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Ben & Me: In Search of a Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful Life

On Sale June 11, 2024!

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 that’s 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 Franklin’s greatest experiment was…Ben Franklin. In that spirit of betterment, I embark on an ambitious quest to live the way Ben lived.

Ben & Me: In Search of a Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful LifeNot 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. I follow Franklin from Philadelphia to Paris, Boston to London, and attempt to uncover Ben’s life lessons, large and small. We learn how to improve a relationship with someone by inducing them to do a favor for you—a 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, I argue that we have much to learn from the past and that we’d all be better off if we acted and thought a bit more like Ben did, even if he didn’t always live up to his own high ideals. Engaging, smart, moving, quirky, Ben & Me distills the essence of Franklin’s idea into grounded, practical wisdom for all of us.

Eric Weiner

Welcome

Greetings. I’m an author, speaker and former correspondent for NPR, but I prefer to think of myself as a philosophical traveler. My interest—my obsession, really—is the intersection of places and ideas. It is at this intersection, I believe, where the most fascinating aspects of life unfold, be it our search for happiness, wisdom or creative expression.

So, in this spirit, I invite you to explore. You can read about my books, including my latest, The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers. You can also sample my other writing and see a calendar of my upcoming appearances, as well as my writing workshops  I hope you find the journey inspiring.

Other Books by Eric

The Geography of Genius
Man Seeks God
The Geography of Bliss