his father, with its sophisticated Augustinian piety. On the other hand was the "New Learning" which captivated so many polite and cultivated men and women on both sides of the Atlantic, the faith of men like Isaac Newton or John Locke, with its concomitant liberal Christian emphasis on the capacity of human reason to arrive at religous truth. As a young man, Franklin wavered, adhering first to the one and then the other.

As a mature adult, however, Franklin came to accept the ambiguity of his earlier commitments. "Recognizing that a Newtonian-inspired deism was spiritually impoverished, but unable either rationally or emotionally to return to the orthodoxy of his boyhood, he was at loose ends for a few years," Walters argues. But in 1728 Franklin found a way to reconcile the contradiction. "The solution he arrived at--his doctrine of theistic perspectivism--enabled him to escape from the mechanistically sterile cosmos into which he had drifted without falling back into a Calvinist worldview whose central tenets he found unacceptable." (p. 12)

As Walters explains, Franklin's perspectivism stemmed from a belief in an inaccessible God, which humans symbolically represent to themselves in order to establish an emotional and intellectual relationshop with the divine. This means that while God *is*, there are various human representations of God as well. "These anthropomorphized conceptions of the divine," Walters writes, "serve as the foci for personal adoration as well as sectarian theologizing." (p. 10) The result, then, is a commitment to religious toleration because human representions of the divine are culturally and historically bounded. Human religous traditions, to the extent that they share the same purposes, contain some worth.

In arguing for this understanding of religion--an understanding which arises from the tension between the two religious traditions within which Franklin was working--Walters can explain Franklin's religous statements with a cogency missing from earlier accounts. While Walter's statement of Franklin's perspectivism may sound superficially anachronistic, that is a misreading of this work. This is a terrific exercise in intellectual and relgious history, and Walter's demonstrates convincingly the historical origins in Franklin's thought of the theology he discusses.

I really like this book, even though I'm not sure I agree with its spin on Franklin's religion. Walters argues that Ben is a "perspectivist"--basically, a proponent of religious fictions that he knows have no objective basis, but which he thinks are necessary for psychological health and social stability. The case is well presented and nicely written. (Would that all historians wrote as well!) But I can't help thinking that Franklin comes out more of a twentieth-century existentialist than he is--complete with religious angst and identity crisis. What the heck, though. This is one good book. My guess is that it's going to make a lot of people mad--especially those good American Christians who want to think that all the "Founding Fathers" of the USA were also Christians. As Walters demonstrates, it just ain't so.

subject. He also spent more time in England than any of the "founding fathers". This is a biography but also the history of how the British lost America thru their own stupidity. Franklin had a logical & forward thinking mind. He knew that America would not be a colony forever. That America could be ruled for much longer by a small island accross the the ocean was not reasonable. But that would happen long after he was dead. His coming of age politically was The Albany Plan of Union in 1754 which dicusses such proposals as uniting the various states & a constitution. This was all in the context of remaining in the British Empire. This book is his story of disaffection & final break with the mother country. Truly America's first world wide celbrity.

Most illuminating, well written ,historical accuracy not found in our educatonal institutions. The views of Franklin's life are incisive. The work demonstrates that he, as select other men, had the vision, the education , the conviction and the ability to follow his thoughts through to fruition. Mr. Franklin's thought about the need for a 'constitution' began its development in the 1740s, and ended in 1789 at the Phildadelphia Convention. Miss Bowen alludes to this man's quite complicated personal and private life. Franklin's liasons arte tastefully mentioned as his style of life is clearly presented. His wish for privacy is highlighed although he was outgoing and social. He remained faithful and loyal to his wife in spirit, with affection and support throughout his long married life. The emphasis of this text is on Ben Franklin's many contributions to the development of this Country,and his wisdom in the nascent field of science. He was a fierce independent thinker who cared out "these united states".

A book not to be ignored and to be put before out senior adolecents as a 'must' read.

This is one of the best written books on an historical subject I have ever read.

This is a fun book that shopuld help your youngster develop an interest in American History. It is easy to read an has great illustratiions. You will not be disappointed with this purchase.

I was so impressed with the descriptive wording of this book. I'm not a normal biography reader, but this worked perfectly for my 3rd graders. It held there interest, made them laugh, and actually taught them something! A great read for all ages.

This is a good book because it has good facts about Ben Franklin. This has a varity of experiments in it. But the greatest one of all is where Ben tries to see if lightning is electricty. Ben makes history in this book. This book is written by Mrs. Jean Fritz. I hope you enjoy this book.