Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "In December 1913 Ruth and Marvel Parsons left the ice and snow of the East for what they hoped would be a new future..." (more)
Key Phrases: rocketry work, rocket group, rocket project, Los Angeles, Suicide Squad, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pendle vividly tells the story of a mysterious and forgotten man who embodied the contradictions of his time. Throughout the 1930s, John Whiteside Parsons (1914–1952) was a pioneer of rocket science, a fixture at Caltech with an uncanny ability to understand and control the dynamics of explosions, though he'd never completed an undergraduate degree. At the same time, Parsons was a key figure in the Los Angeles occult scene, presiding over a world of incantations, black magic and orgiastic excess. Science journalist Pendle (Times of London, Financial Times) follows Parsons on his journey through both science and the occult as he explored the connections between the two at a time when science fiction crashed into science fact (and when the practitioners of one often dabbled in the other. The book tells the story of the research that formed the basis for both missile defense and space flight, but Parsons himself was a tragic figure, left behind by both the science he helped to found and the women he loved. Marshaling a cast of characters ranging from Robert Millikan to L. Ron Hubbard, Pendle offers a fascinating glimpse into a world long past, a story that would make a compelling work of fiction if it weren't so astonishingly true. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW.
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From Booklist

In a riveting tale of rocketry, the occult, and boom-and-bust 1920s and 1930s Los Angeles, science writer Pendle presents the first in-depth portrait of John Whiteside Parsons, a pioneer in rocket propulsion and an eccentric right out of an Ed Woods movie. Pendle shrewdly places handsome and charismatic Parsons--a man of dramatic contradictions and an insouciance that led to his horrific death at age 37 in 1952--on the cusp between the era in which rockets were dismissed as pulp science fiction fantasy (of which Parsons eagerly partook) and the milieu in which rockets and space travel became realities. A self-taught chemist with an affinity for explosives, Parsons teamed up with Frank Malina and the rest of the so-called Suicide Squad in the dangerous quest for dependable rocket technology. Parsons became cofounder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and an aerospace company, but he was also a member of the licentious Church of Thelema, a ludicrous invention of the English mystic Aleister Crowley. Equally cogent in interpreting the scientific and personal facets of Parsons' alluringly scandalous and confounding life, Pendle greatly enlivens the story of rocketry. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt; 1 edition (January 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 015100997X
• ISBN-13: 978-0151009978
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #671,669 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Before Star Wars there were starry-eyed dreamers , February 18, 2005

By	Book Lover, "Rocket man's daughter" (California) - See all my reviews

Thank you George Pendle for writing this book. As the daughter of Jack Parson's best friend, Ed Forman, I grew up with a garage-full of explosives that my mother prayed wouldn't go off, fragments of this story as my somewhat exotic but sad family history, and my father's heartbreak that he and Jack were excluded and scorned just as the dreams they delighted in and sweated over took flight in reality.

Until Strange Angel, everything written about Jack and JPL has either been mainstream such as Theodore von Karman's "The Wind and Beyond," or pulp occultist like "Sex and Rockets." Strange Angel tells the untold human stories and re-tells some of the known with the insight of a scholar and empathy of an artist. Pendle illuminates more than the life of a rocket scientist. He captures a vivid era of American thought and aspiration, the adolescence of L.A.---the city world-famous for conjuring dreams, a cast of wild-eyed dreamers who truly believed the sky's the limit, and the cynical forces opposing them.

Pendle is fair-handed with the occult elements of Jack's story. He doesn't sensationalize or condemn. Instead, he informs and gives insight into Jack's and the others' characters to shed light on their attraction to Crowleyism and a shadowy spirituality that was also a reach for the stars. He also covers the birth of science fiction and how the "scientifiction" that my dad and Jack feasted on as boys was actually predictive of the coming space age.

It's a treat when a book combines good research and good storytelling for an entertaining read. You don't need to be a science, sci-fi or occult buff--or a southern Californian--to enjoy Strange Angel! In fact, if you liked the movie The Aviator, the book will immerse you in the same thrilling time and spirit.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Explosive Tales from the Early Days of Solid Fuel Rockets, March 19, 2005

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

As someone who has long been interested in rocketry, I had been aware of the pioneering work of Robert Goddard and how that work was eventually superseded by a variety of pioneers in the West. Having grown up near Pasadena, I was very aware of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory there and its pivotal role in space exploration. I have also read a number of biographies that mention unexpected explosions at Cal Tech. Having long been a science fiction fan, I know the writings of many of the classic authors . . . but not much about them.

What a nice surprise it was when I stumbled onto Strange Angel, which provides much helpful perspective about all those interests of mine in the context of the short and explosive life of John Whiteside Parsons. George Pendle is quite successful at capturing the times -- distrust of rocketry as a research area, paranoia about Communism, fascination among the wealthy with the occult and the undeniable appeal for some of unrestrained sexual activity.

Beyond that slice of time, the book also appealed to my sense of how many new sciences develop . . . by lots of painful trial and error. I was especially intrigued by the problems of creating stable solid rocket fuels that wouldn't fail in painful ways. Mr. Pendle also does a fine job of explaining how the early trial-and-error pioneers are eventually superseded by those who can develop the theory and practice in more advanced ways.

John Whiteside Parsons lived a life that screamed for a strong hand to take him in the right direction . . . but which wasn't available. There's a classic element of human tragedy to the story that will intrigue almost any reader . . . and leave the reader with a vastly enlarged sense of what the human mind can contain.

For those who are interested in the occult, they will probably be disappointed in the book for its taking a neutral tone in regard to this subject. For those who prefer a strong religious perspective on every spiritual issue, they will be disappointed that the author isn't overtly disapproving of Mr. Parsons' involvement with the occult.

Ultimately, biographies rise or fall on the intrigue that the life of the subject presents to the reader. It's hard to imagine a more intriguing (but not exemplary) life than the one described in Strange Angel.

Don't miss this story!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Wacky Rocketeer, March 27, 2006

By	Jake Loves Books - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons (Paperback)

This book was a real eye-opener for me. I had no idea that the august Jet Propulsion Laboratory was founded--at least in part--by one of the strangest men of science I've ever read about. Jack Parsons was dilatory and semi-delusional, but he was a brilliant inventor. The dreaminess that led to his excursions in witchcraft (!) were behind his vision of rockets--at a time when rocket science was a derided scientific backwater. It all makes for a really lively tale, and Pendle tells it with a lot of verve and style. I couldn't put it down--seriously!