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Reluctant Genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention

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It is common knowledge that Bell invented the telephone. (Although as many times as I got called during this last election I'm not so sure it was a good idea.) But it was a time when great advances were being made in such devices. There were other inventors such as Meucci in Europe and Oki in Japan who were doing the same thing.

What is less known is that Bell was an inventor in many areas, rather like Edison or Tesla, he worked in many areas: sonar, ultra sound, iron lung, electric heating, and many more.

Perhaps as outstanding was his subsequent creation of The Bell Telephone Company. He had the ability to make the fundamental invention and then to capitalize on it to create a giant company where there had been nothing before, rather like Bill Gates was able to do in our time.

This is a major biography, it contains original research and understanding into his life combined with an excellent writing style that brings his life to life.

This was a great read and a finely illustrated history of Alec Bell's life. I appreciated the author's weaving in of Alec's wife, Mabel, throughout the book and how she was an integral part of his life in many ways.

The book occasionally repeats itself and gets a little tedious, mainly in the way it paints Alec as the constant tinkerer and you as a reader get frustrated in the way he wastes so much time on certain pursuits (the sheep raising being one), but this really in no way detracts from the enjoyment of reading this book.

Wonderfully detailed and very entertaining, this is a terrific read and comes highly recommended.

Both general-interest libraries strong in biographical representation and college-level science collections where inventor biographies are strong will want Reluctant Genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention. It represents the first major biography on Bell in thirty years and probes the life of a man whose inventions changed the world. Born of a deaf mother, Bell developed a passion for sound at an early age, investigating the science of sound and joining the race to invent the first 'speaking telegraph'. While he's best known for inventing the telephone, he also participated in the race to develop the airplane, and invented the hydrofoil - as well as investigated a president's murder. A complex individual emerges from these pages, making for a satisfying read indeed.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

A very well written book about Alexander Graham Bell from early years to adulthood and the inventions in between. I wish more of the inventions were shown in this book though.

This is a wonderful book. Only complaint is the "audio" version is read by intollerably ignorant woman who drops all her g's (gonnna, wanna, etc.) pronounces every vowel as "uh" (tuh night, tuh day, etc.) a really Brooklyn accent. Who chose her for this job.