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I can't recommend Walter Isaacson's biography of Ben Franklin enough. While some founding fathers turn out to be less interesting than expected (anyone with Ada

I can't recommend Walter Isaacson's biography of Ben Franklin enough. While some founding fathers turn out to be less interesting than expected (anyone with Adams in their name, e.g.), Franklin's life is legitimately bonkers and would not be believed if written as fiction. Between business, science, politics, and just life (family + friends), it could easily have been 8 or 9 interesting lives added together.

errcorrectcode 5y ago
Franklin was a pimp daddy player and a vegetarian too. Edit: I also recommend Franklin's autobiography and associated correspondence.
jaclaz 5y ago
A lesser known episode about Benjamin Franklin is when the British failed to respect the "paroles", to exchange prisoners, I use it to put a date to when honour ceased to exist, 5th November 1781: http://books.google.com/books?id=LaFYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA87 http://books.google.com/books?id=LaFYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA87 Briefly privateers were engaged for capturing British vessels. When they made prisoners they had them sign a paper in which they self-certified their status of prisoners, and were quickly released, by landing them on the nearest French or British land. When Benjamin Franklin tried to use these "paroles" to exchange them against American prisoners (as if they were actual English prisoners), the English had what must have been some of the best laughter they ever had.
- dkonofalski 5y ago
  This sounds interesting to me but, for some reason, I'm not understanding what the English would have been laughing about. Were they lying on the certificates? I assume that that's what you mean since they were self-certified but I feel like I might just be missing something here.
  - canniballectern 5y ago
    Sounds like the privateers promised on paper to hold British prisoners for a certain amount of time, but actually set them free at the first convenient opportunity. Franklin didn't know this, and tried to set up an exchange of on-paper British prisoners for real American ones. The British were laughing because Franklin didn't know that he'd been ripped off by the privateers.
    - jaclaz 5y ago
      The idea was that if you (British) had a (American) prisoner, you would release him in exchange for another (British) prisoner and - viceversa - if you (American) had a (British) prisoner you would release it in exchnage for a (American) prisoner. A simple exchange. The Americans had not the means (jails/prisons) to keep the prisoners in, so (evidently initially agreed with the British or anyway a comnmon at the time rule of honour in war times) they had the prisoner sign this "parole" document which amounted to an admission that the person had been captured in an action of war and that he was "virtually" a prisoner of the opposite army, even if actually set free, all in all not much different from a "I owe you ..." paper. So, in theory, one parole=one prisoner, and periodically the British and the American would settle the balance by releasing prisoners (in exchange for a same amount of prisoners or paroles). That until the British (to the utter Benjamin Franklin incredulity/astonishment) decided unilaterally that the "parole" was nothing but a piece of paper. In the letter Franklin says that he has 500 paroles (up to then "worth" 500 prisoners) that suddenly were worth nothing.
      - User23 5y ago
        That's amusing. It's analogous to the difference between paper money and specie at the time.
kmtrowbr 5y ago
I adore Benjamin Franklin and I've read many many books about him. This is my favorite biography of Franklin: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300095325/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300095325/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b... It is also very worth reading his actual writing -- one anthology is "The Portable Benjamin Franklin" -- it's quite long, but it gives you a much better sense of who he was. Benjamin Franklin himself was a better writer than ANY of his biographers: https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Benjamin-Franklin-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143039547 https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Benjamin-Franklin-Penguin-Cl... Ultimately he is a very amorphous, playful, and loving individual. In some ways you might think of him as being like David Bowie or the Beatles. A person, who having achieved wealth and fame, used it in the best possible way. If you have read the book "Finite and Infinite Games," he was playing the Infinite Game. Not that he needs more adulation! But as you dig deeper in Franklin becomes more mysterious & that part of him is not appreciated enough. The icon is not the man, if that makes sense. My favorite Franklin anecdote: "Did you know that Benjamin Franklin invented windsurfing?" It's not strictly true, but he loved kites, and loved swimming (he was one of the first swimming educators as, in the 18th century many people had a deathly fear of water and many many people drowned) and one day, he was swimming on his back, while flying a kite, and he noticed it dragged him through the water very quickly. "I believe this could be a mode of transport, or of recreation," (paraphrased) he wrote in a letter.
- capableweb 5y ago
  > My favorite Franklin anecdote: "Did you know that Benjamin Franklin invented windsurfing?" It's not strictly true I don't think it comes anywhere near to being true. While he's surely an interesting man, there is no need to attribute him as the discoverer of something that many tribes around in Polynesia have been doing for centuries.
  - kmtrowbr 5y ago
    Well, thank you -- I shall endeavor to better contain my enthusiasm in the future, and also to correctly attribute the invention of windsurfing to Polynesian tribes.
  - deleted 5y ago
kaesar14 5y ago
What do you think is overrated about the story of John Adams? I find him to be quite compelling.
- nwiswell 5y ago
  > I find him to be quite compelling. I agree. I was moved by the eponymous HBO miniseries and strongly recommend it.

