Literary Classics

The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin (Annotated)

Enriched Edition. Essays, Letters, Experiments, and Reflections from the American EnlightenmentBy Benjamin Franklin

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About this audiobook

The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin gathers the astonishing range of Franklin's writings: political essays, scientific observations, diplomatic correspondence, moral reflections, satire, public addresses, and autobiographical materials. Read together, these works reveal a prose style at once lucid, practical, witty, and deeply persuasive, shaped by the Enlightenment's faith in reason and public improvement. Franklin's writing occupies a central place in early American literature, where civic argument, self-fashioning, and experimental thought converge. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was printer, inventor, scientist, diplomat, statesman, and one of the principal architects of the American republic. His background as a self-educated tradesman informed his lifelong interest in industry, education, frugality, and social usefulness. His experiences in colonial Philadelphia, London, and revolutionary diplomacy gave him an unusually broad perspective on empire, liberty, science, and human conduct, all of which animate these works. This collection is essential for readers seeking to understand not only Franklin himself but the intellectual foundations of modern America. It is recommended to students of history, literature, political thought, and anyone interested in the disciplined curiosity of a mind that helped define an age. This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience. - A comprehensive Introduction outlines these selected works' unifying features, themes, or stylistic evolutions. - The Author Biography highlights personal milestones and literary influences that shape the entire body of writing. - A Historical Context section situates the works in their broader era—social currents, cultural trends, and key events that underpin their creation. - A concise Synopsis (Selection) offers an accessible overview of the included texts, helping readers navigate plotlines and main ideas without revealing critical twists. - A unified Analysis examines recurring motifs and stylistic hallmarks across the collection, tying the stories together while spotlighting the different work's strengths. - Reflection questions inspire deeper contemplation of the author's overarching message, inviting readers to draw connections among different texts and relate them to modern contexts. - Lastly, our hand‐picked Memorable Quotes distill pivotal lines and turning points, serving as touchstones for the collection's central themes.

Exploration Coming of Age Identity Hero Journey Political Intrigue Rebellion Hopepunk Psychological Futuristic

Audiobook details

Rating★★★★ 4.5 (1.2K)

Includes Amazon, Goodreads

GenreLiterary Classics

Length48 hrs 15 mins

Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices

FormateBook with Audio

Publish dateDec 14, 2023

LanguageEnglish

1Introduction

2INTRODUCTORY NOTE

3PART I (pt. 1)

4PART I (pt. 2)

5PART II

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6PART III (pt. 1)

7PART III (pt. 2)

8PART IV

9CHIEF EVENTS IN FRANKLIN&#x27;S LIFE

10Letters and Papers on Electricity

11INTRODUCTORY LETTER

12Wonderful Effect of Points. — Positive and negative Electricity. — Electrical Kiss. — Counterfeit Spider. — Simple and commodious electrical Machine

13Observations on the Leyden Bottle, with Experiments proving the different electrical State of its different Surfaces

14Farther Experiments confirming the preceding Observations. — Leyden Bottle analysed. — Electrical Battery. — Magical Picture. — Electrical Wheel or Jack. — Electrical Feast

15Observations and Suppositions, towards forming a new Hypothesis, for explaining the several Phenomena of Thunder-Gusts

16Introductory Letter to some additional Papers

17Accumulation of the electrical Fire proved to be in the electrified Glass. — Effect of Lightning on the Needle of Compasses, explained. — Gunpowder fired by the electric Flame

18Unlimited Nature of the electric Force

19The Terms, electric per se, and non-electric, improper. — New Relation between Metals and Water. — Effects of Air in electrical Experiments. — Experiment for discovering more of the Qualities of the electric Fluid

20Mistake, that only Metals and Water were Conductors, rectified. — Supposition of a Region of electric Fire above our Atmosphere. — Theorem concerning Light. — Poke-Weed a Cure for Cancers

