Benjamin Franklin

This book is a great work of history and a literary success. But, it is also the story of one of America’s great innovators. During his 84-year life he was America’s best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer and business strategist. He was practical in all his innovations. (See accompanying article on his innovations.) He was the only person to participate in all the founding documents of this nation – the Albany Plan of Union, the Declaration of Independence, the treaty of alliance with France, the peace treaty with England and the Constitution. Moreover, he continually reinvented himself.

This is a great read at any level. Franklin comes to life off the pages. But, for anyone interested being an innovator, it is essential reading.

Walter Isaacson, the President of the Aspen Institute, has been the chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Kissinger: A Biography and the co-author of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and daughter.

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Walter Isaacson, Simon & Schuster, 2003, Hard Cover, 590 pages


© 2004 The Innovation Road Map