2010 Reprint of 1850 Edition. The Autobiography is an essential self help classic. It was not a chronicle of Franklin's life so much as Franklin's attempt to show how one's life and character could become a noble one through self-assessment. Franklin, as a scientist, wrote it as a kind of report on the failures and successes of his experiments in living. At no point did he claim any special mastery over how to live life, but he was committed to finding a formula that could assure a person of some success. This motivations makes the Autobiography one of the original self-help classics.