CANR
WORK TITLE: Ingenious
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.richardmunson.com/
CITY: Chicago
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: LRC July 2020
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born August 10, 1950, in CA.
EDUCATION:University of California, Santa Barbara, B.A.; University of Michigan, M.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, activist, and educator. Recycled Energy Development, Chicago, IL, senior vice president; Northeast-Midwest Institute, Washington, DC, director, coordinator of Northeast-Midwest Congressional and Senate Coalitions; Solar Lobby, Washington, DC, executive director; Center for Renewable Resources, executive director; Sun Day, co-coordinator; Environmental Action Foundation, coordinator; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, lecturer; Environmental Defense Fund, Midwest Director of Clean Energy. Member of boards of organizations, including Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Center for Neighborhood Technology, Institute for Health Policy Solutions, and Greenleaf Advisors.
AWARDS:Outstanding service awards from organizations, including the U.S. Clean Heat and Power Association, Great Lakes Commission, and American Small Manufacturers Coalition.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Richard Munson is a writer, energy activist, and educator. He has held leadership roles in organizations, including Recycled Energy Development, the Northeast-Midwest Institute, the Solar Lobby, the Center for Renewable Resources, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Munson has written biographies and other works of nonfiction.
In 1985, Munson released his first book, The Power Makers: The Inside Story of America’s Biggest Business—and Its Struggle to Control Tomorrow’s Electricity. Philip Keisling, reviewer in Washington Monthly, asserted: “Richard Munson’s The Power Makers is a sober and thoughtful analysis of the troubled electricity business. The book has the virtue of being more fair-minded than what some might expect from a former executive director of the Solar Lobby. Munson’s style is not elegant, but that is a small complaint. He also makes his account more interesting by devoting considerable space to a lively history of the electric utility industry that sheds light on how the industry reached the current crisis.”
Cousteau, the Captain and His World finds Munson profiling the popular explorer of the sea. A contributor to the Publishers Weekly noted that the main argument of the book seemed to be: “Neither Cousteau nor the Cousteau Society … has delivered on promises to protect the environment.”
In The Cardinals of Capitol Hill: The Men and Women Who Control Government Spending, Munson details the work of congressional subcommittees. He focuses, in particular, on the VA-HUD subcommittee’s activities in 1991. William G. Wells, Jr., reviewer in Issues in Science and Technology, suggested: “The book’s strength is in the detailed descriptions of several major political dramas, including the battle over space station Freedom and the fate of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s housing programs, especially Project HOPE. Munson eloquently captures the excitement and tension of political hardball, where no room exists for amateurs or the faint of heart.” Wells concluded: “Munson’s detailed and illuminating look at the appropriations process his central purpose is nothing other than superb. It should be required reading for students of government and for anyone trying to influence the legislative process.” “Munson’s evenhanded style generally avoids criticism of pork- barrel politics,” noted a Publishers Weekly critic.
Munson chronicles the rise of electrical power in the United States in From Edison to Enron: The Business of Power and What It Means for the Future of Electricity. Writing in the Energy Journal, Richard L. Gordon commented: “Disguised as a history of electric power, this is another polemic for radical changes in the industry; in particular, the key is greater generation of electricity within the consuming facility. This is to be effected by adopting pet ideas for technical change that were old and uneconomic when advocated during the 1970s.” Gordon added: “Munson comes close to reasonable conclusions that regulation throttles competition in electric power, However, his exposition, not only fails satisfactorily to justify the case, but often contradicts it. The problems of electricity are treated often in anthologies with contributions with the many able specialists in the subject. Any one of these is more helpful than Munson.” David B. Sicilia, contributor to the EH.net website, suggested: “Students of economics and business could use the book as an industry case study to explore notions about natural monopoly and deregulation, although the approach would have to be largely anecdotal because the book lacks systematic data. … But the ‘hustling entrepreneurs … are likely to embrace it.”
