{"product_id":"9781035056651","title":"The Telephone","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA thrilling history of how we fell in and out of love with a technology that changed not just the world, but changed us.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Forces you to see the world with new eyes . . . I loved it!' \u003c\/b\u003e- Alice Loxton, author of\u003ci\u003e Eighteen\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eEleanor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Science and technology never seem more exciting than when James Gleick is writing about them' \u003c\/b\u003e- Elizabeth Kolbert, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Sixth Extinction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'This world-changing technology now has the definitive biography it deserves' \u003c\/b\u003e- Tom Standage, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Victorian Internet\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA supernatural instrument bringing voices from afar, the telephone burst onto the world stage 150 years ago, a triumphant story of individual ingenuity and vision. Instantly, the ability to speak across vast distances began to transform every part of life: from business organization to military tactics, from news gathering to sex work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut the story of \u003ci\u003eThe Telephone\u003c\/i\u003e is also one of corrupt scheming and ruthless tactics; the race to the patent office, to make money, a contest replete with bribery, fraud and speculation. And no one, not even its inventors, realised what the telephone was good for or how ubiquitous it would become.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the telephone settled into the background - in offices and on streets, on bedside tables and kitchen walls - people forgot how they ever lived without it. Now, as landlines, telephone books and telephone boxes vanish into the past, science writer James Gleick - bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eChaos\u003c\/i\u003e - shows how this commonplace object irreversibly changed not only the world but who we are as human beings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Masterful . . . Richly researched, playful, and insightful' \u003c\/b\u003e- Tiffany Jenkins, author of \u003ci\u003eStrangers and Intimates\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Charts our distance-compressing, time-shifting telephonic adventure with exceptional brio and subtlety' \u003c\/b\u003e- Stacy Schiff, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Revolutionary: Samuel Adams\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A riveting history of an artefact that boosted business and alleviated loneliness at the price of our privacy and our focus. Meticulously researched, delightful, and enlightening'\u003c\/b\u003e - Carissa Véliz, author of \u003ci\u003ePrivacy is Power \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eProphecy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gleick, James","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56951589601666,"sku":"9781035056651","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0936\/6575\/5522\/files\/9781035056651.jpg?v=1790675991","url":"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/products\/9781035056651","provider":"Archway Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}