errcorrectcode 5y ago

Franklin was a pimp daddy player and a vegetarian too. Edit: I also recommend Franklin's autobiography and associated correspondence.

jaclaz 5y ago

A lesser known episode about Benjamin Franklin is when the British failed to respect the "paroles", to exchange prisoners, I use it to put a date to when honour ceased to exist, 5th November 1781: http://books.google.com/books?id=LaFYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA87 http://books.google.com/books?id=LaFYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA87 Briefly privateers were engaged for capturing British vessels. When they made prisoners they had them sign a paper in which they self-certified their status of prisoners, and were quickly released, by landing them on the nearest French or British land. When Benjamin Franklin tried to use these "paroles" to exchange them against American prisoners (as if they were actual English prisoners), the English had what must have been some of the best laughter they ever had.

dkonofalski 5y ago
This sounds interesting to me but, for some reason, I'm not understanding what the English would have been laughing about. Were they lying on the certificates? I assume that that's what you mean since they were self-certified but I feel like I might just be missing something here.
- canniballectern 5y ago
  Sounds like the privateers promised on paper to hold British prisoners for a certain amount of time, but actually set them free at the first convenient opportunity. Franklin didn't know this, and tried to set up an exchange of on-paper British prisoners for real American ones. The British were laughing because Franklin didn't know that he'd been ripped off by the privateers.
  - jaclaz 5y ago
    The idea was that if you (British) had a (American) prisoner, you would release him in exchange for another (British) prisoner and - viceversa - if you (American) had a (British) prisoner you would release it in exchnage for a (American) prisoner. A simple exchange. The Americans had not the means (jails/prisons) to keep the prisoners in, so (evidently initially agreed with the British or anyway a comnmon at the time rule of honour in war times) they had the prisoner sign this "parole" document which amounted to an admission that the person had been captured in an action of war and that he was "virtually" a prisoner of the opposite army, even if actually set free, all in all not much different from a "I owe you ..." paper. So, in theory, one parole=one prisoner, and periodically the British and the American would settle the balance by releasing prisoners (in exchange for a same amount of prisoners or paroles). That until the British (to the utter Benjamin Franklin incredulity/astonishment) decided unilaterally that the "parole" was nothing but a piece of paper. In the letter Franklin says that he has 500 paroles (up to then "worth" 500 prisoners) that suddenly were worth nothing.
    - User23 5y ago
      That's amusing. It's analogous to the difference between paper money and specie at the time.

kmtrowbr 5y ago

I adore Benjamin Franklin and I've read many many books about him. This is my favorite biography of Franklin: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300095325/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300095325/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b... It is also very worth reading his actual writing -- one anthology is "The Portable Benjamin Franklin" -- it's quite long, but it gives you a much better sense of who he was. Benjamin Franklin himself was a better writer than ANY of his biographers: https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Benjamin-Franklin-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143039547 https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Benjamin-Franklin-Penguin-Cl... Ultimately he is a very amorphous, playful, and loving individual. In some ways you might think of him as being like David Bowie or the Beatles. A person, who having achieved wealth and fame, used it in the best possible way. If you have read the book "Finite and Infinite Games," he was playing the Infinite Game. Not that he needs more adulation! But as you dig deeper in Franklin becomes more mysterious & that part of him is not appreciated enough. The icon is not the man, if that makes sense. My favorite Franklin anecdote: "Did you know that Benjamin Franklin invented windsurfing?" It's not strictly true, but he loved kites, and loved swimming (he was one of the first swimming educators as, in the 18th century many people had a deathly fear of water and many many people drowned) and one day, he was swimming on his back, while flying a kite, and he noticed it dragged him through the water very quickly. "I believe this could be a mode of transport, or of recreation," (paraphrased) he wrote in a letter.

capableweb 5y ago
> My favorite Franklin anecdote: "Did you know that Benjamin Franklin invented windsurfing?" It's not strictly true I don't think it comes anywhere near to being true. While he's surely an interesting man, there is no need to attribute him as the discoverer of something that many tribes around in Polynesia have been doing for centuries.
- kmtrowbr 5y ago
  Well, thank you -- I shall endeavor to better contain my enthusiasm in the future, and also to correctly attribute the invention of windsurfing to Polynesian tribes.
- deleted 5y ago

kaesar14 5y ago

What do you think is overrated about the story of John Adams? I find him to be quite compelling.

nwiswell 5y ago
> I find him to be quite compelling. I agree. I was moved by the eponymous HBO miniseries and strongly recommend it.