Tesla: Inventor of the Modern is a biography of the prolific inventor, Nikola Tesla. In it, Munson tells of Tesla’s childhood in the Balkans, his work at Edison, his many important inventions, his colorful social life, and the unfortunate end of his life. In an interview with a contributor to the Gotham Center website, Munson explained why he chose to write a book on Tesla. He stated: “Like many people, I long knew a bit about Tesla, was fascinated, and wanted to learn more. What surprised me was that the scientist was more than, as one biographer put it, ‘a Supernova in the galaxy of the human race.’ No doubt electric motors, robots, remote control, and radio are rather super accomplishments, but this inventor also was human, charmingly so. Although most happy when he worked alone in his laboratory, Tesla enjoyed friends and could be an engaging conversationalist.”
Carl Hays, reviewer in Booklist, described Tesla as “a well-written, insightful addition to the legacy of this still-underappreciated visionary genius.” “Readers will share Munson’s frustration at this seeming frittering of a magnificent talent, but they will absolutely enjoy his sympathetic, insightful portrait,” asserted aKirkus Reviews critic. Writing on the Washington Independent Review of Books website, David Raney called the book a “brisk, entertaining new biography” and a “generous, penetrating portrait.” Don Glynn, contributor to the Niagara Gazette website, remarked: “In Tesla: Inventor of the Modern, by Richard Munson, … the author has produced a highly-readable account of a man credited with significant advances in developing the radio, robots and remote controls.”
[open new]
Munson continued his interest in innovators with his 2021 book Tech to Table: 25 Innovators Reimagining Food, which examines entrepreneurs and startups revolutionizing food production and introductions of new food as alternatives to Big Ag, animal cruelty, and practices detrimental to the climate. He writes about the foods recently developed, produced, marketed, and sold, or are in the experimental phase that have garnered billions of dollars of investment. He discusses organic farming, high-protein foods that taste like meat, supplements to reduce the methane in cow belches, drones that monitor irrigation levels in crops, urban warehouses that serve as greenhouses to grow produce year-round, and Kernza, a wild variety of perennial wheatgrass. “This book was written for general readers and does not include many scientific details,” observed L.E. Erickson in CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
Next Munson published Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist, focusing on the Founding Father’s cutting-edge research at the time into electricity, heat, ocean currents, weather patterns, chemical bonds, and plants. Franklin was an internationally renowned “natural philosopher” (the name for scientists at the time) who invented bifocal lenses, the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, and an electrostatic machine. He was recognized by the British Royal Society in 1753. Munson argues that in addition to Franklin’s success as a politician and diplomat, his interest and accomplishments in science underpins his legacy. Munson explores how Franklin’s skill as an experimenter, innovator, and visionary physicist, which requires ingenuity and practical intellect, helps us understand his political life.
A Kirkus Reviews critic called the book “An engaging, fully dimensional portrait of Franklin, his empirical mindset serving as an example for our fact-challenged era.” Stephen Budiansky wrote about Munson in Wall Street Journal: “this author’s intention is to restore Franklin the scientist to center stage—this, he asserts, was how Franklin fundamentally viewed himself—and, perhaps more important, was the identity from which all else in his complex character derived.”
[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 1, 2018, Carl Hays, review of Tesla: Inventor of the Modern, p. 54.
CHOICE:Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, May 2022, L.E. Erickson, review of Tech to Table: 25 Innovators Reimagining Food, p. 1143.
Energy Journal, April, 2007, Richard L. Gordon, review of From Edison to Enron: The Business of Power and What It Means for the Future of Electricity, p. 175.
Issues in Science and Technology, summer, 1994, William G. Wells, Jr., review of The Cardinals of Capitol Hill: The Men and Women Who Control Government Spending, p. 75.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2018, review of Tesla, November 1, 2024, review of Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist.
Publishers Weekly, August 2, 1993, review of The Cardinals of Capitol Hill, p. 70.
Reference & Research Book News, February, 2006. review of From Edison To Enron.
Washington Monthly, December, 1985. Philip Keisling, review of The Power Makers: The Inside Story of America’s Biggest Business—and Its Struggle to Control Tomorrow’s Electricity, p. 42.
