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Howard Hughes: The Untold Story
Howard Hughes was one of the most amazing, intriguing, and controversial figures of the twentieth century. He was the billionaire head of a giant corporation, a genius inventor, an ace pilot, a matinee-idol-handsome playboy, a major movie maker who bedded a long list of Hollywood glamour queens, a sexual sultan with a harem of teenage consorts, a political insider with intimate ties to Watergate, a Las Vegas kingpin, and ultimately a bizarre recluse whose final years and shocking death were cloaked in macabre mystery. Now he is the subject of Martin Scorsese's biopic The Aviator. Few people have been able to penetrate the wall of secrecy that enshrouded this complex man. In this fascinating, revelation-packed biography, the full story of one of the most daring, enigmatic, and reclusive power brokers America has ever known is finally told.
528 pages, Paperback
First published March 21, 1996
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December 10, 2012
I felt that Howard Hughes: The Untold Story should have mostly been left untold. It is a lurid account of all the women Hughes slept with, the women who refused to sleep with him, and the starlets who worked for his movie company but slept with their chauffeurs instead of him. The repeated claims that Hughes had untreatable, antibiotic-resistance syphilis are not believable -- although Hughes apparently did contract syphilis in the 1940s (no surprise, given all the prostitutes he slept with), he was treated with penicillin. Hardly anyone had used penicillin at the time(Hughes' immense wealth enabled him to get access to the drug), so resistance to antibiotics should not have been a problem. Also, syphilis would not explain why Hughes sometimes had mental breakdowns and then (mostly) recovered.
If you are looking for unsubstantiated gossip about Hughes' self life, then this book is great. Otherwise, I'd read Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness instead.
If you are looking for unsubstantiated gossip about Hughes' self life, then this book is great. Otherwise, I'd read Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness instead.
September 17, 2022
Amazing ... what a character Howard Hughes was, rich little heir, aviator, film producer, entrepreneur, businessman, eccentric and womaniser extraordinaire! And this book spells it all out in 'The Untold Story'. This latter is perhaps just a trifle overstated as much of the Howard Hughes story has been told in many volumes written about the man previously but there are certainly some episodes within its covers that are new to the public. And anyway everything about the man is so fascinating that it is well worth reading.
Interestingly a Dr Jeffrey Schwartz, a scientist at the forefront of obsessive-compulsive disorder research was to remark, '[H]e's probably the most obsessive-compulsive in modern history.' Certainly in his later years he exhibited epic examples of OCD emotional ravages and this probably all began with the way his mother closeted and pampered him when he was young. If the OCD had been recognised in his early days, doctors all seem to think that he could have been treated so that his life, which was very bizarre at the end, could have been quite different.
But it wasn't and so he carried on in his strange ways until it finally overtook him and he was on the verge of being classed as a madman. However, it all began rather sedately, if anything connected with Howard Hughes could be classed as sedate! When his father died, he had to buy out his relatives so that he could have sole control of the Hughes' business empire, which he proceeded to build up and add to in mammoth proportions.
He always maintained an interest in the movies, so he diversified into their production and in doing so he began to evidence his strange, compulsive behaviour. For example he spent $500,000 in purchasing more than 40 vintage fighter and scouting aircraft to use in his film 'Hell's Angels', the filming of which overran massively, especially when he realised that the talkies had arrived and he had to add dialogue! And his compulsion to own people as well as things showed itself in the number of starlets he took a fancy to and signed on for future films ... but he never, or if so very sparsely, used them.
It was while filming 'Hell's Angels' that he met Jean Harlow and had his affair with the original blond bombshell. But by that time his womanising had already reached massive proportions as he chased down potential stars for his productions or wooed existing stars regardless of their marital status. And he did marry Ella Rice, 'the most sought-after debutante in Houston', in 1925 and thus began a strange married relationship. Inevitably divorce followed a few years later and he was to subsequently officially propose to such as Ava Gardner, Kathryn Grayson, Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Yvonne Schubert as well as more or less promising marriage to any number of starlets along the way so that he could get them into bed with him. He did later marry Jean Peters but, like all his other relationships that turned out to be something of a disaster as well.
