Astounding

Our little world is filled with so many interesting people, so many interesting stories.

I found this unbelievably diverting. Read like a novel.

Interesting perspective on authors I'd only heard of or may have only read 1 or 2 of their books. The magazine has been mentioned in many books I've read related to scientific topics so I'm glad I now have more detail about Astounding and it's editor.

The one aHAH moment for me was regarding Campbell's tactic to get noticed by the armed forces, by having one of his regular authors write a story about the creation of the first US nuclear bomb being designed secretly. I'd heard about this potential leak in several books related to the scientists of the Manhattan Project but I don't remember them specifically calling out the source of the story. And a bit saddened that the man appeared to be so desperate to be in the war that he'd risk national security, and one of his authors, to do it.

A great story about a pile of dicks.

Somehow, this book never really came together. The author obviously worked hard but none of the characters come to life. Additionally, many dumb writing errors and often incoherent timelines.

I didn't realize all these authors knew one another. I also didn't realize that the pulp fiction industry operated in the way described here. So, that part was interesting.

The long digression into L. Ron Hubbard's creation of scientology was interesting, but I felt like it was taking up too much space in the book. I wanted to hear more about Asimov and Heinlein.

Also, holy racism and sexual assault, Batman!