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Rating: 
Summary: The "de facto resource" on Wireless Communications
Review: Dr. Lee's book begins with a review of the development of telephones and wireless technologies, then continues with essentials such as evaluating spectrum, how to select a digital system and applications of CDMA. The book concludes with Dr. Lee's predictions for the future of the Internet and wireless. I have almost all the books authored by Dr. Lee. His books have influenced much to the development of the mobile industry. If you appreciate his previous titles, this book will not disappoint you.
Rating: 
Summary: Read it as an autobiography
Review: Ignore the marketing description for this book! It most definitely is not a general primer on wireless technology, or the selection of such technologies for real-world applications. While the book does contain sections which attempt these goals, there are much better treatments elsewhere. These sections are generally too terse, disorganized, and grammatically bizarre to be pedagogically useful. The bulk of the book is essentially an oral history of Lee's 30-year involvement in the wireless industry. The subject matter is very interesting: the history of AMPS, how the FCC selected the first-generation digital cellular systems, the development of CDMA at Qualcomm, and so on. A bit of this makes for entertaining reading. After a while, however, it begins to feel that the author is being overwhelmingly self-indulgent; in every story, it turns out that he had the pivotal suggestion, insight, or patent which made things work. This kind of self-aggrandizing is fine if done in the right way (e.g., with humor and an occasional tip of the hat to other contributors), however here I get the vibe that he is soon-to-retire and unfortunately insecure about his legacy. Bottom line: Buy it if you want an autobiography of Lee, or perhaps if you are interested in the history of the industry. Look elsewhere to learn about wireless technology.
Rating:
Summary: Read it as an autobiography
Review: Ignore the marketing description for this book! It most definitely is not a general primer on wireless technology, or the selection of such technologies for real-world applications. While the book does contain sections which attempt these goals, there are much better treatments elsewhere. These sections are generally too terse, disorganized, and grammatically bizarre to be pedagogically useful. The bulk of the book is essentially an oral history of Lee's 30-year involvement in the wireless industry. The subject matter is very interesting: the history of AMPS, how the FCC selected the first-generation digital cellular systems, the development of CDMA at Qualcomm, and so on. A bit of this makes for entertaining reading. After a while, however, it begins to feel that the author is being overwhelmingly self-indulgent; in every story, it turns out that he had the pivotal suggestion, insight, or patent which made things work. This kind of self-aggrandizing is fine if done in the right way (e.g., with humor and an occasional tip of the hat to other contributors), however here I get the vibe that he is soon-to-retire and unfortunately insecure about his legacy. Bottom line: Buy it if you want an autobiography of Lee, or perhaps if you are interested in the history of the industry. Look elsewhere to learn about wireless technology.
Rating:
Summary: An autobiography, not a technical book
Review: The author has been around. He was at Bell Labs when it was great and held technical leadership positions in cellular industry. Unfortunately the book is more about the author's career and personal opinions than technical details as the title infers. Some of the history is interesting but not worth (the price.)
Rating:
Summary: An autobiography, not a technical book
Review: The author has been around. He was at Bell Labs when it was great and held technical leadership positions in cellular industry. Unfortunately the book is more about the author's career and personal opinions than technical details as the title infers. Some of the history is interesting but not worth (the price.)
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of insight, but lacking in organisation and clarity
Review: The title is somewhat of a misnomer; whereas there is coverage of wireless technologies in general, a substantial portion of this book is devoted to the author's past work in the field. The reader is given insight into projects which the author was intimately involved in, such as the development of the fading model and its application in system design, work done on cellular network capacity, promotion of the first CDMA system and involvement in the OHG for 3G systems. The author's wide experience allows a systems level overview of the technologies involved, which facilitates intuitive understanding. Some portions are ambiguous though, which may or may not be due to the brevity of the text, and the organisation, though novel, is haphazard, with certain items covered in multiple sections. (I hazard that the author's busy schedule has something to do with this, or perhaps this is vindication for an aside on the superior understanding of genuises found in the book!) There are some mistakes, both in the text and the acompanying equations and figures. Even though the coverage of relevant topics, albeit brief, is comprehensive, I feel that readers new to the field can find better and easier reading elsewhere; the technically-inclined may like a brisk look for the interesting nuggets contained within, such as the reasons for choice of TDMA over FDMA for the first digital systems in the US, and predictions on further developments in the arena.
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