Ben & Me

New York Times bestselling author Eric Weiner follows in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, mining his life for inspiring and practical lessons in a book thats part biography, part travelogue, part personal prescription. Ben Franklin lingers in our lives and in our imaginations. One of only two non-presidents to appear on US currency, Franklin was a founder, statesman, scientist, inventor, diplomat, publisher, humorist, and philosopher. He believed in the American experiment, but Ben Franklins greatest experiment wasBen Franklin. In that spirit of betterment, Eric Weiner embarks on an ambitious quest to live the way Ben lived. Not a conventional biography, Ben & Me is a guide to living and thinking well, as Ben Franklin did. It is also about curiosity, diligence, and, most of all, the elusive goal of self-improvement. As Weiner follows Franklin from Philadelphia to Paris, Boston to London, he attempts to uncover Bens life lessons, large and small. We learn how to improve a relationship with someone by inducing them to do a favor for youa psychological phenomenon now known as The Ben Franklin Effect. We learn about the printing press (the Internet of its day), early medicine, diplomatic intrigue and, of course, electricity. And we learn about ethics, persuasion, humor, regret, appetite, and so much more. At a time when history is either neglected or contested, Weiner argues we have much to learn from the past and that wed all be better off if we acted and thought a bit more like Ben did, even if he didnt always live up to his own high ideals. Engaging, smart, moving, quirky, Ben & Me distills the essence of Franklins ideas into grounded, practical wisdom for all of us.