This daring combination of science, history, and DIY projects will show you how. Written for smart risk takers, it explores why danger is good for you and details the art of living dangerously.
Risk takers are more successful, more interesting individuals who lead more fulfilling lives. Unlike watching an action movie or playing a video game, real-life experience changes a person, and Gurstelle will help you discover the true thrill of making black powder along with dozens of other edgy activities.
All of the projectsâfrom throwing knives, drinking absinthe, and eating fugu to cracking a bull whip, learning bartitsu, and building a flamethrowerâhave short learning curves, are hands-on and affordable, and demonstrate true but reasonable risk.
With a strong emphasis on safety, each potentially life-altering project includes step-by-step directions, photographs, and illustrations along with troubleshooting tips from experts in the field.
And, this guy has an engineering degree?February 26, 2010 Childhoodsend(Sacramento, California) 0 out of 2 found this review helpful
1. First of all contrary to the statement in the above book, history's most powerful rocket the Von Braun team's Saturn 5 booster was NOT a solid fuel rocket. As a matter of fact as correctly stated in the above book it was the Caltech Parsons team that pioneered Solid Fuel rockets.
2. Yes Parsons was eccentric but, mostly he was simply an engineering pioneer that like most pioneers can be recognized by the knife in the back... and ridicule by fools. If you really want to know what one of the original Rocket Scientists was all about find (in amazon.com) "Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons" and find out how the scientific/engineering world REALLY works...
childhoodsend
Disappointingly un-dangerousFebruary 14, 2010 Joseph Parks 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The projects in this book may be considered dangerous at the nunnery, but certainly not to anyone who picks up the book looking for what its front and back covers suggest it can offer. I go to sea for days at a time catching and tagging some of the biggest sharks in the ocean and may be slightly biased as I fall beyond the "golden third" (median to one standard deviation above in a scale of having a risk takers mindset) but come on. There's actually a section titled "how to drive fast". I was topping speeds of 110 at age 15 and I'm guessing anyone else who feels compelled to drive fast has already done so without the aid of a book. He also has a section on how to smoke! How daring. In fact, any of the activities that interested me such as building homemade rockets, throwing knives, and making smoke bombs I have already gotten my fill of in high school.
The notes on saftey bored me to tears.
I wanted to distill my own absinthe and build a flamethrower. However the book only dabbles on the history of Absinthe, how to drink it and what seperates the good from the bad. Good information, but now what I was looking for. The flamethrower he constructs seems to me like a totally lame waste of time and money. It in no way resembles the one on the cover and is basically an oversized, fixed, propane torch.
I do have to give it a second star maybe even a third because I enjoyed reading the non-project related sections and the benefits of taking risks. I couldn't have agreed more. And the projects may give you some real excitement if you've been a total wuss your whole life.
Reasonable DangerJanuary 25, 2010 TK 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Last summer I saw the New York Times rave review of this book, and as a longtime fan of "Backyard Ballistics" I have really been looking forward to the read. Gurstelle's new book is like "Backyard Ballistics" with philosophy and style. It's great. And I don't think it really matters if you plan on making gunpowder, building any of these contraptions, or digesting any of these edibles -- you can stay in your armchair, away from your garage, and still love taking this tour of dangerous living. (For those on the adventurous side: great instructions, plenty of photos, clear diagrams, and, yes, flamethrowers.)
Great if you Skip some chaptersDecember 17, 2009 I. M. Barndt(Kenai Alaska) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The beginning of this book is great as I am not much for the psychology of things. I found this interesting and after I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps found that my risk taking was off the chart. The projects are cool but if you are into Make or Instructables you will already know how to do all the projects. The book is well written and fun to read but like other reviews to much about safety, I skipped those sections and cigarette smoking, really? How about Cigar's risk takers smoke cigars. A section about how to identify a good cigar, different kinds, history, how they are made, or even how to hand roll one would have made this book a definite winner, then add a whisky section with the absinthe and compare the two. I like Absinthe, and buy a case every time I go to France, but Absinthe is like having a Latte while sitting in a café and whisky is good black coffee at a truck stop diner both are good and would add to the overall experience of the book. Now revise the book, adding these sections and taking away safety and cigs and you are going to have a classic.
Lively and EntertainingDecember 2, 2009 C. S. Fuerstneau(Plymouth, MN United States) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Absinthe and Flamethrowers builds a pretty good case for why adding a bit of dangerous living is a good thing that actually makes people happier than if they eschewed risk. It's probably not going to appeal to the meek, risk-avoiding side of the personality spectrum. Still, I'm not really that much of a risk taker and it sure made me at least start thinking about doing some of the semi risky stuff he advocates.
The author has written other books with lots of projects to try and they are all fun reads.
Some readers probably won't get the author's message, but I think they're the exception, not the rule. Decide for yourself!
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