JANUARY 4, 2008

Dirty deals and double crossings: how the telephone came to life

NONFICTION: The Telephone Gambit

If there were a Mount Rushmore for American inventors, Alexander Graham Bell’s face would certainly be up there. But according to the science journalist Seth Shulman in his new book The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell’s Secret, the spot in the pantheon occupied by Bell rightfully belongs to a lesser-known inventor named Elisha Gray. Turns out Bell kinda stole Gray’s idea.

Part muckraking journalism, part detective story, and part science lesson, The Telephone Gambit is an engaging romp through the scientific world of the late 19th century with a cast of characters worthy of Dickens, including cutthroat capitalists, egotistical inventors, and awestruck assistants. Plus, there’s the lovelorn Bell — bewitched by a beautiful deaf heiress — and the alcoholic, debt-ridden patent clerk who probably cheated Elisha Gray out of his deserved place in history. With The Telephone Gambit, Shulman does his fascinating best to right a very old wrong.

The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell’s Secret

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