Undaunted Mind: The Intellectual Life of Benjamin Franklin [Hardcover]

Undaunted Mindtells the story of the development of Benjamin Franklin's intellect beginning with the earliest books he read as a child in Boston, his formal schooling and independent study, through his time in London, Paris, and Philadelphia, where he established himself as one of America's leading intellectuals and philanthropists. The story of Franklin's intellectual life is also the story of the friends he made in various stages of his life, so this book illuminates his circles of illustrious friends who encouraged his reading, his community improvement projects, and his scientific research.An exploration of the mind of one of America's most beloved Founding Fathers and most brilliant minds, through the books he read and his social circles in the United States and Europe.Arguably the most intellectual, creative, cosmopolitan, and curious of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin is the only top-tier Founder not to have served as president. Despite not becoming the Chief Executive, Franklin played an active role in American politics and served the aspiring and young United States in the key European capitals. His prodigious reading and appetite for learning are epic. As he did in works about Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, Kevin J. Hayes interprets the life and mind of Franklin through what he read.Undaunted Mindtells the story of the development of Franklin's intellect, starting with the earliest books he read as a child before examining his formal schooling and his independent study after his father pulled him from school. As an apprentice in his brother's printing house, Franklin's intellectual life developed through his contact with the Couranteers, the group of his brother's friends who contributed to his newspaper, and through his attention to his brother's excellent office library. After Franklin ran away to Philadelphia, he developed a new group of friends, all of whom loved reading. In many ways, the story of Frló&