He very nearly killed himself on two occasions when he was flying because, having set a new land speed record of 352.46mph at Santa Ana, California, in his 'Silver Bullet' aircraft, he thought he was invincible. He did go on to make the world's then greatest long-distance flight when he flew from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in seven hours 28 minutes and in 1937 he received the prestigious Harmon International Trophy as the world's outstanding aviator of 1936. And he established a new record by flying around the world in three days 19 hours 17 minutes in a Lockheed Model 14 twin-engine transport in July 1938. He returned home to a ticket-tape reception.
His aides began to control his business empire in later times and he got into all sorts of problems by which time he had become something of a recluse, moving around the world from one hide-out hotel to another. Because of this those who sought him had to arrange proof that he was indeed still alive and he made very occasional appearances to prove this was so. But they were only made after his aides had tidied him up to make him appear presentable because his personal habits had become quite bizarre.
And so the legend of Howard Hughes goes on and it is a fascinating one put over excellently by the authors in this very readable book.
Interestingly a Dr Jeffrey Schwartz, a scientist at the forefront of obsessive-compulsive disorder research was to remark, '[H]e's probably the most obsessive-compulsive in modern history.' Certainly in his later years he exhibited epic examples of OCD emotional ravages and this probably all began with the way his mother closeted and pampered him when he was young. If the OCD had been recognised in his early days, doctors all seem to think that he could have been treated so that his life, which was very bizarre at the end, could have been quite different.
But it wasn't and so he carried on in his strange ways until it finally overtook him and he was on the verge of being classed as a madman. However, it all began rather sedately, if anything connected with Howard Hughes could be classed as sedate! When his father died, he had to buy out his relatives so that he could have sole control of the Hughes' business empire, which he proceeded to build up and add to in mammoth proportions.
He always maintained an interest in the movies, so he diversified into their production and in doing so he began to evidence his strange, compulsive behaviour. For example he spent $500,000 in purchasing more than 40 vintage fighter and scouting aircraft to use in his film 'Hell's Angels', the filming of which overran massively, especially when he realised that the talkies had arrived and he had to add dialogue! And his compulsion to own people as well as things showed itself in the number of starlets he took a fancy to and signed on for future films ... but he never, or if so very sparsely, used them.
It was while filming 'Hell's Angels' that he met Jean Harlow and had his affair with the original blond bombshell. But by that time his womanising had already reached massive proportions as he chased down potential stars for his productions or wooed existing stars regardless of their marital status. And he did marry Ella Rice, 'the most sought-after debutante in Houston', in 1925 and thus began a strange married relationship. Inevitably divorce followed a few years later and he was to subsequently officially propose to such as Ava Gardner, Kathryn Grayson, Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Yvonne Schubert as well as more or less promising marriage to any number of starlets along the way so that he could get them into bed with him. He did later marry Jean Peters but, like all his other relationships that turned out to be something of a disaster as well.
He very nearly killed himself on two occasions when he was flying because, having set a new land speed record of 352.46mph at Santa Ana, California, in his 'Silver Bullet' aircraft, he thought he was invincible. He did go on to make the world's then greatest long-distance flight when he flew from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in seven hours 28 minutes and in 1937 he received the prestigious Harmon International Trophy as the world's outstanding aviator of 1936. And he established a new record by flying around the world in three days 19 hours 17 minutes in a Lockheed Model 14 twin-engine transport in July 1938. He returned home to a ticket-tape reception.
His aides began to control his business empire in later times and he got into all sorts of problems by which time he had become something of a recluse, moving around the world from one hide-out hotel to another. Because of this those who sought him had to arrange proof that he was indeed still alive and he made very occasional appearances to prove this was so. But they were only made after his aides had tidied him up to make him appear presentable because his personal habits had become quite bizarre.
And so the legend of Howard Hughes goes on and it is a fascinating one put over excellently by the authors in this very readable book.
April 19, 2012
Very detailed. Wish it dealt more with his accomplishments than his romances, but the book does make it clear it was hard for him to balance between the two. Loved that many of the locations he spent time in were in and around the San Fernando Valley. While reading the book I had a chance to visit the hanger where Howard built the Hercules (aka Spruce Goose), which was pretty awesome. My sister and I are planning on visiting Howard's old house on the 9th hole of the Wilshire Country Club as well. Overall, an interesting, thorough, and insightful read.
