Loving Little Egypt

by Thomas McMahon

In the early 1920s, nearly blind physics prodigy Mourly Vold finds out how to tap into the nation's long distance telephone lines. With the help of Alexander Graham Bell, Vold tries to warn the phone companies that would-be saboteurs could do the same thing, but they ignore him. Unfortunately, his taps do catch the notice of William Randolph Hearst, who hires Thomas Edison to get to the bottom of them—and the chase is on!

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Novels

280 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 1987

Reviews

[Hippysilverware · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book did a wonderful job tying together fact and fiction to create mini biographies for each of these great men, while still telling the story about Vold. I feel the four of them had a rather nearly wrapped ending to each of their stories, but most of the other characters were left hanging in the air.

Many seemed to be introduced for a purpose that would never unfold, and some thrown in for the sake of convenience. Aside from being a little disappointed by that, I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't at all expecting to.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is the story of an inquisitive young boy who, becoming bored at school, turns his attentions to learning how to hack -- except he's not a hacker of computer networks. The story takes place in the early 20s, and the boy figures out how to hack into the phone system. However, his conscience prevails when he realizes the extreme destruction that could be wrought were a less scrupulous person to figure out the same things he's discovered. The higher-ups at the phone company want nothing to do with him, though, and so he struggles to make them understand what must be done.

I really wanted to like this book. The basic plot is an interesting one, and with the main character interacting with such prominent historical figures as Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Nikolai Tesla, it could have been great. The problem is that the author goes off onto these great tangents in order to introduce said figures into the story, and the actual plot seems gets lost half the time. By the time we actually make our way back to the protagonist of the story, you find yourself wondering "wait, where were we again?"

In describing the problem to my dad, he came up with the perfect explanation: it's as if the author started out attempting to write one story, and ended up with this other one. I think much of the book's problems could have been fixed with the help of a good editor -- this reads almost as a rough draft of what could one day be a very engaging novel. As-is, though, it's just frustrating and, at best, fractured.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spurred on by the discussion of Alexander Graham Bell's theory of eugenics in Victoria Thompson's latest Gaslight Mystery, I reread this deliciously picaresque tale of Bell, Edison, Tesla, some pigeons and a deaf hero named Vole. It is a fantastic, informative, adventurous and humorous plot all rolled into one crazy adventure to trick the newly spawned communications industry in early twentieth century America.

[Rohit · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has some unusual way of portraying biography. It starts with one story and dramatically ends with another. Minor details in the Little Egypt's life and his mindset is well captured. I think, author should have given some more information or details about Little Egypt's concepts behind his work. Some language is technical which might be the problem for some readers. Furthermore, focus on the rest of the characters is discontinuous.

[A.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing mix of fact and fiction, with a liberal dose of scientific history. Set in the early 1920s, at a time when the telephone network was the information superhighway of the era, the story investigates the activities of the world's first hackers.

It's the sort of book that makes you want to find out more - to work out where the boundary between the fiction and the facts lies.

[Kevin Wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Brain while playing with the puppy.

Everything I may have learned about history and life after written and then recovered after a hard drive crash.

I do not really want to khow the facts from this fiction any better than they have been written.

[Cindy]

Free from UChicago press this month...
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ebooks/...

[Du · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was decent, the writing solid, but the overall flow was a bit choppy, and didn't pull me in as strongly as I had hoped to.

[Salom · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I finished this book I applauded. Erudite, whimsical, funny, a slight tendency to go on tangents but always comes back, sometimes sad, but always hopeful.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

love the fiction intertwined with real facts about incredible scientists.