An entertaining look at the first 50 years of SF publishing and fandom (where "first" is roughly defined as the beginning of the SF magazines and the associated beginnings of fandom, rather than the beginnings of SF as a genre) written by one of the key players. While del Rey absolutely has his biases and blind spots, especially when reading his history with the perspective of almost another fifty years of development in both SF and society in general, he's still a good resource for looking back at these formative years.

Many of the chapters are little more than lists of which magazines were publishing which stories, which are less interesting, but easy to skim for recognized titles. Other chapters, however, go into more detail regarding the development of fandom, conventions (Worldcon), awards (Hugos and Nebulas), workshops (the Clarion Writers Workshop), and other aspects that are now simply part of modern fandom.

Worth reading if you're a fan of early SF short stories or the general history of SF fandom.