I highly recommend The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. His writing style completely transported me to the time and place of early America. He led a truly interesting and inspiring life which I think HN readers would find fascinating. I think he embodied the entrepreneurial spirit.
One of my favourite Ben Franklin stories was they were approaching a crucial vote where he didn't have the support he needed. He figured out he needed the vote of a specific person who had always been his enemy.[1]<p>What he did was write the guy a letter saying that he had always wanted to read a particular book that this dude had in his library and ask to borrow it. After borrowing the book he returned it with a courteous letter of thanks and not only did the person support his vote but became his lifelong friend.<p>Ben Franklin explained to others that asking the guy for a favour made all the difference because there was no way his brain could rationalise him doing a favour for someone he didn't like and therefore they became friends.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/02/20/the-benjamin-franklin-effect-mcraney/" rel="nofollow">https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/02/20/the-benjamin-frank...</a>
USD 10.84 in 1735 woult be USD851.41 today it seems<p>thats the amount of almanacks he gave his brother's widow, if I computed right<p><a href="https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1735?amount=10.84" rel="nofollow">https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1735?amount=10.84</a>
Something I find impressive about Benjamin Franklin is that he was born in 1706, meaning he was 70 years old when he signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. And after that he went on to be Ambassador to France for 9 years!<p>Traveling to Europe from the USA wasn't exactly an easy route back then.
That calendar adjustment is interesting. The Julian calendar drifts from the true tropical calendar by 0.00781 days per year or about 1 day every 128 years. The adjustment was 11 days, meaning that 11*128=1408 years had elapsed since the Julian started in 45 BC. Making the year of the reform 1363 AD, not 1752. The council of Nicea is mentioned, but they only noted the calendar problem, they did not try to fix it. If that's the case then we are actually living in the 17th century, around 1677.