December 8, 2022
Too many girls not enough airplanes
February 26, 2020
The writing isn’t great but Hughes story is as fascinating as it is perplexing. There were so many Hollywood women in Hughes’ life that their names became blurred and his relationship dramas monotonous. But there is no denying his eccentric brilliance. There are handsome men, brilliant men, and monied men; it’s not so rare to see two of these factors combined, but mix all three to the depth and breadth that Hughes had them, and his incredible life is a little more understandable. What’s not understandable is the manner of his demise, underlining the age-old depravity that the lure of money invokes in so many. It’s a heartbreaking end to a troubled and remarkable life, and adds weight to the adage that the one thing money can’t buy is happiness.
May 21, 2010
I got interested in Hughes after reading a number of James Ellroy books (Hughes is an important figure in White Jazz, American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand, and Blood's A Rover), and thought it would be interesting to see how much reality there was to Ellroy's larger-than-life depiction. It turns out Ellroy did his homework quite well—no surprise there. This biography is an amusingly lurid account of Hughes' lurid life. From the airplane crashes, to the movie starlets, to his descent into the ravages of obsessive compulsive disorder mixed with neurosyphilis mixed with severe head trauma, the book does a pretty fair job to Hughes. He comes off as a horrible creature — one who essentially imprisons women (and quite a few underage girls) — and yet there is a lot of sympathy for him in other respects relating to his mental illness(es). He's a very peculiar 20th-century figure to say the least, practically Shakespearean: a man of tremendous wealth whose taste for women and adventure lead directly toward his final self-imprisonment. One feels that he certainly paid for the evils he accrued by the end of things. The book is a breezy beach read, but seems to have done a good job at compiling a wide variety of material to back up its more sordid sections. It's not an academic work, but really, how interesting — or accurate — would a biography of Hughes be that wasn't reliant on a few dubious and contradicting sources?
August 21, 2008
Howard Robard Hughes was indeed a very strange fellow from early childhood until death. The older he got the stranger he became. He died a recluse with long hair and fingernails, who was unable to touch anything with his hands unless he had papertowels. How weird is that. Very interesting book. I would certainly recommend.
March 26, 2020
I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t know much about Howard Hughes when I opened this biography. Most of it happened before I was born and I was too young to understand what happened later in his life. But I knew his name and I had a vague knowledge of his involvement in aircraft and the movies. That was it.
Hughes had a lot going on in his life. He was a dashing billionaire inventor and pilot, ran two giant corporations, built a major airline, was a filmmaker and used his money to get and control whatever he wanted, including a shockingly long list of glamourous women.
Born in Texas in 1905, Hughes grew up an only child, smothered by his mother’s obsessive attention and fear of germs. Already different and uncomfortable around other children, he preferred to play alone in the workshop his father built for him, where he tinkered with many inventions. He became a millionaire at nineteen, when his father died and left behind a successful oil drill bit business (Hughes Tool Company). The timing of his life, his engineering genius and business instinct resulted in decades of profits in the tool, aircraft and government contract businesses. With all this going on, he plunged into movie-making and made many successful films.
But there were many things askew in Howard Hughes. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a condition that was less understood at the time and often untreated or self-treated, affected all aspects of his life. More than a dozen head injuries, a syphilis infection and an alarming drug habit no doubt contributed to an increasingly bizarre and reclusive life.
He surrounded himself with staff and security who would do anything he asked, including hunting down beautiful stars and starlets, some of them in their teens, setting them up in bugged apartments, with detectives reporting on their every move. He seduced hundreds of famous women, including Jean Harlow, Kathryn Hepburn, Ava Gardner and Lana Turner, married twice, and was engaged to multiple young women and girls at the same time. He declared his love to all of them and some of them bought it. Hughes’s behavior with women was glamorized at the time, but from a modern reader’s perspective, it is disturbingly predatory.
Despite these conditions, he continued to negotiate huge deals for Hughes Tool Company, Hughes Aircraft, RKO Pictures and Trans World Airlines. He was also a political contributor, sometimes to both parties and had ties to President Richard Nixon’s adversary, Democratic National Committee Chairman Larry O’Brien. It’s believed that Nixon’s interest in knowing more about O’Brien’s relationship with Hughes was one of the reasons for the Watergate break-in.
In his prime, Howard Hughes was deemed an American hero, but in his final years, he was barely lucid. And it turns out, his loyal staff had their sights on his riches and pumped him with shocking amounts of codeine and painkillers. He died at age seventy in 1976.
