Sex and Rockets - The Occult World of Jack Parsons (2005, PDF)

Ovo mi je preporučio brat po (ne)veri, cutter, naime radi se o biografiji Jack Parsonsa, čoveka koji je između ostalog izumeo raketno gorivo koje je Amerikance (navodno) odvelo na Mesec. Pored tih raketnih akcija kojima se čitavog života bavio, i poezije koju je pisao, Parsons je poznat i kao jedan od najistaknutijih ljubitelja okultnog u SAD, jer je već tokom 40-ih stupio u kontakt sa Kroulijem, te tako učestvovao u osnivanju prve američke lože O.T.O-a  u Kaliforniji, AGAPE (ne, to nema veze sa emisijom na Studiju B). Dakle, jako zanimljiva knjiga, a posebno zbog odlično urađenog kratkog istorijata O.T.O-a, sa posebnim osvrtom na kalifornijsku ložu u koju Krouli nažalost nikad kročio nije. Inače, lik Jacka Parsonsa se nalazi i u zaglavlju ovog bloga, to vam je ovaj crni čikica sa brčićima odma iznad Abraxasa, prvi desno do L. Ron Hubbarda. Naravno, kao i sve kontraverzne ličnosti, i Parsons je stradao u jednoj eksploziji pod još nerazjašnjenim okolnostima, a na mestu eksplozije je nađena kutija koju možete videti dole, i koja mnogo toga objašnjava. Pored toga što je učestvovao u standardnim biseksualnim akcijama tokom rituala, bio je poznat i po tome što se nije libio da opšti sa svojom majkom, dakle naš čovek, da ne kažem Srbin. Knjiga se može nabaviti preko amazona za 10-ak dolara, što je po meni skroz OK za ovakav jedan izuzetan lik i još jače delo. Slava mu!

"Scientist, poet, and self-proclaimed Antichrist, Jack Parsons was a bizarre genius whose life reads like an implausible yet irresistible science fiction novel. Sex and Rockets looks at his short life and dual career as cofounder of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and leader of the Agape Lodge of Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). Author John Carter scours primary documents and interviews surviving friends and contemporaries to deliver an intriguing portrait of a dreamy, driven man equally interested in rocketry and magick. From his early childhood and deep attachment to his mother (who killed herself hours after he died) through his nonacademic research and brilliant innovations in solid fuels to his mysterious 1952 demise in a garage-laboratory explosion at the age of 37, the reader gets the impression of a man whose obsession with explosives and propellants was nearly single-minded. Yet this same man found spiritual fulfillment through Crowley's Law of Thelema, conducted magickal operations with L. Ron Hubbard, and signed an oath asserting himself to be the Antichrist--clearly Parsons wasn't a boring guy in a white coat.

Carter pulls off the difficult task of integrating Parsons's disparate drives into one compelling story; though there are some rough spots and awkward transitions, one gets the sense that this illuminates the man's life better than a smooth, flawless work would. Robert Anton Wilson's introduction is smart and funny as always, initiating the uninformed into the basics of Crowleyanity while placing Parsons in the context of his times. While it might not be possible to read universal themes into Parsons's life, Sex and Rockets is an excellent study of a passionate life fully lived."

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