ONLINE
EH.net, https://eh.net/ (January 1, 2008), David B. Sicilia, review of From Edison to Enron.
Energy News, https://energynews.us/ (May 18, 2018), article by author.
Gotham Center website, https://www.gothamcenter.org/ (June 14, 2018), author interview.
Niagara Gazette Online, http://www.niagara- gazette.com/ (July 15, 2018), Don Glynn, review of Tesla.
Publishers Weekly Online, https:// www.publishersweekly.com/ (July 15, 2018), review of Cousteau, the Captain and his World.
Richard Munson, http://www.richardmunson.com/ (August 8, 2018).
Shelf-Awareness, http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ (July 15, 2018), Bruce Jacobs, review of Tesla.
Wall Street Journal, November 29, 2024, Stephen Budiansky, “‘Ingenious’ Review: The Electric Mind of Benjamin Franklin,” review of Ingenious.
Washington Independent Review of Books, http:// www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/ (May 30, 2018), David Raney, review of Tesla. *
Richard Munson is writing a biography of Benjamin Franklin as a scientist, to be released in November 2024 by W.W. Norton. I’m also working on a book about utility scandals, suggesting the rise of racketeering and bribery is a major obstacle to clean energy.
My most recent book was Tech to Table: 25 Innovators Reimagining Food, which profiles entrepreneurs changing how we farm and what we eat, driving solutions to the biggest problems created by industrialized food. My previous book, Tesla: Inventor of the Modern, reveals the man who transformed our world with electric motors, radio, robots, and remote control; the biography has been translated into about a dozen languages. Other publications: From Edison to Enron recounts the history of electricity, Cardinals of Capitol Hill traces the machinations of congressional appropriators who control government spending, and Cousteau: The Captain and His World examines the ocean explorer and filmmaker. Reviews of these and other books can be found at www.richardmunson.com or on Twitter at @dickmunson.
Munson has worked on clean energy and environmental issues for non-profits, in the private sector, at universities, and on Capitol Hill. He most recently was senior director of the Environmental Defense Fund, where he advanced smart power in the Midwest. He has been senior vice president at Recycled Energy Development (RED), a Chicago-based start-up firm that sought to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by capturing waste energy. In Washington, D.C., he coordinated the Northeast-Midwest Institute and Congressional and Senate Coalitions, bipartisan caucuses that conduct policy research and draft legislation on brownfields redevelopment, energy, environmental, water quality, and manufacturing issues. He also has been a coordinator of Sun Day, Solar Lobby, Environmental Action Foundation, and the University of Michigan’s Pilot Program.
Munson has received public-service awards from Smart Grid Today, Great Lakes Commission, U.S. Clean Heat and Power Association, and American Small Manufacturers Coalition. He now sits on the boards of the Hinsdale Public Library and Greenleaf Advisors. He’s an emeritus director of Elevate, Illinois Environmental Council, Center for Neighborhood Technology, and Institute for Health Policy Solutions.
Munson is available for interviews via Skolay and his book picks are on Shepherd.
A biographer celebrates Benjamin Franklin’s curiosity and joy in science
The ‘ingenious’ Founding Father Benjamin Franklin receives his due as scientist-inventor in Richard Munson’s sparkling biography.
By Erin Douglass Contributor
Jan. 10, 2025, 10:24 a.m. ET
The Founding Father in Richard Munson’s “Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist” isn’t simply a skilled diplomat, leader, and writer. Here, the 18th-century figurehead is a veritable poster child for irrepressible curiosity and joyful problem-solving. Whether observing the interaction of oil and water, inventing a musical instrument called the armonica, or conducting electricity experiments with that famous kite, Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Munson contends, “found a respite in science.”
Mr. Munson chatted with the Monitor via video call; the conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
The word “ingenious” had a rich meaning in Franklin’s day. How so?