There is much more in this book, too much to mention and better to read first-hand. There is no question that Hughes’s unbelievable life story fits Mark Twain’s observation that “Truth is stranger than fiction.”
Hughes had a lot going on in his life. He was a dashing billionaire inventor and pilot, ran two giant corporations, built a major airline, was a filmmaker and used his money to get and control whatever he wanted, including a shockingly long list of glamourous women.
Born in Texas in 1905, Hughes grew up an only child, smothered by his mother’s obsessive attention and fear of germs. Already different and uncomfortable around other children, he preferred to play alone in the workshop his father built for him, where he tinkered with many inventions. He became a millionaire at nineteen, when his father died and left behind a successful oil drill bit business (Hughes Tool Company). The timing of his life, his engineering genius and business instinct resulted in decades of profits in the tool, aircraft and government contract businesses. With all this going on, he plunged into movie-making and made many successful films.
But there were many things askew in Howard Hughes. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a condition that was less understood at the time and often untreated or self-treated, affected all aspects of his life. More than a dozen head injuries, a syphilis infection and an alarming drug habit no doubt contributed to an increasingly bizarre and reclusive life.
He surrounded himself with staff and security who would do anything he asked, including hunting down beautiful stars and starlets, some of them in their teens, setting them up in bugged apartments, with detectives reporting on their every move. He seduced hundreds of famous women, including Jean Harlow, Kathryn Hepburn, Ava Gardner and Lana Turner, married twice, and was engaged to multiple young women and girls at the same time. He declared his love to all of them and some of them bought it. Hughes’s behavior with women was glamorized at the time, but from a modern reader’s perspective, it is disturbingly predatory.
Despite these conditions, he continued to negotiate huge deals for Hughes Tool Company, Hughes Aircraft, RKO Pictures and Trans World Airlines. He was also a political contributor, sometimes to both parties and had ties to President Richard Nixon’s adversary, Democratic National Committee Chairman Larry O’Brien. It’s believed that Nixon’s interest in knowing more about O’Brien’s relationship with Hughes was one of the reasons for the Watergate break-in.
In his prime, Howard Hughes was deemed an American hero, but in his final years, he was barely lucid. And it turns out, his loyal staff had their sights on his riches and pumped him with shocking amounts of codeine and painkillers. He died at age seventy in 1976.
There is much more in this book, too much to mention and better to read first-hand. There is no question that Hughes’s unbelievable life story fits Mark Twain’s observation that “Truth is stranger than fiction.”
May 30, 2024
I was fascinated by Hughes due to his work in aviation and with the Hughes-Glomar Explorer, as well as his effect on pop culture through characters based on him such as Mr. House in Fallout New Vegas. Unfortunately, this book didn't get nearly as deep into those as I'd hoped.
It felt like 60-70% of this book was about his sex life, which I had no interest in. While I understand his reputation as a playboy was a big part of his persona, the authors seemed obsessed with it, including a passage that aged very poorly since being written in the 1990s, strongly condemning people who had suspicions that he was secretly gay. The one real lesson from all this coverage was demonstrating that he wasn't just a playboy, he was a sociopathic monster that psychologically abused hundreds of women (an obvious conclusion that the authors did not seem to share).
The parts about his work in aviation and film were interesting, but were overshadowed by the focus on his sex life. I might end up reading some other biographies later in hopes of learning more about his work, but finding out how horrible of a person he was has rid me of that interest for the time being.
It felt like 60-70% of this book was about his sex life, which I had no interest in. While I understand his reputation as a playboy was a big part of his persona, the authors seemed obsessed with it, including a passage that aged very poorly since being written in the 1990s, strongly condemning people who had suspicions that he was secretly gay. The one real lesson from all this coverage was demonstrating that he wasn't just a playboy, he was a sociopathic monster that psychologically abused hundreds of women (an obvious conclusion that the authors did not seem to share).
The parts about his work in aviation and film were interesting, but were overshadowed by the focus on his sex life. I might end up reading some other biographies later in hopes of learning more about his work, but finding out how horrible of a person he was has rid me of that interest for the time being.
July 8, 2018
When the name, Howard Hughes, was mentioned, the image of an old, dirty, eccentric, with straggly hair, three inch long nails, who saved his piss and shit in glass jars, came to mind. In preparation for viewing the movie, "Rules Don't Apply," (more on that in a bit,) I selected this book because I wanted to learn more about this enigmatic figure.
"Howard Hughes: The Untold Story:" is a comprehensive history of H. H's extraordinary business success in the fields of aviation and movie making. It also provides commentary on the seemingly endless supply of sluts/girlfriends/wives that made their way into his bedroom. It is two questions - not addressed - that I find most vexing. Given a list of bedmates that would make even the serial fornicator, Tiger Woods, envious, why is there no credible evidence of him fathering a child? In an odd twist of reality, this is exactly what occurs in "The Rules Don't Apply."
Secondly, the exact cause of his death remains shrouded in mystery. Was it a result, like Michael Jackson's death, of a physician who continued to prescribe poweful medication because that is what his brain addled patient demanded? Was it a case of something more sinister, as has been suggested elsewhere, that Hughes was murdered by the "Mormon Mafia?" Maybe the answers to these questions will be found in a volume not yet written.
"Howard Hughes: The Untold Story:" is a comprehensive history of H. H's extraordinary business success in the fields of aviation and movie making. It also provides commentary on the seemingly endless supply of sluts/girlfriends/wives that made their way into his bedroom. It is two questions - not addressed - that I find most vexing. Given a list of bedmates that would make even the serial fornicator, Tiger Woods, envious, why is there no credible evidence of him fathering a child? In an odd twist of reality, this is exactly what occurs in "The Rules Don't Apply."
Secondly, the exact cause of his death remains shrouded in mystery. Was it a result, like Michael Jackson's death, of a physician who continued to prescribe poweful medication because that is what his brain addled patient demanded? Was it a case of something more sinister, as has been suggested elsewhere, that Hughes was murdered by the "Mormon Mafia?" Maybe the answers to these questions will be found in a volume not yet written.
November 15, 2015
Another tits-and-ass effort by two entertainment writers. In terms of sheer volume of women discussed, this is the top book by far. The authors had access to Hughes's "security chief" (actually, more like Director of Surveilling Women) Jeff Chouinard (who, mysteriously, is not mentioned in any other book as far as I can recall,) and he provided piles of details on the chick scene from the late 1940s onward. The authors are fairly critical of Bill Gay and the Mormon Mafia. This book attributes Hughes's erratic late-life behavior to undiagnosed neurosyphilis.
Best/unique things about this book: Most detail on Hughes's marriage to Ella Rice in the 1920s; best coverage of how Hughes worked on the mothers of the young women he was pursuing.
See all my Howard Hughes book reviews.
Best/unique things about this book: Most detail on Hughes's marriage to Ella Rice in the 1920s; best coverage of how Hughes worked on the mothers of the young women he was pursuing.
See all my Howard Hughes book reviews.
April 8, 2013
Wow! Talk about a person who is misunderstood by most people my age and perhaps even older. To think that this man's OCD could have been managed if he were living today and he could have done so many more things with his life. What an amazing book about a person I've always wondered about. I really enjoyed this book and going back in history to the 30's, 40's, 50's, to his death in 1976. So wronged in the media and certainly by those he was surrounded by. I guess that much wealth will breed pure evil. The life he could have had if not taken advantage of is mindblowing, but then again, we make our own fate in some instances. Really worth reading if you are at all interested in Hughes, Aviation, Movies, CIA/FBI/Government, conspiracy theories, and even J. Edgar Hoover! So many players in this man's life, but what a legacy he left us with Aviation especially, it's truly amazing!
January 16, 2014
I decided to give this a listen after a second viewing of "The Aviator" (followed by some cursory Wikipediaing) made me realize that I and most people have little to no idea of what Howard Hughes' life was really like. Of course I don't get that sense now but I know a lot more than I did before. On the one hand, he is an American hero, in that America worships industry and money. On the other hand, he was a pretty foul human being on a lot of levels (see the way he "collected" women and then basically imprisoned them.) Mixed into all this was some mental illness (which was misunderstood by a lot of people) and a seriously disturbed childhood. It adds to the evidence that the most brilliant people are the most tortured, and certainly dispels the myth that Hughes had a life that any rational person would envy (especially at the end.)
July 5, 2019
You know what?
Howard Hughes endured/survived the test-piloting of five plane crashes... Planes of his own skilled design. His skull/brain damage/PTSD was off the charts. Given the truly-insane and hellishly greedy people who did their damnedest to take him down, he remained amazingly coherent, face-to-face, to a man, under the circumstances, until he died. He wasn't crazy. He was off-the-hook traumatized. And there was no one to help him in any way that could reflect even a micron of human goodness. What a pitiful story on every one but Howard. And shame on all the bastards who relentlessly kicked this broken man. And continue kicking a body now long dead.
Howard Hughes endured/survived the test-piloting of five plane crashes... Planes of his own skilled design. His skull/brain damage/PTSD was off the charts. Given the truly-insane and hellishly greedy people who did their damnedest to take him down, he remained amazingly coherent, face-to-face, to a man, under the circumstances, until he died. He wasn't crazy. He was off-the-hook traumatized. And there was no one to help him in any way that could reflect even a micron of human goodness. What a pitiful story on every one but Howard. And shame on all the bastards who relentlessly kicked this broken man. And continue kicking a body now long dead.
June 18, 2022
An astonishing book that manages to condense the life of one of America's most influential yet simultaneously mysterious businessmen. The authors do an incredible job of bring to life the intensity and insanity of Hughes's life. They present a nuanced profile of a man who was a genius but also a controlling and troubled individual. The book charts how small quirks gradually began to grown and develop until they soon became debilitating challenges that cut off Hughes from the rest of the world.
The book charts in detail the love life of Howard Hughes and how is seemingly endless appetite for Hollywood's biggest actresses ultimately prevented him from enjoying a stable long-lasting relationship. One of the themes of the book is definitely the duality of how Hughes could achieve so much and also sabotage so much for himself.
Certain elements of the book are less researched than others, the book covers how Hughes spent an extended amount of time in Las Vegas and began a spending spree which ultimately left him as one of Las Vegas's biggest landowners but the book covers this in just a few pages and spends a great deal more time tracking every conquest that Hughes made in the 30's.
With that being said this book provides a balanced and detailed account of Howard Hughes and for any reader looking to dig deeper into the life of this aviator then this book is a must-read.
The book charts in detail the love life of Howard Hughes and how is seemingly endless appetite for Hollywood's biggest actresses ultimately prevented him from enjoying a stable long-lasting relationship. One of the themes of the book is definitely the duality of how Hughes could achieve so much and also sabotage so much for himself.
Certain elements of the book are less researched than others, the book covers how Hughes spent an extended amount of time in Las Vegas and began a spending spree which ultimately left him as one of Las Vegas's biggest landowners but the book covers this in just a few pages and spends a great deal more time tracking every conquest that Hughes made in the 30's.
With that being said this book provides a balanced and detailed account of Howard Hughes and for any reader looking to dig deeper into the life of this aviator then this book is a must-read.
July 12, 2017
The authors seem more interested in asserting Howard Hughes's staunch heterosexuality than explaining why just one more womanizer was of so much importance. Granted, I now better understand the extent to which Hughes was depraved, possessive, misogynistic, and prolific; nevertheless, I would have liked to hear about Howard Hughes: The Aviator, instead of being given a revisionist account of the scandal rags passed off as research. And if Hughes's days truly were dictated by the primary obsession profiled here, his fixation on women, the authors could have at least explained how he reconciled such an all-consuming endeavor with his business dealings, innovations, ands God knows what else--that stuff wasn't explained in the book. Just a couple of misplaced frat-boy wannabes, I think.
February 26, 2025
It was a good book, his life was a genuine rollercoaster from birth.
I bought the book after reading Jeff Schwartz book on OCD (brain lock) and he mentions Hughes. I wanted to see more of the OCD in his life, and so I got the book.
From childhood due to his mother you can see the tendencies start to form, and due to the era the help didn’t exist like today.
Adding in 15 TBI’s and syphillis that attacked the brain it makes sense he spiraled so rapidly, and so aggressively.
He’s a horrible person due to nature of how he was brought up, but I still feel terrible for him; especially in his later years.
I bought the book after reading Jeff Schwartz book on OCD (brain lock) and he mentions Hughes. I wanted to see more of the OCD in his life, and so I got the book.
From childhood due to his mother you can see the tendencies start to form, and due to the era the help didn’t exist like today.
Adding in 15 TBI’s and syphillis that attacked the brain it makes sense he spiraled so rapidly, and so aggressively.