21New Experiments. — Paradoxes inferred from them. — Difference in the Electricity of a Globe of Glass charged, and a Globe of Sulphur. — Difficulty of ascertaining which is positive and which negative

22Probable Cause of the Different Attractions and Repulsions of the two electrified Globes mentioned in the two preceding Letters

23Reasons for supposing, that the glass Globe charges positively, and the Sulphur negatively. — Hint respecting a leather Globe for Experiments when travelling

24Electrical Kite

25Hypothesis, of the Sea being the grand Source of Lightning, retracted. Positive, and sometimes negative, Electricity of the Clouds discovered. — New Experiments and Conjectures in Support of this Discovery. — Observations recommended for ascertaining the Direction of the electric Fluid. — Size of Rods for Conductors to Buildings. — Appearance of a Thunder-Cloud described

26Additional Proofs of the positive and negative State of Electricity in the Clouds. — New Method of ascertaining it

27EXPERIMENTS

28Turkey killed by Electricity. — Effect of a Shock on the Operator in making the Experiment

29Differences in the Qualities of Glass. — Account of Domien, an Electrician and Traveller. — Conjectures respecting the Pores of Glass. — Origin of the Author&#x27;s Idea of drawing down Lightning. — No satisfactory Hypothesis respecting the Manner in which Clouds become electrified. — Six Men knocked down at once by an electrical Shock. — Reflections on the Spirit of Invention

30Beccaria&#x27;s Work on Electricity. — Sentiments of Franklin on pointed Rods, not fully understood in Europe. — Effect of Lightning on the Church of Newbury, in New England. — Remarks on the Subject

31Notice of another Packet of Letters

32Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in Boston, to Benjamin Franklin, Esq. concerning the crooked Direction, and the Source of Lightning, and the Swiftness of the electric Fire

33Observations on the Subjects of the preceding Letter. — Reasons for supposing the Sea to be the grand source of Lightning. — Reasons for doubting this hypothesis. — Improvement in a Globe for raising the Electric Fire

34Effect of Lightning on Captain Waddel&#x27;s Compass, and the Dutch Church at New York

35Proposal of an Experiment to measure the Time taken up by an Electric Spark, in moving through any given Space. By J. A. Esq. of New-York

36Experiments on boiling Water, and Glass heated by boiling Water. — Doctrine of Repulsion in electrised Bodies doubted. — Electricity of the Atmosphere at different Heights. — Electrical Horse-race. — Electrical Thermometer. — In what Cases the electrical Fire produces Heat. — Wire lengthened by Electricity. — Good Effect of a Rod on the House of Mr. West, of Philadelphia

37Answer to some of the foregoing Subjects. — How long the Leyden Bottle may be kept charged. — Heated Glass rendered permeable by the electric Fluid. — Electrical Attraction and Repulsion. — Reply to other Subjects in the preceding Paper. — Numerous Ways of kindling Fire. — Explosion of Water. — Knobs and Points

38Accounts from Carolina (mentioned in the foregoing Letter) of the Effects of Lightning on two of the Rods commonly affixed to Houses there, for securing them against Lightning

39Mr. William Maine&#x27;s Account of the Effects of the Lightning on his Rod, dated at Indian Land, in South Carolina, Aug. 28, 1760

40On the Electricity of the Tourmalin

41New Observation relating to Electricity in the Atmosphere

42Flash of Lightning that struck St. Bride&#x27;s Steeple

43Best Method of securing a Powder Magazine from Lightning

44Of Lightning, and the Methods (now used in America) of securing Buildings and Persons from its mischievous Effects

45St. Bride&#x27;s Steeple. — Utility of Electrical Conductors to Steeples. — Singular kind of Glass tube

46Experiments, Observations, and Facts, tending to support the Opinion of the Utility of long pointed Rods, for securing Buildings from Damage by Strokes of Lightning

47On the Utility of Electrical Conductors

48On the Effects of Electricity in paralytic Cases

49Electrical Experiments on Amber

50On the Electricity of the Fogs in Ireland