Autobiography of Mark Twain

Mark Twain
Autobiography of Mark Twain - $9.79
2010

Mark Twain had a knack for delivering the unexpected. He made a name for himself as a journalist while not writing the stories he set out to. He would procrastinate until the last minute then turn in something different to his editor. This was a nightmare to his editor but exactly what the people wanted. He was a very popular writer in his time because even though he was a humorist he never attacked people in a negative way.

Twain knew what he was writing in his autobiography and asked that it not be printed until 100 years after his death. He did not want to diminish his popular persona. He said he wouldn't care what people thought about him 100 years. He also thought that if he wasn't being discussed 100 years later this would be a way of making himself relevant. No one could of guessed that he would still be as widely read 100 years after his death as he was when he was a very popular living writer.

Mark Twain was always tactful. He could make someone feel important even when insulting them.

"This book is not a revenge-record. When I build a fire under a person in it, I do not do it merely because of the enjoyment I get out of seeing him fry, but because he is worth the trouble. It is then a compliment, a distinction; let him give thanks and keep quiet. I do not fry the small, the commonplace, the unworthy."

The autobiography is compiled of things he wrote that he did not want published as well as writings specifically written to be included here.

"It is a system which is a complete and purposed jumble — a course which begins nowhere, follows no specific route, and can never reach an end while I am alive, for the reason that if I should talk to the stenographer two hours a day for a hundred years, I should still never be able to set down a tenth part of the things which have interested me in my lifetime."

He wanted the autobiography published 100 years after his death but his estate published it several times before. Twain published a few chapters that he thought acceptable before he died.

Chapters from My Autobiography - Free

Here is a previous version of the autobiography. This is not the new edited version but is very close and much cheaper.

Autobiography of Mark Twain - $2.99

This is the second piece in the Mark Twain series. Knowing the background of a writer will help in understanding some of the points and in getting a better understanding. By reading the Henderson Biography on Twain and the Autobiography, you will be ready to dive into the Mark Twain library.

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The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
1793
Memoir and writings of one of our founding fathers.

This autobiography is one of the most influential in the genre. The structure and organization of the autobiography has been influential to others as well as how he wrote and what he wrote about. Benjamin Franklin was one of the most successful Americans in history, becoming very wealthy and owning many businesses. He was a self made man starting at an early age when he left home to make a life for himself. He was originally apprenticed to one of his older brothers and had a falling out. He ran away to another state and started many different businesses in order to make ends meet. The autobiography recounts his early years and his eventual success in businesses.

There are many parts to the autobiography including early years, letters to his son, relationships with his family and even his failings. Benjamin Franklin learned many valuable lessons while growing up and running businesses and compiles them here for all of us to benefit. He would work daily on improving himself and becoming a better man. He was almost obsessive in his search for perfection. He admits that he failed at some of the lessons he wrote down but says the importance is the process of improvement.
Here are the 13 virtues, as he calls them.

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

He would work on one of the virtues at a time until he mastered the virtue and them move on to the next. He organized them in a way that one virtue would help with the next one. He carried a little journal around and would write if he succeeded or failed at a virtue.
There are over 3,000 people who highlighted this passage in the Kindle version. These 13 virtues are always motivational to me. I have read this work 3 or 4 times and always refer to it when I need some motivation in my life. Reading this book always makes me more productive and creative with whatever I am doing. I was reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and came across similar ideas in that. (Available for free in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library if you have a Prime account) Why pay for that book when you can go to the source for free? Franklin lived his life as an example to others and wrote this autobiography to inspire other people to do great things. His most admitted failing was lack of humility. Over 200 years after his death he is still being read and discussed. I think he had a right to be not so humble!
Download a sample or the entire book for free! and pass it on. This is a great book to gift to people in your life. Not only is it an autobiography of a great man but a guide to improve your own life, no matter how successful you are.
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