Today is inventor Alexander Graham Bell’s birthday.  Bell is credited with inventing the telephone and having it patented in 1876.  Even at the time it was considered a race to the patent office between Bell and rival inventor Elisha Gray.

Researcher/author Seth Shulman seems to have discovered that Bell perhaps cheated in inventing the phone with the new discovery of a drawing of Gray’s in Bell’s possession.

This book is the story of how Shulman followed up on that first clue to reach the conclusion that Bell had stolen the key technological breakthrough needed to acquire his famous telephone patent from Gray.

The novella-length book cannot absolutely prove that Bell and his backers robbed Gray of his rights to the first commercial telephone, but it lays out a strong case of circumstantial evidence.

Gray was the more famous inventor of the two during their lifetime but history has given Bell all the credit of developing the telephone.  Bell was most famous for his strides in communication for the deaf.  Gray patented over 70 inventions.

A patent officer allegedly let Bell see Gray’s paperwork before filing it because he owed money to Bell’s lawyers.  Many say Bell felt ashamed after his ‘credited’ discovery of the telephone and never did any real work after that.