BOOK REVIEW Cutting the Cord, The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanity by Martin Cooper Reviewed by John Facella EDITOR’S NOTE: The following book has been suggested as interesting reading or as a useful resource. The following review does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by RCA. We welcome suggestions and recommendations from RCA’s members regarding books to share with RCA’s membership. The scope can include technical, regulatory, or other subjects. We encourage you to send your suggestions to David Bart at jbart1964@gmail.com for publication in a future issue of the Proceedings.
T
his book provides a very nice summary of Marty Cooper’s life’s work in wireless and telecommunications. Dr. Cooper has spent all of his adult life working in the wireless industry, and he has amassed a long list of very major accomplishments, many of which are detailed in this 242 page book. Dr. Cooper has also been a commentator on the impact of technology in our society, and this book outlines his ideas on these topics. In 2010, he was the keynote speaker at RCA’s Annual Awards Banquet in New York City, and at that event Marty talked about his views on the possible future that wireless technology could play in many areas, especially health care. Once again, RCA will have the marvelous opportunity to honor Dr. Cooper when he is our keynote speaker in Denver this November. We all look eagerly forward to his presentation. This review discusses his recent book Cutting the Cord, The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanity. It is published by Rosetta Books and has the ISBN listing of 978-1-948122-74-0. The list price on the book jacket is $26.99 in the U.S. The book is organized into 18 chapters, presented in two parts. However, I believe the book can actually be viewed as having four major sections, each of which may appeal to different readers: • Motorola History: Chapters 2 through 6 detail the early MTS and IMTS mobile telephone and 2 way radio systems built at Motorola, their entrance into quartz crystal manufacturing, and the company’s relationship with AT&T and Bell Laboratories. • Cellular Telephone System History: Chapters 7 through 9 and 11 explain the AMPS Cellular telephone system and the DynaTAC, the world’s first portable cellular phone, which was designed in three months, but took another ten years to become fully commercialized.
FALL 2021 PROCEEDINGS 52
• Innovation & Management Advice: Sprinkled throughout chapters 1 through 12 in Part I, and especially in chapter 10 (“Eureka Doesn’t Happen”), and his one page “Bridge, Marty’s Maxims” on page 153, are his insights into management and the creative process. • Future Impacts of Wireless on Society: In Part II, chapters 13 to 18, Marty outlines how the cell phone can transform our lives in the areas of poverty, education, collaborative work, and health care.
PART I, CHAPTER 1 In this section Dr. Cooper explains his early family history. He tells how his father moved the family from the Ukraine, which Russian Cossacks had invaded, and then transported the family in a wagon train across Europe into Belgium, where they then went by boat to Canada, and eventually arrived in Chicago, where Marty was born in 1928. Marty graduated from high school in 1946, and then went to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). He joined the U.S. Naval ROTC program, and eventually served on a heavy cruiser, a destroyer, and a submarine. After three years in the Navy, he returned to civilian life and worked for the Teletype Corporation making teleprinters. But after less than a year there, Marty decided he wanted to work in the electronics field, so in 1954, he joined Motorola as a senior development engineer.
PART I, CHAPTERS 2 TO 6 These chapters will hold special interest for those that worked at, or competed with, Motorola in the 1950s to the 1970s. Chapters 2 and 3 review some of the early projects Marty worked on at Motorola, including a cryptographic machine that was Motorola’s very
www.radioclubofamerica.org