About these ads
Generally today, we think of it as equivalent to intellect. But back then, it included things like curiosity, industriousness, and even cheerfulness. I took that as the title because it seemed as though it was Franklin’s favorite word. In his memoir, “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,” I think he used it 17, maybe 20 times to describe the mental and manual talents of his ancestors – candlemakers, blacksmiths, and others. He admired them and took some of their characteristics, but was consistently exhibiting his own curiosity, and always in search of other ingenious people. So it seemed as though it was rich and on target for who he was.
How did curiosity fuel Franklin’s development as a scientist?
Every encounter sparked his curiosity. One example was when he was on a horseback ride in Maryland with a bunch of other gentlemen and they spotted a whirlwind off in the distance. And he had this great little line: He said the rest of the party stayed up on the ridge looking at the development of this swirling debris, but “my curiosity being stronger,” he took off and went after it.
Recommended
Freedom
For Syria’s religious minorities, new freedoms, yet lingering insecurity
He was not only being curious; he was testing the common thesis of the day, which was, you throw something through a developing whirlwind, and it’ll dissipate. So he gets close to it with his horse, poor horse, and whips [the whirlwind] with his whip numerous times and nothing happens. Here’s his chance to test the common theory. And then he writes an actual academic paper that gets picked up by the Royal Society of England and distributed widely. He was just willing to follow what he thought were interesting things and challenge conventional wisdom in the process.
Franklin didn’t just experiment; he was an active – almost ebullient – inventor. Which of his creations struck you as particularly impressive?
This isn’t answering your question directly, but one thing that surprised me about his creative process was how much joy he had in discovery. My image of him is this guy with a sly smile, a sort of creative, whimsical character [with] a wry sense of humor. But the amount of enthusiasm and, for lack of a better word, joy that he and his colleagues had when they were developing experiments ... I just found that really refreshing.
As busy as Franklin was with his political and diplomatic roles, his scientific mind never stopped whirring. Was his sense of curiosity an escape – or a balm?
He was always sort of curious as to where things would lead. It even established his politics. He had this belief that Americans, the colonists, would be appreciated by the European elite only if they showed some technological or scientific prowess. So he created the American Philosophical Society, which still exists today. It was sort of the first effort to have representatives from throughout the 13 Colonies, who were fiercely independent of each other – they really didn’t like each other – and here was a united association of scientists, sort of the foundation, if you will, of the United States.
Recommended
Innovation
Washington adopts a Zimbabwe innovation: Grannies offering park-bench therapy
He viewed his science as a way to advance his politics, which was bringing the Colonies together and advancing their standing ... having the Colonies be better respected and not overly taxed and not restricted in their land acquisitions by the crown. He linked those two. That’s why I say, “Science was his through line” – that’s how he approached all aspects of his life.
Did Franklin treat the U.S. and the Constitution as an experiment?
He appreciated that the Constitution was a great document and the best that they could come up with, but he knew that it wasn’t perfect and that it had to change. It didn’t say anything about enslaved people, for instance. Again, it goes back to his mindset: Everything was an experiment, including politics, including the Constitution.
This links to a point about his continued relevance. Unlike some people who claim that they are originalists, here is one of the originals who’s saying, “No, the document was going to evolve as observations and knowledge and other things evolve.”
About these ads
If Franklin were alive today, he wouldn’t be surprised that many of his then-revolutionary [scientific] findings were thrown out the door, because we have more sophisticated testing equipment now. But he’d appreciate that science evolves.
Deepen your worldview
with Monitor Highlights.
Your e-mail address
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy.
Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
Franklin goes in and out of fashion as a historical figure. What can he offer us today?
Many, I think, are troubled by what seems to be a growing distrust of science and a dismissal of facts. Here we have one of our founders, probably our most popular founder, who’s suggesting there’s something to be said for observation and experimentation, for observable facts and truths.
Richard Munson's new book--"Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist"--will be published by Norton in November 2024. Other books include: "Tech to Table: 25 Innovators Reimagining Food" (Island Press, September 2021) and "Tesla: Inventor of the Modern" (Norton, May 2018). Based in Chicago, he's been director of the Environmental Defense Fund, senior vice president at Recycled Energy Development, and coordinator of the bipartisan Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.
