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“Benjamin Franklin, an American Life”
Coach is Right ^ | 6/30/15 | Ed Wood

Posted on 06/30/2015 10:12:41 AM PDT by Oldpuppymax

Sometimes the rigors of daily life just get too overwhelming, causing me to turn to other less stressful items of interest. So I am now reading, “Benjamin Franklin — An American Life,” by famed biographer, Walter Isaacson. Ben Franklin

It is already an amazing story about an amazing man, and I am not half way through its 586 pages — small type, no pictures!

Benjamin Franklin: author, inventor, scientist, politician, raconteur. But he considered himself, first and foremost, to be a printer. And would generally sign his name, “Benjamin Franklin, printer.”

For in that Colonial period, a printer was a person of great esteem and influence. There were no newspapers, as such, so the local printer controlled most what the people read and therefore much of what they thought. It was through many of his printing ventures that he became highly regarded as an authority on most everything.

“Poor Richard’s Almanac,” although probably the best known, was only one of his many publications. He had a habit of writing an article, then, under an assumed name, writing a response to his own article and on occasion, using a third name to write a rebuttal to his previous comment. Such was Franklin’s way of exposing many sides to a given topic or question. Franklin statue

So I suppose it only natural that eventually he turned his thoughts to what was then termed “the fairer sex.” One such article...

(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History; Society
KEYWORDS: colonies; franklinprinter; franklinwritings

1 posted on 06/30/2015 10:12:42 AM PDT by Oldpuppymax
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To: Oldpuppymax

A book less than 500 pages is not worth the effort.


2 posted on 06/30/2015 10:20:20 AM PDT by arthurus (It's true!)
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To: Oldpuppymax

He was friends with slave holders, burn the book.


3 posted on 06/30/2015 10:24:37 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: Oldpuppymax

Born too soon. He’d have been such a great blogger. Might even have been tolerated by the extreme blogophobes.


4 posted on 06/30/2015 10:27:01 AM PDT by Buttons12
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To: Oldpuppymax

“You couldn’t keep it. Idiots.”

-Modern Day Ben Franklin


5 posted on 06/30/2015 10:29:38 AM PDT by dware (Yeah, so? What are we going to do about it?)
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To: Oldpuppymax

He is sometimes called “The First American” since his last sojourn as agent in London for the Pennsylvania Colony, ending with his denigration before a committee of Parliament, dissuaded him from ever again considering himself to be a British subject. From that time forward he was wholly American and totally committed to independence.


6 posted on 06/30/2015 10:53:55 AM PDT by katana (Just my opinions)
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To: Oldpuppymax

Excellent book about a fascinating man, although terrible husband. If you want to read a very well-written biography on another interesting character, I highly recommend Ron Chernow’s “Titan,” detailing the life of John D. Rockefeller.


7 posted on 06/30/2015 10:58:46 AM PDT by Trod Upon (Every penny given to film and TV media companies goes right into enemy coffers. Starve them out!)
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To: Oldpuppymax

I haven’t read this one yet. But one of my all-time favorite books is Carl Vandoren’s biography of Ben. Fwiw it won a Pulitzer prize decades ago.


8 posted on 06/30/2015 11:21:25 AM PDT by Reynoldo
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To: Trod Upon

As a younger man I was known to ‘step out’ on occasion, I never let it be known, just happened to be less sneaky than was wise. I can assure you that the occasional dalliance had its benefits and that includes with the wife.

Ben’s observation that older women are more discreet and more grateful is also right on target. Aside from those reasons, who wants to train a virgin when there are many women who already possess often surprising skills.

Aside from these reasons, I know nothing about rap and have no idea how to ‘text’.

Grannies rule!


9 posted on 06/30/2015 5:09:44 PM PDT by Foundahardheadedwoman (God don't have a statute of limitations)
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To: Foundahardheadedwoman

I’m missing the rap and text connection...did you mean to respond to me?


10 posted on 06/30/2015 6:07:26 PM PDT by Trod Upon (Every penny given to film and TV media companies goes right into enemy coffers. Starve them out!)
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To: Trod Upon

Yes, I was responding to the bad husband remark. The remark about rap and texting just meant I had nothing in common with today’s young women. Sometimes a husband can lend a little spice to his marriage by meandering a bit or so I’ve heard.


11 posted on 06/30/2015 8:26:51 PM PDT by Foundahardheadedwoman (God don't have a statute of limitations)
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