Hedy's Folly by Richard Rhodes

An introduction to Antheil at a Hollywood dinner table culminated in a U.S. 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. Only a writer of Richard Rhodes’s caliber could do justice to this remarkable story. Without this technology, we would not have the digital comforts that we take for granted today. What do Hedy Lamarr, avant-garde composer George Antheil, and your cell phone have in common? The answer is spread-spectrum radio: a revolutionary inven­tion based on the rapid switching of communications sig­nals among a spread of different frequencies.