Richard Munson
Article
Talk
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Appearance hide
Text
Small
Standard
Large
Width
Standard
Wide
Color (beta)
Automatic
Light
Dark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard Munson
Nationality American
Alma mater University of California, Santa Barbara,
University of Michigan
Genre non-fiction, biography
Richard (Dick) Munson is an American author and clean energy advocate. His latest book, "Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist," was released by W.W. Norton & Company in November 2024. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it an "electrifying portrait. ... Munson proves there's reason yet to revisit the much-studied statesman."[1]
With an interest in innovators, Munson also wrote "Tech to Table: 25 Innovators Reimagining Food" (Island Press, 2021) and "Tesla: Inventor of the Modern" (Norton, 2018) He is the author of five other books with topics that range from U.S. government energy policy to profiles of tycoon George Fabyan and oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. He also helped launch a clean-energy start-up and lobbied for clean-energy initiatives on Capitol Hill and in Illinois and Ohio.
Early life and education
Born and raised in Southern California, Munson earned a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.A. from the University of Michigan. He lived in Michigan and Washington, D.C., before moving to Chicago, where he is based.
Munson was inspired to battle pollution while in college, when in early 1969 an oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, blackened beaches, killing thousands of sea birds and other marine life.[2]
Career
Munson has been the Midwest Director of Clean Energy for the Environmental Defense Fund, a global organization whose mission “is to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends.”[3] EDF works in conjunction with business, government and communities to solve environmental problems affecting climate, ecosystems, oceans and health. Previously, Munson was senior vice president of Recycled Energy Development (RED), an Illinois-based industrial waste-to-energy company.
He was also executive director of the Northeast-Midwest Institute and coordinated with the Northeast-Midwest House and Senate Coalitions,[4] bipartisan caucuses that conduct policy research and draft legislation on issues pertaining to agriculture, economic development, energy, the environment, and manufacturing. Other clean energy and environmental groups he has held leadership positions with include the Center for Renewable Resources, Solar Lobby, Sun Day, and the Environmental Action Foundation.
Munson sat on the boards of Hinsdale Public Library,[5] Elevate Energy,[6] Center for Neighborhood Technology,[7] Illinois Environment Council[8] and Greenleaf Advisors.[9]
Munson is frequently cited in media[10][11] and serves on panels as an authority on energy policy and electricity markets.[12] He has received public service awards from the Great Lakes Commission, American Small Manufacturers Coalition and the U.S. Clean Heat and Power Association.
Published works
Munson's "Tech to Table: 25 Innovators Reimagining Food (Island Press, September 2021), has been called "a book we've been waiting for, documenting the entrepreneurial creativity now sweeping through out food and farming space."[citation needed]
His previous book, Tesla: Inventor of the Modern (W.W. Norton, May 2018), follows Nikola Tesla from his childhood in Southern Europe to the United States, working for titans Edison and Westinghouse and exploring the frontier of electrical transmission, to dying alone in a New York hotel. Munson draws on Tesla's letters, technical notebooks, and other primary sources to piece together the personal life and habits of the enigmatic inventor. A Kirkus starred review calls Tesla: Inventor of the Modern “A lucid, expertly researched biography,” and affirms that readers “will absolutely enjoy his sympathetic, insightful portrait.” Booklist says it is a “celebratory, comprehensive profile . . . A well-written, insightful addition to the legacy of this still-underappreciated visionary genius.”
Munson's first book, The Power Makers, was hailed as “a sober and thoughtful analysis of the troubled electricity business” by Washington Monthly,[13] and ranked by them as one of the best political books of the year.
