Comments on: Astounding: The Campbell Years, Part 2

By: Ahrvid Engholm

Ahrvid Engholm — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:18:42 +0000

Interesting, this that Wernher von Braun read Astounding through WWII, through a maildrop in Sweden. (And you’re not the first to say that. I think I saw it mentioned in an interview with Brian Aldiss first.)
Does anyone know more about this? Who handled it for von Braun?
It would have been difficult, but not impossible. Mail US Sweden could probably go to e g Portugal and then on through occupied Europe. (If not by one of the few direct ships to mainly South America the Swedish government negotiated free passage for.)
Another problem was how to pay for a subscription. Direct foreign payments would have been impossible (and they were restricted even in peace time). Maybe one of von Braun’s contacts in the US paid for him. Willy Ley perhaps?

–Ahrvid Engholm

By: RAB

RAB — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:40:44 +0000

Following on from what Jerry and Stefan said, I’ve always wondered how much of this sort of thing might be due to a combination of self-deception and sheer vanity — i.e., someone who’s genuinely more clever than average is that much more effective at deluding him or herself, and someone who knows he or she is very clever may be more likely to think “I can’t be fooled or conned like regular folks because I’m much too smart and discerning for that, so this can’t possibly be a hoax or a fraud!” Only Fred could say if this describes Campbell himself…but it’s probably safe to say it describes most of the folks who still buy into those ideas.

By: Bill Goodwin

Bill Goodwin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:58:05 +0000

It’s always surprising to discover the odd ideas seminal figures have espoused, or at least toyed with (Carl Sagan himself was a saucer believer in his youth). And yet not so surprising. Bold minds will tend to flirt with all sorts of peripheral stuff–out of sheer intellectual appetite if for no other reason–and maverick thinkers will suffer both the benefits and drawbacks of immunity to popular opinion. It’s to be expected that an occasional tale-teller will let brain off leash in other areas of life…and if they have a taste for adulation, well…

It’s a tough game, sorting what is valid from what is merely intriguing–or only flattering–and sadly that difficulty increases the allure of pre-packaged wisdom. People yell at each other over secularity, birth control, global warming…and after awhile one begins to doubt that anybody’s pet subject is the thing that’s actually upseting them.

I have to wonder what would have happened if Campell and Winter, or their equivalents, had thrown their weight behind Richard Shaver…and how would it might have affected Hollywood!

By: Stefan Jones

Stefan Jones — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:11:31 +0000

Scientology aside, it is amazing the “legs” some of Campbell’s fascinations got.

“Psionics.” Total BS. But for decades afterwards SF futures in print and TV often felt obligated to have psis or espers.

Dean drive. A run of the mill crackpot invention that still gets dredged up and discussed every few years.

And: “An armed society is a polite society.”

This phenomena, and the 1970s era fascination with orbiting space colonies, makes me cautious about new fascinations, like the Singularity.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:27:31 +0000

It is odd that someone with his reputation for emphasizing scientific realism as an editor would go in for that stuff. I know Gen. Patton believed in reincarnation and had dowsers with him in N. Africa. Maybe hearing about things like that during the war is what inclined him in that direction. Just a guess.