Writing a biography, reconstructing another person's life after the fact, is an inherently tricky task, complicated incalculably when that person claims to be from the planet Saturn. Given the complexity of the task, Yale professor John F. Szwed does an admirable job reconstructing the Sun Ra milieu, if not the man himself. From the '50s through the '80s, Sun Ra led a shifting collective of musicians in creating jazz for which even the term "avant garde" seems inappropriate. By taking the form of a full band while playing what resembled free jazz, Sun Ra's "Arkestra," superficially at least, seemed to represent a combination of the big-band tradition and the emergent sounds of post-bop jazz. However, the group's sound, to say nothing of its outlandishly costumed appearance, owed more to its leader's private mythology, a synthesis of occult knowledge, quasi-scientific anthropology, folklore, early science fiction, wordplay, Afrocentrism, Egyptology and God-knows-what-else. Szwed's intricate description of these elements and how they came into play in Ra's belief system—which the author treats with respect and intelligence instead of camp disdain—is the primary strength of this biography, as might be expected given that Ra's frequently repeated beliefs served both as a message for the world and an impenetrable wall behind which to hide. Despite this, Szwed does provide some glimpses at Sun Ra, the man, as opposed to the public figure. For instance, the Arkestra, many of whose members performed double-duty as Ra's housemates over the years, emerges as an almost cult-like organization, with Ra a strict but benign dictator demanding that his followers live up to his high expectations both musically and in their private lives. Despite the substantial distance of his subject, Szwed has provided a compelling introduction to a bizarre, brilliant and frequently misunderstood artist.