The Telephone Gambit

Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret

By: Seth Shulman

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eBook | 17 January 2008

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"[A] page-turner...The Telephone Gambit is solid history, and Seth Shulman makes it as much fun to read as an Agatha Christie whodunit." —John Steele Gordon, Wall Street Journal

Throughout his career, Alexander Graham Bell, one of the world's most famous inventors, was plagued by a secret: he stole the key idea behind the invention of the telephone.

While researching at MIT, science journalist Seth Shulman scrutinized Bell's journals and within them found the smoking gun, a hint of deeply buried historical deception. Bell furtively—and illegally—copied part of Elisha Gray's patent caveat in the race to secure what would become the most valuable U.S. patent ever issued. Delving further into Bell's story, Shulman unearths the surprising truth behind the telephone—and with it, a tale of romance, corruption, and unchecked ambition. The Telephone Gambit challenges the reputation of an icon of invention, rocks the foundation of a corporate behemoth, and offers a probing meditation on how little we know about our own history.