For many geeks, the name Ray Palmer may only seem familiar as the name of The Atom’s secret identity. If you do read this non-fiction story about this early sci-fi editor, you will probably agree with me: this guy was weird.
“He wanted people to listen, he wanted to provoke, he wanted to shock minds open– or just to shock.”
Not that it’s a bad thing, but this science fiction pioneer– who stood four feet tall and had a hunchback– later became one of the leaders of the 50’s flying saucer movement and a great conspiracy theorist. Also, he told people he was from Mars.
Why is this on our bookshelf?
I had never really heard of Ray Palmer, but when I was looking up new book releases, this one caught my eye. I mean, this guy was a influencer of early science fiction and a fan of flying saucers. I just figured his biography belonged on our GeekyLibrary shelves.
Rating (3 stars)
Early on in this story, I was fascinated with Ray Palmer’s story and his presence during the early days of science fiction. He was the editor for the influential early sci-fi magazine Amazing Stories and his passion for the genre was obvious.
However, once he changed from a science fiction fan into a conspiracy theorist with a love of the esoteric and paranormal (not to mention a flying saucer nut), my interest in the book waned.
It was a well-written biography of a very strange and compelling individual– author Fred Nadis did a steller job. Despite this, because of my own interests and the challenge I had in finishing the book, I can’t rate it higher than 3 stars.
Read this book:
If you’re looking for a biography of someone who is stranger than you are.
Don't Read this book:
If you are a scientific-minded skeptic and conspiracy theorists annoy you.
Once you're done, do this:
Lower your eyebrows out of the “highly skeptical” position and massage the sore muscles– a result of wearing that facial expression for too long.
