Strange Angel may not be the best biography I've ever read, but the story is incredibly fascinating. I first heard of Parsons three years ago when reading The Secret History of Twin Peaks, and the whole thing seemed so deliciously bizarre that I knew I had to find out more.

In short, Parsons was a pioneering rocket engineer, but also a Thelemite occultist. Everybody's gotta have hobbies, right? Well, turns out that Parsons was pretty deep in the philosophy, eventually becoming the leader of the Californian branch (with a little coaxing from Crowley). As a scientist, Parsons relied on intuition and practical experiments instead of theorisation, which made him very different from his colleagues and eventually caused him troubles.

Naturally, Pendle goes through a lot of technical details related to rockets (most of it went over my head; no surprise there), so I was much more interested in the parts where Parsons is chanting Crowley's "Hymn to Pan" at rocket test firings or tries to invoke a goddess, or where the Orange Grove Mansion's hijinks are explored. Good times. L. Ron Hubbard also makes an appearance, acting like the massive asshole he was. Again, no surprise.

I'm not at all knowledgeable about rocket science and therefore not in a position to evaluate whether Parsons was as important a figure as Pendle claims, but he definitely deserves his story to be told, which is part of the weird side of L.A. that I'm always ready to hear about.