Long before the Internet connected the planet and changed nearly evertying, there was a brave and pioneering band of computer users who spent their time, money and sanity setting up their home computers and phone lines to welcome anyone who called. They called these places "Bulletin Board Systems," or BBSes. And their collections of messages, rants, thoughts and programs became the way that an entire generation learned about being online.

Before smartphones and iPads, before the Internet or the personal computer, a misfit group of technophiles, blind teenagers, hippies, and outlaws figured out how to hack the world's largest machine: the telephone system.

Exploding The Phone is their story.