[3] Writing in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, John Clute and Brian Stableford noted that Pohl's longer work had greatly improved after he stopped being the editor of Galaxy Magazine and the Worlds of If in 1969.

In the first report from the starship, the reader learns that the ship is approximately one month into a multi-year journey to the Alpha Centauri star system, where the crew will begin colonization of the planet Alpha-Aleph.

As the story progresses, the reader is told that the existence of the planet Alpha-Aleph is a hoax, perpetrated not only on the American people but also on the crew of the starship.

The hoax was the idea of Knefhausen, who believes that, if deprived of any other means of recreation, the crew will succeed in making scientific breakthroughs that will then be broadcast back to Earth.

Shortly after its original appearance in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, "The Gold at the Starbow's End" became the title story of a collection of Pohl's works.

The Gold at the Starbow's End is a collection of Pohl's stories published in the United States and Canada by Ballantine Books in August 1972.