Description: What do Hedy Lamarr, avant-garde composer George Antheil, and a cell phone have in common? The answer is spread-spectrum radio: a revolutionary invention based on the switching of communications signals among different frequencies. Only a writer of Rhodes's caliber could do justice to this remarkable story.
Review Quotes:
Praise for Richard Rhodes's Hedy's Folly:
"Fascinating. . . . mixes thorough techno research with Hollywood glam. . . . Rhodes drops quite a bombshell."--USA Today "A smart, strange and fascinating book."--Washington Post "It's to Mr. Rhodes's credit that he gently makes this implausible story plausible."--New York Times "Unveils the inquisitive brain behind the beauty.... [It] reads at turns like a romance novel, patent law primer, noir narrative and exercise in forensic psychology." --Los Angeles Times "Rhodes's talent is making the scientifically complex accessible to the proverbial lay reader with clarity and without dumbing down the essentials of his topics."--The New York Times Book Review "[A] charming and remarkably seamless book."--Salon "Fascinating . . . shows Hedy Lamarr to have been a secret weapon in more ways than one."--Newsweek "Richard Rhodes is the perfect historian to describe the abilities of Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil as scientists and inventors."--Larry McMurtry, Harper's Magazine "Richard Rhodes's book should be celebrated: he shows that even in the "information" age, there is a way to write about an American movie star that gives readers something new."--The New Republic "Hedy Lamarr, glamorous Hollywood star. Hedy Lamarr, glamorous genius inventor.That's the gist of Richard Rhodes' Hedy's Folly . . . although, of course, it's far more complicated than that. And far more fascinating."--Philadelphia Inquirer "Hedy's Folly is a reminder that neither time nor gravity can diminish the allure of a beautiful mind."--Bloomberg Business Week "Rhodes, who has written about everything from atomic power to sex to John James Audubon, is apparently incapable of writing a bad book and most of what he does is absolutely superior."--The Daily Beast "A riveting narrative, propelled by the ambition and idiosyncrasies of the inventors at its core."--Science News "[A]n unusual and worthwhile read."--Washington Times "[C]aptivating."--Boston Globe "A focused glimpse into one actress' remarkable life, and the rare mix of war, patriotism and intellect that fomented her unlikely invention."--Dallas Morning News "Rhodes...manages to capture the sheer improbability of these unlikely Edisons."--Entertainment Weekly "Rhodes puts Lamarr's inventive spirit into coherent context.... [His] book gives us the whole Hedy -- a closet geek in peacock feathers -- and makes that mix believable."-- Nature "Riveting. . . . There's enough technical and military history here to keep Rhodes's hard-core fan base satisfied. But the cultural history is just as interesting, and Rhodes tells both stories with a sure and supple hand."--The New York Observer