Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World
Written by Richard Rhodes
Narrated by Bernadette Dunne
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Only a writer of Richard Rhodes's caliber could do justice to this remarkable story. Unhappily married to a Nazi arms dealer, Lamarr fled to America at the start of World War II; she brought with her not only her theatrical talent but also a gift for technical innovation. An introduction to Antheil at a Hollywood dinner table culminated in a U.S. patent for a jam- proof radio guidance system for torpedoes-the unlikely duo's gift to the U.S. war effort.
What other book brings together 1920s Paris, player pianos, Nazi weaponry, and digital wireless into one satisfying whole? In its juxtaposition of Hollywood glamour with the reality of a brutal war, Hedy's Folly is a riveting book about unlikely amateur inventors collaborating to change the world.
Editor's Note
A gorgeous mind…
We owe our modern digital age to a Hollywood star known more for her beauty and glamour than for her brilliant mind. The story of how she invented a revolutionary communication encryption method has it all: brains, fame, war, and scandal.
Richard Rhodes
<p>Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for <em>The Making of the Atomic Bomb</em>, Richard Rhodes has also won the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Prize, as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim, Ford, and MacArthur foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is the author of a dozen books amd more than seventy articles and lives in rural Connecticut with his wife, writer and pilot Ginger Rhodes.</p>
More audiobooks from Richard Rhodes
Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Energy: A Human History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World it Made Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Hedy's Folly
Related audiobooks
The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Obsessed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/512 Seconds Of Silence: How a Team of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Spies Took Down a Nazi Superweapon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grantville Gazette, Volume II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCity of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hedy Lamarr: The Life and Legacy of the Influential Actress and Inventor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murdered Midas: A Millionaire, His Gold Mine, and a Strange Death on an Island Paradise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and The World That Made Him Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Last Days: The Death of the Nazi Regime and the World's Most Notorious Dictator Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hunting the Nazi Bomb: The Special Forces Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Deadliest Weapon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yesterday's Spy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Standfast (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Craftsman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Saving Freud: The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World of Atlas Shrugged: The Essential Companion to Ayn Rand's Masterpiece Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Presence of Mine Enemies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Would You Kill the Fat Man? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood of the Reich: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The London Blitz Murders Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ingenious Mr. Pyke: Inventor, Fugitive, Spy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler's Pawn: The Boy Assassin and the Holocaust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Am John Galt: Today's Heroic Innovators Building the World and the Villainous Parasites Destroying It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Planter of Modern Life: Louis Bromfield and the Seeds of a Food Revolution Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Entertainers and the Rich & Famous For You
The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Paris: The Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If You Would Have Told Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Open Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Happy People Are Annoying Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5BRITNEY: Breaking Free Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Taste: My Life Through Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hello, Molly!: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Not My Father's Son: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside Out: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Is this Anything? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whiskey in a Teacup Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pretty Boys Are Poisonous: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Can't Be Serious Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Hedy's Folly
5 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is great all around. It keeps a good pace diving into Hedy Lamar's adventure into inventing and her frequency hopping ideas. It also takes pleasant but informative side strolls into the other characters in her life as well as painting an appropriate setting to fully understand her story. As an engineer, it also covers the technology with a good amount of depth to appreciate the technical aspects of her contribution to communication. An enjoyable, short, but informative read. I am glad Ms. Lamar's legacy and contribution can continue through this book.