A climate change book that supplemented itself with some history. This book should not have Franklin Stove in the title if it's plot would focus so little on the device. A nice double entendre like 'Heating the World' would have been a much better choice. The book even takes a swipe at originalist interpretation of the Constitution while discussing Benjamin Franklin's will and wishes for the 200 years following his death. The book is a set of talking points cobbled together clumsily using the thread of a Colonial era technological breakthrough to draw in unsuspecting readers. Once inside, the author beats said talking points to death, much as a Colonial maid might beat the dust from a rug. And if you didn't like that simile, you'll hate this book.

Scientists realize that the climate is changing. They believe that humans can be responsible for climate change, and they begin coming up with solutions to the problem.

Sounds familiar, eh? But it’s not our current global warming crisis. Nope! It’s the 1700s, and it’s a global cooling called the Little Ice Age!

Benny-Boy Franklin lived during the Little Ice Age, and he and other early scientists believed that humans could make the climate warmer by cutting down trees! But in the meantime, it was cold as the dickens, and wood was scarce in Europe, and growing increasingly scarce in the American colonies. So Benja Frank invented his Franklin Stove to provide better indoor heating and to conserve fuel.

But this book isn’t just about Franklin’s invention. It’s about how different groups of people view the world and its resources (like the Native Americans and the European colonists). It’s about how individuals and governments try to address the problems of climate, with lessons to be learned for the climate crisis we face now.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Franklin Stove, and I highly recommend it to both history lovers as well as to people concerned about the climate today!

Thanks to Brilliance Audio through NetGalley who allowed me to listen to the audio version of this book. The narrator, Cynthia Farrell, did an excellent job!

DNF after three chapters. This would be an interesting book if it simply put the Franklin stove in historical context. Instead, it uses Franklin and his invention as vehicles to rant about everything that’s gone wrong in the world since the Enlightenment. The text of this book is so general and diffuse that it’s almost impossible to follow.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.