A few days ago I was surfing EBay looking for works of WIlly Ley and saw a copy of Galaxy Science Fiction that had on the cover, "Wanted-Dead or Alive," by Willy Ley. I knew that Ley wrote a science column, but I didn't expect such a column to rate a mention at the very top of the magazine's cover, as this was, so I wondered if it was a short story.
Turns out it wasn't, it was an entry in his For Your Information column. (Which was 13 pages long! Nice to see!) Anyway, "Wanted - Dead of Alive" dealt with the discovery in the 1860s of the Ceratodus, and in the 1930s of the Coelacanth.
I find the Coelacanth story fascinating, and had read up on it previously, so I thought it was pretty interesting that Ley had discussed it.
The book review column is interesting...I'd love to see some of the books reviewed:
-Your Sins and Mine, by Taylor Calswell. A fantasy, with a Christian religious theme
-Report on the Status Quo, by Terence Roberts
-The Edge of the Sea, by Rachel Carson (non-fic)
-Guide to the Stars, by Hector MacPherson(non-fic)
-Frontiers of Astronomy by Fred Hoyle(non-fic)
-Revolt on Alpha C, by Robert Silverberg (teen)
-Martin and His Friend From Outer Space, by Ivo Duka and Helena Kolda (teen/kids)
The annoying thing, though, is that this digest-sized magazine comes from England, where it was published "by special arrangement with Galaxy Publishing Corporation" is that there is no date on this thing! I don't know when it was published. It's Nuumber 40, and it cost 35 cents. Price in England 2/- whatever that means. Two shillings? Two pounds?
