Title:

Ingenious

Author:

Richard Munson

Category:

Non-Fiction

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

December 31, 2024

y sister is a Benjamin Franklin fan, so I bought her a copy of Ingenious for a Christmas present. Since it looked interesting, I then checked out a copy from our library and read it myself. Although we think of Franklin as a founding father and statesman, Munson argues that Franklin saw himself primarily as a "natural philosopher" (the word scientist was not invented until the 19th century). In addition to his experiments with electricity (the book begins with the famous flying of a kite in a thunderstorm experiment and explains that Franklin was keenly aware of the dangers of electrocution), Franklin also studied ocean currents (while sailing back and forth between America and Europe), and his endless improvements to the Franklin stove.

Despite Munson's focus on Franklin's scientific inquiries, there is no writing a biography about Franklin without extensive explanation of his role as a diplomat. Without Franklin's popularity at the French king's court (due in part to his famous electricity experiments), France might not have supported the US revolution. Without French backing, Britain might have won and we, like Canada, might have remained part of the Commonwealth. (This book doesn't mention it, but it was French ships that prevented Corvalis from evacuating his army by ship from Yorktown). America owes a lot to France. (And France owes a lot to America for our troops in WWI and WWII). Although independence is always thought of as a good thing for America, if we had remained part of the British Empire, then slavery would have been abolished in 1833 and the bloody Civil War would have been avoided.

This biography traces the entirety of Franklin's life. He begins as an apprentice printer, moving to the small town of Philadelphia which has only a couple of newspapers. Franklin works hard, but initially he is also is aimless, spending his money on wine, women and song (Apparently Franklin frequented brothels. He sires a son out of wedlock, whom he recognizes and supports). But eventually Franklin realizes his ambitions will not be met unless he focuses on his printing business. The book describes a number of manuevers Franklin used to gain support for his paper, such as writing columns under pennames like "Silence Dogood", producing cleanly printed documents for the Pennsylvannia government (which led to more lucrative government contracts), organizing the postal service (which allowed him to get first access to news from the other colonies), and printing the Poor Richard's Almanac. Eventually, Franklin is able to sell his printing business at such a profit that he does not have to work for the rest of his life, he can focus on experiments such as the nature of electricity.

There were some interesting discoveries in this book. I did not know that the powerful Penn family were such ruthless tax avoiders, unwilling to devote funds to the defense of the colony despite the threat of the Native Americans. I did not know that Franklin's own son was such a dedicated Tory, loyal to the crown. I did not know that John Adams joined Franklin on his diplomatic mission to Paris, or that there was such antagonism between the two.

Overall, this is a good book, but not a great one. The best nonfiction books are able to bring interesting details and surprising unknown facts to a riveting narrative. Munson's book lacked the "that's cool, I should tell someone that" facts. It is a solid book, but not on par with the best nonfiction books, such as Endurance, 1491, or The Worst Hard Time.