Benjamin Franklin is best known as an historical figure, for his role in the American Revolution and experiments with electricity. In the history books he looms large as co-drafter of the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution, but the Autobiography has been lauded as 'The first great book written in America.' It helped to create the modern literary form of the autobiography, and has been a bestseller for two centuries, despite the fact that it was never finished or properly edited.

The Autobiography is not a chronicle of Franklin's brilliance; the idea was to show how a person's life and character could become a noble one through constant self-assessment. As a scientist, Franklin wrote it almost as if it is was a report on the failures and successes of experiments in living. At no point does he claim any special mastery over how to live life, but he was committed to finding a formula that could assure a person of some success.

In his Autobiography, Franklin never tries to show superiority; he speaks directly to the reader and laces it all with subtle humour, giving it the intimate feel of a fireside chat. The first part of the book details experiences with family, friends, bosses and work mates, in addition to travels and attempts to start new businesses, all of which will strike chords with today's reader.

Franklin is seminal in the self-help literature because he disregarded any religious conception that we were naturally bad or good people, rather blank slates designed for success. Ormond Seavey has noted that 'It was always natural for Franklin to be trying on a fresh identity, as if he were putting on new clothes'. He was truly modern in seeing that the individual was not a fixed proposition at all, but self-creating. His significant influence on later self-help writers includes Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey and Anthony Robbins.

Franklin's prescriptions (see below) have not been without criticism. Thoreau believed that they made for a dreary race against time to amount wealth, never stopping to enjoy nature or the moment. Franklin has also been dubbed 'the first apostle of frugality and the patron saint of savings accounts'. This comment was probably more directed to Franklin's collections of aphorisms on money and thrift, The Way to Wealth.

The man's life, however, does not fit the image of penny-pinching Puritanism, for it is obvious he lived with great panache. Franklin appreciated that the self-help ethic is not about earnest striving, simply the prospect of a fuller and more exciting life.

Benjamin's Table of Virtues (from The Art of Virtue)