The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the incomplete autobiography of the First American. Summary of the Book Born into the house of Josiah Franklin, to his second wife Abiah Folger, Benjamin Franklin was one of ten children. He was brought up in poverty, and his formal education was cut down because of it. However, he was a voracious reader, consuming volumes of books in his thirst for knowledge. He ran from home and went to Philadelphia, to find a new beginning. He went to London, where he worked as a typesetter in a printer's shop and eventually became a clerk, shopkeeper, and bookkeeper upon return to Philadelphia. He found success as a writer and became known as a man of letters. In 1771, he began his autobiography, detailing his early life and his life in politics. Unfortunately, he never finished it, proving till the last that he was a man of action and that his endeavors were too great to be recorded even by the most able of writers. Despite that fact, this book is a valuable window into the life of a man who is considered to be one of the greatest polymaths in history, an inventor, writer and the First American. About Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was an American polymath, writer, scholar, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster and inventor. He was also one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and is largely considered to be the “First American”. He is known for inventing the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove and for his role as a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence.