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Strange Angel
The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons
George Pendle
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Synopsis |
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Brilliant Rocket Scientist Killed in Explosion screamed the front-page headline of the Los Angeles Times on June 18, 1952. John Parsons, a maverick rocketeer whose work had helped transform the rocket from a derided sci-fi plotline into a reality, was at first mourned as a tragically young victim of mishandled chemicals. But as reporters dug deeper a shocking story emerged-Parsons had been performing occult rites and summoning spirits as a follower of Aleister Crowley-and he was promptly written off as an embarrassment to science.
George Pendle tells Parsons's extraordinary life story for the first time. Fueled from childhood by dreams of space flight, Parsons was a crucial innovator during rocketry's birth. But his visionary imagination also led him into the occult community thriving in 1930s Los Angeles, and when fantasy's pull became stronger than reality, he lost both his work and his wife. Parsons was just emerging from his personal underworld when he died at age thirty-seven. In Strange Angel, Pendle recovers a fascinating life and explores the unruly consequences of genius.
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Praise |
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"A spellbinding story of a man with eccentricities that went well beyond a fascination with rocketry."
American Scientist,
"A riveting tale of rocketry, the occult, and boom-and-bust 1920s and 1930s Los Angeles."
starred review,Booklist,
This amazing book is set in a more brightly coloured universe than most scientific lives are.
Daily Telegraph,
"[A] rambunctiously funny, deliriously weird, and incredibly true story of a space-science pioneer turned lustful witch."
author of CITY OF QUARTZ,Mike Davis,
"A fascinating glimpse, a story that would make a compelling work of fiction if it weren't so astonishingly true."
Publishers Weekly,
"This is your book if you want to start reading up on the space age. Highly recommended."
Ray Bradbury,
"Pendle weaves a fascinating yarn. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to enjoy it."
Seattle Times,
"An engaging treatment of a time when the modern world moved at the same speed as crazed mania."
The Onion,
"Elegantly written. Pendle, with his graceful, measured prose, skilfully steers us through the quagmire of Parson's personal life."
Observer - UK,
"Strange Angel could be a hybrid sired by Gravity's Rainbow out of Foucault's Pendulum. Explosively fascinating."
Globe and Mail,
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Biography |
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George Pendle writes about science for the Times (London) and the Financial Times, among other publications. He lives in New York City.
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General Subjects |
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Biography & Autobiography- Science & Technology
Science- History
Science- Astrophysics & Space Science
Body, Mind & Spirit- Occultism
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Academic Disciplines & Course Studies |
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Social Sciences- History-American
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Rights Details |
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| Rights Holders: |
First Serial/Second Serial/Audio/Reprint: Harcourt
UK: Time Warner Books UK
Performance/Translation: Anderson/Grinberg Literary Management Inc.
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Rights Information |
Harcourt Books
An imprint ofHarcourt Trade Publishers
A
Harcourt Education Company
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