graciemark's review against another edition
3.0
Read this book for school, but honestly found it to be interesting. Many parts of this book felt like they could have been excluded but I felt like I learned something from the book in all.
broccolini's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
peteradamson's review
4.0
Hardly as controversial as I was expecting, but still a great history on the oralism vs. manualism schools of thought regarding language acquisition for those who are potential members of Deaf culture. I am an audiologist and used to work dispensing hearing aids to the Deaf so this book was up my vocational alley— but not in a “work inservice for CEU” way at all.
swagkermit's review against another edition
4.0
This book was at its best when it was discussing Bell's childhood and inventions. Towards the end of the book, it became very focused on people whose lives have been impacted by Bell, which though sometimes interesting, did feel disengaged with the rest of the material.
Overall it was a very good and interesting read, outlining Bell's life and values without glorifying or condemning the man himself.
Overall it was a very good and interesting read, outlining Bell's life and values without glorifying or condemning the man himself.
scribepub's review against another edition
Engagingly written … Booth’s descriptions of Bell’s passionate courtship of his student Mabel Hubbard, who belonged to a much higher social class, are as stirring as a romance novel, and her narrative of his work on the telephone reads like a thriller … Her meticulous research and rigour are evident on every page … Booth’s anger reflects a current trend of holding people from the past to standards of the present.
Andrew Solomon, The New York Times
Booth paints a textured portrait of a man driven not by an entrepreneurial desire to invent a product that changed the world but by a passion to improve the lives of deaf people. Booth interweaves these two themes into a revealing biography that will enlighten readers … Much of Booth’s biography carefully details Bell’s personal life and his marriage, she does not spare a careful assessment of his theories and politics … Booth has exhaustively researched Bell’s long life in preparation for her biography and provides many invaluable insights and information … an informative and revealing biography.
David Rosen, The New York Journal of Books
As schoolchildren we learn that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. We don’t learn that this is among the least interesting things about him. It takes a book like Katie Booth’s The Invention of Miracles to teach us that. Provocative, personal, and exhaustively researched, Booth’s book is the rare biography that completely alters a famous person’s popular image … Booth has the courage and perspective to portray her subject’s deeply flawed humanity, giving the book its poetry and tragic resonance.
The Boston Globe
Fascinating. The Invention of Miracles tells the story of how Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone was intertwined with his sincere but misguided passion for teaching the deaf how to speak. It’s a tale of great love, brilliant innovation, personal drama, and the unintended consequences of good intentions.
Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Leonardo Da Vinci and Steve Jobs
A 400-page volume of superb scholarship.
Nevil Gibson, NBR
This is a comprehensive biography of a great man. The author admires his work but does not hold back from strong criticism of his ideas on the deaf.
Frank O’Shea
Katie Booth revisits Bell's legacy, exploring his creative genius and his misguided efforts to eradicate Deaf culture.
Science
In this thoughtful biography, Booth reexamines the historical legacy of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. Booth acknowledges Bell’s role in helping people communicate, but she does not shy away from his complicated legacy within the Deaf community … A stunning biography that documents the Deaf people’s lengthy and ongoing efforts to have ASL acknowledged as a valid language. Booth's writing stands apart and sheds insight on disability history in the 20th century.
Jessica Bushore, Library Journal
[C]areful and balanced … Booth explores the progression of Bell’s career with compassion and nuance, eliding neither his good intentions nor the lasting harm that his emphasis on orality wrought on generations of D/deaf students.
Jenny Hamilton, Booklist
Booth vigorously revises the historical record … Booth reveals a rich history of heights and depths in The Invention of Miracles, including the questionable patent process that secured Bell’s name in history, the evolution and empowerment of the Deaf community, and Bell’s endearing marriage, which survived his own misguided intentions.
Priscilla Kipp, BookPage
Katie Booth’s brave and absorbing book is the story of a contradictory genius whose inventiveness outstripped his compassion… Booth’s style is highly poetic, even moving … [and] so scrupulously researched you feel like you’re walking alongside the inventor as he strides the Scottish moors or looking over his shoulder as he researches the qualities of different kinds of current in his Boston home.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Andrew Solomon, The New York Times
Booth paints a textured portrait of a man driven not by an entrepreneurial desire to invent a product that changed the world but by a passion to improve the lives of deaf people. Booth interweaves these two themes into a revealing biography that will enlighten readers … Much of Booth’s biography carefully details Bell’s personal life and his marriage, she does not spare a careful assessment of his theories and politics … Booth has exhaustively researched Bell’s long life in preparation for her biography and provides many invaluable insights and information … an informative and revealing biography.
David Rosen, The New York Journal of Books
As schoolchildren we learn that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. We don’t learn that this is among the least interesting things about him. It takes a book like Katie Booth’s The Invention of Miracles to teach us that. Provocative, personal, and exhaustively researched, Booth’s book is the rare biography that completely alters a famous person’s popular image … Booth has the courage and perspective to portray her subject’s deeply flawed humanity, giving the book its poetry and tragic resonance.
The Boston Globe
Fascinating. The Invention of Miracles tells the story of how Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone was intertwined with his sincere but misguided passion for teaching the deaf how to speak. It’s a tale of great love, brilliant innovation, personal drama, and the unintended consequences of good intentions.
Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Leonardo Da Vinci and Steve Jobs
A 400-page volume of superb scholarship.
Nevil Gibson, NBR
This is a comprehensive biography of a great man. The author admires his work but does not hold back from strong criticism of his ideas on the deaf.
Frank O’Shea
Katie Booth revisits Bell's legacy, exploring his creative genius and his misguided efforts to eradicate Deaf culture.
Science
In this thoughtful biography, Booth reexamines the historical legacy of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. Booth acknowledges Bell’s role in helping people communicate, but she does not shy away from his complicated legacy within the Deaf community … A stunning biography that documents the Deaf people’s lengthy and ongoing efforts to have ASL acknowledged as a valid language. Booth's writing stands apart and sheds insight on disability history in the 20th century.
Jessica Bushore, Library Journal
[C]areful and balanced … Booth explores the progression of Bell’s career with compassion and nuance, eliding neither his good intentions nor the lasting harm that his emphasis on orality wrought on generations of D/deaf students.
Jenny Hamilton, Booklist
Booth vigorously revises the historical record … Booth reveals a rich history of heights and depths in The Invention of Miracles, including the questionable patent process that secured Bell’s name in history, the evolution and empowerment of the Deaf community, and Bell’s endearing marriage, which survived his own misguided intentions.
Priscilla Kipp, BookPage
Katie Booth’s brave and absorbing book is the story of a contradictory genius whose inventiveness outstripped his compassion… Booth’s style is highly poetic, even moving … [and] so scrupulously researched you feel like you’re walking alongside the inventor as he strides the Scottish moors or looking over his shoulder as he researches the qualities of different kinds of current in his Boston home.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
scribepub's review against another edition
Fascinating. The Invention of Miracles tells the story of how Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone was intertwined with his sincere but misguided passion for teaching the deaf how to speak. It’s a tale of great love, brilliant innovation, personal drama, and the unintended consequences of good intentions.
Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Leonardo Da Vinci and Steve Jobs
A 400-page volume of superb scholarship.
Nevil Gibson, NBR
This is a comprehensive biography of a great man. The author admires his work but does not hold back from strong criticism of his ideas on the deaf.
Frank O’Shea
Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Leonardo Da Vinci and Steve Jobs
A 400-page volume of superb scholarship.
Nevil Gibson, NBR
This is a comprehensive biography of a great man. The author admires his work but does not hold back from strong criticism of his ideas on the deaf.
Frank O’Shea