What other book brings together 1920's 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. 272 pp. Buyer's Choice"

Reviews

"Hedy's Folly" is one of the "Huffington Post"'s Best Film Books of 2011!
Praise for "Hedy's Folly"

"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...along the way he expertly weaves social and cultural commentary into his narrative.... Behind the uniqueness of this story lie deeper themes that Rhodes touches upon the gender biases against beautiful and intelligent women, the delicate interpersonal politics of scientific collaboration and...the neverending, implacable conflict between art and Mammon in American culture."--John Adams, front page of the "New York Times Book Review "

"It's to Mr. Rhodes's credit that he gently makes this implausible story plausible.""--"Dwight Garner, "New York Times"

"This is a smart, strange and fascinating book, which deserves to find an audience.... Rhodes is particularly good when describing intellectual milieus, whether Vienna in the first years of the 20th century, the Paris of James Joyce, Ezra Pound and Sylvia Beach and -- for that matter -- the permanent bureaucracy of the Pentagon. Many will have forgotten the brutal Soviet attack on Finland in 1940, but Rhodes sums it up poignantly and succinctly in three pages about the death of Antheil's brother Henry. Finally, Rhodes is one of those few writers capable of explaining complicated scientific ideas to the general public, invariably with clarity and precision and sometimes wit and poetry as well.""--"Prof. Tim Page, "Washington Post"

"In "Hedy's Folly," Rhodes weaves a fascinating...account of Lamarr's journey into scientific exploration and the political machinations of war, mixing thorough techno research with Hollywood glam.""--"Bill Deskowitz, "USA Today
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"Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood starlet and inventor of a torpedo guidance system during World War II? Who knew? Richard Rhodes, the Pulitzer-winning auth