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The Kite That Won the Revolution
Ben Franklin
148 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1963
49 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,357 books28.1k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 21, 2020
From an 11-year-old: This book is rich in history and science, going all the back to a forest that doesn't exist, a scientist named Thales (2500 years ago), and so on. I recommend this to people of all ages, especially people who want to know exactly how the United States won its independence.
November 24, 2022
Wait -- Isaac Asimov wrote a kids book about Benjamin Franklin?
Yes, and it is incredible, fantastic, spell-binding. The book starts in 1775, with the American revolution, and explains how without France joining as an ally and sending their navy to aid the Americans, independence would likely never have happened. But France would likely not have aided the Americans without their venerated ambassador--Benjamin Franklin. But Franklin would not have been highly esteemed in France (as in all of Europe) if not for his electrical discoveries, confirmed in the famous "kite in the thunderstorm" experiment--hence, "The Kite that Won the Revolution." I was hooked.
The book then backs up 2500 years to Greece and traces the history of scientific theories and discoveries about electricity, slowing down to give more detail for the 17th and 18th centuries, the Leyden Jar, before circling back to Franklin and his famous contribution. From here, it fills in a number of fascinating details from Franklin's life, his inventions (including his glass harmonica!), and especially, his political activities as postmaster, ambassador, congressman, and finally his participation in the constitutional convention. Asimov's telling of this history is great, lively, interesting, wonderful.
I have no idea why Asimov wrote this book, but I'm glad (as is my 10 year old) that he did.
Yes, and it is incredible, fantastic, spell-binding. The book starts in 1775, with the American revolution, and explains how without France joining as an ally and sending their navy to aid the Americans, independence would likely never have happened. But France would likely not have aided the Americans without their venerated ambassador--Benjamin Franklin. But Franklin would not have been highly esteemed in France (as in all of Europe) if not for his electrical discoveries, confirmed in the famous "kite in the thunderstorm" experiment--hence, "The Kite that Won the Revolution." I was hooked.
The book then backs up 2500 years to Greece and traces the history of scientific theories and discoveries about electricity, slowing down to give more detail for the 17th and 18th centuries, the Leyden Jar, before circling back to Franklin and his famous contribution. From here, it fills in a number of fascinating details from Franklin's life, his inventions (including his glass harmonica!), and especially, his political activities as postmaster, ambassador, congressman, and finally his participation in the constitutional convention. Asimov's telling of this history is great, lively, interesting, wonderful.
I have no idea why Asimov wrote this book, but I'm glad (as is my 10 year old) that he did.
April 2, 2018
Pre-read this to see what it was about before we got to the Revolution in our history studies. Was pleasantly surprised to find a very interesting succinct account of the history of electricity's discoverers written in a way that even children can understand, as well as a wonderful tie-in to Ben Franklin's life and how his work with electricity made him famous in France, and thus won the Revolution for us when French aristocrats swayed their king to send aid and money to the U.S., when they likely wouldn't have supported our cause otherwise. A very nice story, and I ended up assigning it to my 6th grader to accompany our studies on Ben Franklin, covered a few weeks before the Revolution.
January 7, 2011
One of the absolute best non-fiction science/history/biographies I have ever read. Asimov is a genius of a teacher.
July 30, 2017
C-. children's, 6th grade, nonfiction, biography, Benjamin Franklin, Mom's stash, discard. Supposedly a biography of Franklin, Asimov condenses thousands of years by "simplifying" the "history" of electricity (beginning with how amber is formed), the story of the American colonies, and innumerable other side stories taking place during these times...all contained in 148 pages!
October 17, 2017
A clear, concise and interesting read about Ben Franklin.
January 31, 2010
I saw this in a used book store a couple of months ago and was really intrigued that Asimov wrote a youth biography of Benjamin Franklin. Now that I've finally had time to read it, I'm glad I picked it up. While it is obviously a children's book, Asimov doesn't dumb down his material, yet makes it really engaging (of course it helps that Franklin was such an interesting character). Interestingly, the plot is woven around the history of man's understanding of electricity, leading up to (and past) Franklin's discovery that lightning was electric and his invention of the lightning rod.
Want to read
August 21, 2009The Good Doctor explains how it could be "that a middle-aged man flying a kite in a thunderstorm should bring down with it not only the lightning but victory for the American Colonies in the Revolution" in this volume, aimed at a youthful audience but still delivered with his usual inimitably lucid and witty style.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews