Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Atheneum (1999), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 32 pages
Description
A biography of the prolific inventor who had a keen interest in voice and sound and who worked tirelessly on behalf of deaf people.
User reviews
LibraryThing member kimberlyhebert
Alexander Graham Bell was a man of boundless enthusiasm and intelligence, and this picture book does well to capture this. It follows the life of Alexander (later to be known by the nickname of "Aleck") from his young boyhood in Edinburgh, and through the course of his many inventive endeavors in
The reader learns that Alexander Graham Bell's family were among the brightest intellectuals of Edinburgh. As a whole, the family was enraptured with speech and filled with compassion for those living with speech disabilities. From an early age, Alexander became consumed with the interest of using the human voice to communicate clearly.
The book talks about the Visual Speech system designed by Alexander's father and helped to serve as a pretext for much of Alexander's later studies, and the arduous road that led to the eventual invention of the telephone. Additionally, while the telephone is arguably the most well known of all Alexander Graham Bell's inventions, other lesser known inventions are also discussed throughout the text: the spectraphone, metal detector, phonographic devices, the vacuum jacket, and the tetrahedral structural unit. The illustrations compliment these descriptions nicely throughout the book.
Also discussed are Alexander's many philanthropic efforts and wide-ranging interests. For example, in addition to founding the American Association to Promote Teaching Speech to the Deaf, he also served as regent of the Smithsonian Institution, helped to establish the astrophysical observatory at the Smithsonian, served as President of the National Geographic Society, and sponsored the founding of the Aerial Experiment Association... and this was done all within a period of just five years! Much of Alexander's entire life could be described that way: he was a true visionary who worked tirelessly to make the quality of life better for all.
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the United States.The reader learns that Alexander Graham Bell's family were among the brightest intellectuals of Edinburgh. As a whole, the family was enraptured with speech and filled with compassion for those living with speech disabilities. From an early age, Alexander became consumed with the interest of using the human voice to communicate clearly.
The book talks about the Visual Speech system designed by Alexander's father and helped to serve as a pretext for much of Alexander's later studies, and the arduous road that led to the eventual invention of the telephone. Additionally, while the telephone is arguably the most well known of all Alexander Graham Bell's inventions, other lesser known inventions are also discussed throughout the text: the spectraphone, metal detector, phonographic devices, the vacuum jacket, and the tetrahedral structural unit. The illustrations compliment these descriptions nicely throughout the book.
Also discussed are Alexander's many philanthropic efforts and wide-ranging interests. For example, in addition to founding the American Association to Promote Teaching Speech to the Deaf, he also served as regent of the Smithsonian Institution, helped to establish the astrophysical observatory at the Smithsonian, served as President of the National Geographic Society, and sponsored the founding of the Aerial Experiment Association... and this was done all within a period of just five years! Much of Alexander's entire life could be described that way: he was a true visionary who worked tirelessly to make the quality of life better for all.
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Language
Physical description
32 p.; 11.34 inches
ISBN
0689816073 / 9780689816079