He’s a horrible person due to nature of how he was brought up, but I still feel terrible for him; especially in his later years.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2018
If the #MeToo movement was around in the 1930's, Howard Hughes would be Harvey Weinstein. Harvey was certainly not the first. It was disturbing to read from that perspective -- the HOUSES of women he set up around town, the control he exerted on every aspect of their lives, his promises of turning them into starlets. That saddened me to read how simply stupid some women could be, and in some cases, their parents just as well. The authors uncovered a lot of interviews with actresses from that time and those were revealing. All I can say is "We've come a long way, baby." #TimesUp
January 22, 2019
This hardback biography on Howard Hughes was in my mother's bookcase, so I thought I'd have a look. It's a chunky long read and I have to congratulate the co-authors on their excellent and thorough research on a man who was often elusive and always very private. I had no idea that Hughes was so involved in funding the war effort and he really had a finger in every pie. This true story is gripping from page 1.
October 20, 2022
Wow, what an incredible and tragic life Howard Hughes lived. I found his life fascinating, but also so sad. He desperately sought to fill the void in his life with women and projects, he needed the Lord to fill that void, but faith didn't seem to have any place in his life. He cheated death so many times and made some incredible discoveries and I found the research put in to this biography expansive.
February 8, 2025
This book was incredible. I've always had an interest in Howard Hughes, the billionaire playboy who at one point dated Marilyn Monroe among many other gorgeous women. This book spills it all, from the dates he went on, the many scandals that surrounded him, and eventually the illness in the form of greed that would take his life.
Extremely readable, reads like a novel at some points.
Howard Hughes was one messed up dude.
Extremely readable, reads like a novel at some points.
Howard Hughes was one messed up dude.
July 6, 2017
This book is like a roller coaster - I was fascinated, disgusted, saddened, angered, then disgusted and saddened again. In short, this man did not live a happy life. Good read.
I benefited from an HHMI grant to support my research as an undergraduate; for that and his many other contributions to science, society, and innovation, I am grateful to Mr. Hughes. It's a tragedy that his life was such a mess.
I benefited from an HHMI grant to support my research as an undergraduate; for that and his many other contributions to science, society, and innovation, I am grateful to Mr. Hughes. It's a tragedy that his life was such a mess.
December 10, 2019
My husband and I listened to this book together and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a very detailed account of Hughes’s life. The narrator did a great job conveying the atmosphere of his era. I’m glad I learned about this mysterious man. What a life it was and so much tragedy! I felt very sad for him and also grateful for his achievements. Great book and great man!
July 10, 2020
Very insightful. What a phenomenal character and renaissance man he was. So interesting to learn about his inventive mind and tendencies. Very heart breaking too. From drill bit empire to aviation entrepreneur to film maker and woman collector. He is a genius and he is buried 30 min from where I live now. His mystery is still alive!! Makes you wish you could have a conversation with him.
December 7, 2020
Not a big fan of Hughes. Actually, I got him confused with Hugh Hefner. I kept wondering when the bunnies would arrive. Ha! This guy was 2nd richest in American when he died. He was not only born rich, but he was quite the inventor and aviator. Don't get me started on his love life. Quite a fascinating book. Well written.
March 24, 2022
Very interesting story about Howard Hughes and his brilliance at flying and many other business dealings. His preoccupation with young starlets was not easy to read about as he had a preference for young girls. He had a drug addiction and ocd and neurological deficits. His eventual demise sounded so awful for a man who was so successful and wealthy. Pumped full of drugs and neglected.
January 17, 2018
A mythic paradox of a man. The creepy parts make you cringe, especially when viewed through the lens of #MeToo. End result has a real “Citizen Kane” feel to it. Maybe he was just a lonely guy on the OCD spectrum. Recommended.
October 26, 2019
Howard Hughes is a fascinating subject. If he wasn’t a genius, he was at least highly intelligent. But he also had serious flaws, many of which were of his own doing. All of his traits are what make reading about him so enjoyable.
July 11, 2024
Decades ago I've read Noah Dietrich's biography on Howard Hughes.
As I really liked Pat Barham's & Peter Harry Bron's Marilyn Monroe Biographie, I thought I'd give this a try, but it couldn't capture me.
It's rather confusing and muddled.
As I really liked Pat Barham's & Peter Harry Bron's Marilyn Monroe Biographie, I thought I'd give this a try, but it couldn't capture me.
It's rather confusing and muddled.
July 6, 2017
My second Hughes bio, very interesting and more focused on his human side.
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