Bibliography
[1]" Tech to Table:] 25 Innovators Reimagining Food. Island Press, 2021. ISBN 9781642831900
Tesla: Inventor of the Modern. W.W. Norton, 2018. ISBN 978-0393635447[14]
George Fabyan: The Tycoon Who Broke Ciphers, Ended Wars, Manipulated Sound, Built a Levitation Machine, and Organized the Modern Research Center. CreateSpace, 2013. ISBN 978-1490345628
From Edison to Enron: The Business of Power and What It Means for the Future of Electricity. Praeger, 2005. ISBN 978-0275987404
The Cardinals of Capitol Hill: The Men and Women Who Control Government Spending. Grove,1993. ISBN 978-0802114600
Cousteau: The Captain and His World. William Morrow & Co, 1989. ISBN 978-0688074500
The Power Makers: The Inside Story of America's Biggest Business and Its Struggle to Control Tomorrow's Electricity. Rodale, 1985. ISBN 978-0878575503
Munson, Richard INGENIOUS Norton (NonFiction None) $29.99 11, 12 ISBN: 9780393882230
The scientific side of Benjamin Franklin's life and career.
In this brisk yet well-packed account of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) as America's quintessential polymath Founding Father, Munson (Tesla: Inventor of the Modern, 2018) deftly navigates Franklin's myriad accomplishments as statesman, diplomat, writer, publisher, and more. Throughout, Munson highlights Franklin's passion for scientific inquiry as the bedrock of his rational approach to decision-making and problem-solving in these various roles while also surveying many of his scientific discoveries. From his groundbreaking experiments with electricity to his invention of bifocal lenses and the lightning rod, Franklin's ingenuity and practical intellect are evident, underscoring his enduring influence on both science and society. Munson argues that Franklin's scientific acumen was the driving force behind his success in all other arenas: "With all due respect to Franklin's standing as a founding father of our country, we wouldn't be discussing his political prowess were it not for his fame as a leading scientist, which opened doors for him in the worlds of diplomacy and nation-building. Science, rather than being a sideline, is the through line that integrates Franklin's diverse interests." Munson further traces the evolution of Franklin's reputation over time, examining how shifting cultural currents and the subjective perspectives of various biographers have influenced our understanding of him, emphasizing instead the particular relevance of Franklin's scientific approach within our current world: "As a vocal set of modern-day activists reject science and dismiss facts, Benjamin's life highlights the importance of verifiable analysis....In our narrow view of America as either red or blue and our arguments as only for or against, Franklin suggests a more nuanced world, one that is ultimately more fascinating and entertaining. We now can see him with prismatic lenses, rather than bifocals that register at most two views."
An engaging, fully dimensional portrait of Franklin, his empirical mindset serving as an example for our fact-challenged era.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Munson, Richard: INGENIOUS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A813883706/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2b3f272e. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
Munson, Richard. Tech to table: 25 innovators reimagining food. Island Press, 2021. 224p bibl index ISBN 9781642831900 cloth, $32.00; ISBN 9781642831917 ebook, $31.99
(cc) 59-2644
TP370
CIP
This book describes many recent developments in the world of new foods. Munson, author of From Edison to Enron (CH, Apr'06, 43-4785) as well as a recent biography of inventor Nikola Tesla (2018), interviewed a number of innovators and prepared short chapters on a series of foods either recently developed or in the experimental process. Some of the latter foods are already being produced, marketed, and sold; others are not yet available commercially. The focus of the book is mainly on individuals attempting to develop such products; but one chapter is devoted to a product: Kernza, a wheatgrass developed as a perennial grain crop and currently marketed by The Land Institute. Kernza was domesticated from a wild variety of wheatgrass that does not need to be planted annually. Munson also devotes several chapters to individuals currently interested in developing and marketing high-protein foods that taste like meat and have nutrients beneficial to human health. According to Munson, stem cells are used as one of the raw materials. This book was written for general readers and does not include many scientific details. Although there are some citations and references, they are related to past and present states of development and do not document the science of the various innovations discussed. Summing Up: ** Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates. Students in two-year technical programs. General readers.--L. E. Erickson, emeritus, Kansas State University
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Erickson, L.E. "Munson, Richard. Tech to table: 25 innovators reimagining food." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, vol. 59, no. 9, May 2022, pp. 1143+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A701833159/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7cb4f8a4. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
‘Ingenious’ Review: The Electric Mind of Benjamin Franklin
The polymathic American polemicist, inventor and diplomat was also a scientist whose work brought him esteem across the Atlantic.
