"The first book to belong permanently to literature. It created a man."
-- From the Introduction

Few men could compare to Benjamin Franklin. Virtually self-taught, he excelled as an athlete, a man of letters, a printer, a scientist, a wit, an inventor, an editor, and a writer, and he was probably the most successful diplomat in American history. David Hume hailed him as the first great philosopher and great man of letters in the New World.

Written initially to guide his son, Franklin's autobiography is a lively, spellbinding account of his unique and eventful life. Stylistically his best work, it has become a classic in world literature, one to inspire and delight readers everywhere.

Another review

In this clear, crisply written story of his life, Benjamin Franklin shows the reader what his childhood was like and what he came to value as meaningful and worthwhile techniques of communication, conduct, and self-improvement. A conscientious and serious youth, Franklin nevertheless left his boyhood town because he had impregnated a young lady. This early act of responsibility led him to pursue work that led him, in the coming years of the American Revolution, to be a strong advocate of political independence, even at the cost of war. Franklin became as fine a statesman as ever the United States was to produce. One of the country's founding fathers and a tireless champion of individual liberty, he also served as the American ambassador to France. He tells of how he learned the printing trade and how he established "Poor Richard's Almanac." He also shares with his readers his hopes for the free country that he helped to bring into being. The reader cannot help but admire this brilliant and brave founding father, as much for his humility as for his services to his country and its future citizens.

A reader describes it as a comical adventure

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was a comical adventure through a life that expresses the ways of an ideal American. Franklin was a husband, friend, printer, inventor, scientist, writer, educator, diplomat, and a politician. Franklin's style of writing was cheerfully humorous (how his friend sucked at writing poems was my personal favorite part) and was made even better by the fact that he was able to laugh at himself. I enjoyed his take on the public's opinion of his papers on his experiments with electricity. He did not get defensive because of his cool, confident personality. I loved the part about the other scientist, Abbé Nollet, who 'could not at first believe that such a work came from America, and said it must have been fabricated by his enemies at Paris, to decry his system.' Overall the book was entertaining and a classic story, but I do not think that I would call it a favorite.