Reluctant Genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention

By Charlotte Gray

The popular image of Alexander Graham Bell is that of an elderly American patriarch, memorable only for his paunch, his Santa Claus beard, and the invention of the telephone. In this magisterial reassessment based on thorough new research, acclaimed biographer Charlotte Gray reveals Bell’s wide-ranging passion for invention and delves into the private life that supported his genius. The child of a speech therapist and a deaf mother, and possessed of superbly acute hearing, Bell developed an early interest in sound. His understanding of how sound waves might relate to electrical waves enabled him to invent the talking telegraph” be- fore his rivals, even as he undertook a tempestuous courtship of the woman who would become his wife and mainstay.

In an intensely competitive age, Bell seemed to shun fame and fortune. Yet many of his innovationselectric heating, using light to transmit sound, electronic mail, composting toilets, the artificial lungwere far ahead of their time. His pioneering ideas about sound, flight, genetics, and even the engineering of complex structures such as stadium roofs still resonate today. This is an essential portrait of an American giant whose innovations revolutionized the modern world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing
• Release date: Aug 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781628721409

Charlotte Gray

Charlotte Gray is one of Canada’s best-known writers and the author of twelve acclaimed books of literary nonfiction, including The Promise of Canada. Her bestseller The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master, and the Trial That Shocked a Country won the Toronto Book Award, the Heritage Toronto Book Award, the Canadian Authors Association Lela Common Award for Canadian History, and the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book. It was shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize, the Ottawa Book Award for Nonfiction, and the Evergreen Award, and it was longlisted for the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Nonfiction. An adaptation of her bestseller Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike was broadcast as a television miniseries. An adjunct research professor in the department of history at Carleton University, Charlotte has received numerous awards, including the Pierre Berton Award for distinguished achievement in popularizing Canadian history. She is a Member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Visit her at CharlotteGray.ca.

Reviews for Reluctant Genius

[aob_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well written and excellent biography. Captures the true essence of the man behind the telephone. An interesting book and one of the best reads I've had in a long time!

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At the end of the book, the author says she set out to write a biography not just about Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor, but about the man and his family life. She certainly accomplished her goal of giving us a well-rounded view of Mr. Bell.I think the strength of a good biography is that the author remains invisible....the portrayal is unbiased and the reader makes his/her own judgements. Ms. Gray has, by this measure written an excellent biography.

[jrcovey_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I first encountered this book in the gift shop of the AGB national historic site in Baddeck, and had finished reading it within 24 hours. I can't imagine a more lively and readable account of the life of the great inventor.Gray has the gift of storytelling in spades, and although, as she frankly admits, she is not the first to explore Bell's relationship with his wife Mabel Hubbard, she does an excellent job of bringing it to life for contemporary readers without anachronistic distortion. This is balanced with clear, non-technical exploration of his major inventions, and plenty of historic and political context that enhances, without overwhelming, the main narrative.This is the only biography of Bell that I have read, so I have no direct point of comparison, but as a popular biography, seemingly well-grounded in primary and established secondary sources, I found it to be quite excellent. There are a couple of weak turns of phrase here and there ("Sounds. Alec Bell's childhood was full of sounds."), but these are quite few so this is just a quibble.I'd long been curious about how Bell came to live and work in Baddeck; this book quite illuminated for me where he fits in the history of Nova Scotia—and, needless to say, the world.