By Stephen Budiansky
Nov. 29, 2024 10:14 am ET
Avaricious American authors out to capitalize on the renown of the Founding Fathers have always known to take a reading of the zeitgeist when deciding how to portray their subjects. George Washington has gone from pious moral instructor of youth in early 19th-century biographies (“I cannot tell a lie”) to his current incarnation as a vapid business consultant in the scad of recent books purporting to offer “leadership lessons” from the Founders. (Sample: “A leader has a vision.”) In part because Benjamin Franklin had such a multifarious career—printer, writer, humorist, postmaster, inventor, scientist, polemicist, diplomat—he is especially susceptible to being remodeled to suit the fashion of the times. His barbed wit leaves him ever at the mercy of the humor-impaired, ready to take his words out of context. His deism and open-minded rationalism regularly befuddle the narrow-minded and devout, who pluck from his prolific writings general affirmations of religion as a social good while ignoring his pointed mockery of dogma, superstition and sectarianism. The lasting fame of his pithy exhortations to thrift, industry and good habits (“early to bed and early to rise”), cranked out for Poor Richard’s Almanack and to serve as newspaper filler, further confuses the man with the character and presents a standing invitation to caricature and fabulation. The Franklin Institute devotes an entire page on its website to “things Benjamin Franklin never said.”
In the concluding chapter of “Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist,” Richard Munson summarizes the many Franklins that have been offered up to the reading public over the years. Franklin’s first biographer, Parson Weems, giving him the same mythical treatment he famously turned loose on George Washington, portrayed Franklin as a pious man of faith, including a wholly fabricated anecdote of the dying Franklin gazing rapturously upon an icon of “our Savior on the cross.” Horatio Alger, Andrew Carnegie and other Gilded Age extollers of the self-made man singled him out as a model of self-application and American practical-mindedness. Mainstream American historians of the 20th century highlighted his diplomacy with France and his political activities during the Revolution; a 1960s Broadway musical focused on his womanizing in Paris. Even “the commissioned portraits we have of him are no clearer,” Mr. Munson writes, “depicting him as everything from a wigged gentleman to a frontiersman in a fur cap to a robed divinity.”
As his subtitle indicates, this author’s intention is to restore Franklin the scientist to center stage—this, he asserts, was how Franklin fundamentally viewed himself—and, perhaps more important, was the identity from which all else in his complex character derived. Mr. Munson emphasizes that Franklin’s well-known practical inventions—the lightning rod, bifocals, the so-called Franklin stove—were not merely the products of a playful or quirky tinkerer. Their production was undergirded by Franklin’s considerable theoretical contributions to scientific understanding. Indeed, it was Franklin’s international renown as a “natural philosopher” (as scientists were then called) that gave him entree to the French court amid the crucial years advancing the American cause in the Revolutionary War.
It is still striking to read the tributes paid to Franklin by the most prominent natural scientists of his day, as well as physicists a century and more later. Franklin’s work on the fundamental properties of electricity went far beyond the famous demonstration of the electric nature of lightning in his kite-flying experiment. For his work on electricity, he was awarded the British Royal Society’s highest honor in 1753, and three years later was elected to the society by an unprecedented unanimous vote. His contemporary Joseph Priestley, renowned for his work isolating oxygen and much else, placed Franklin’s scientific contributions on a par with those of Isaac Newton. The 1923 winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, Robert Millikan, hailed Franklin’s clarifying insights into the action of electric currents as “probably the most fundamental thing ever done in the field of electricity.” Mr. Munson waxes indignant at the neglect of Franklin’s science by previous biographers, and the persistent trivialization of his kite experiment and its purpose. Yet much of what he has to say on this score has been said—and in the exact same way—by the pioneering historian of science I. Bernard Cohen more than 80 years ago, in his critical edition of Franklin’s own long out-of-print “Experiments and Observations on Electricity,” and again in 1990 in a collection of essays, “Benjamin Franklin’s Science.”