Summary of Katie Booth's The Invention of Miracles

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview:

#1 In 1863, at age sixteen, Alexander Graham Bell first started work on his speaking machine. He planned to give the contraption a human form, and then to play this mechanical body like an organ, with keys that depressed the different portions of the tongue and lips.

#2 Aleck was very close with his brother, Edward, who was just one year younger. But after finishing school, their work on the speaking machine would bring them together as a single team.

#3 Melville and his brother were famous elocutionists, who helped smooth out error and give power to the voice. They worked with actors and preachers, immigrants and stutterers, to correct their speech and give power to their voices.

#4 The mid-nineteenth century was still ruled by the centuries-long notion that the essence of being was embodied by speech. Voice was where language and thought met. Melville’s goal was to increase access to language and thus to increase access to one another.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669374732

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Katie Booth's The Invention of Miracles

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

In 1863, at age sixteen, Alexander Graham Bell first started work on his speaking machine. He planned to give the contraption a human form, and then to play this mechanical body like an organ, with keys that depressed the different portions of the tongue and lips.

#2

Aleck was very close with his brother, Edward, who was just one year younger. But after finishing school, their work on the speaking machine would bring them together as a single team.

#3

Melville and his brother were famous elocutionists, who helped smooth out error and give power to the voice. They worked with actors and preachers, immigrants and stutterers, to correct their speech and give power to their voices.

#4

The mid-nineteenth century was still ruled by the centuries-long notion that the essence of being was embodied by speech. Voice was where language and thought met. Melville’s goal was to increase access to language and thus to increase access to one another.

#5

Melville’s mother, Eliza, was a pianist who had begun to go deaf in late childhood. She trained her son’s attention to sensory detail, and he fell in love with her.

#6

Eliza taught her son to see with depth and clarity, and to observe what others might ignore. She was a deaf woman who had command of language and speech before her hearing began to fade.

#7

The brothers began to focus on the mechanics of the voice, and they created a speaking machine that they could blow into like a trumpet. It produced a sound, but it still wasn’t right. They added another piece of rubber and produced something that they could imagine as voice.

#8

The boys created a machine that could cry out a continuous vowel ah. It was a beginning. They used it to play tricks, and their downstairs neighbors grew concerned about the baby. Aleck began to dream of escaping, taking off to Leith under the cover of night to steal away on a ship.

#9

Melville’s career as a teacher began in Elgin, and he spent his free time exploring the hills around Covesea, a nearby seaside town. He had his own money, his own time, and his own plans.

#10

The