A review of the crapbooks.

[megalomania]

We all know of these books, we know how worthless they are, how dangerous they are, and how controversial they are. They do serve some good purpose, even if it is limited to pissing off the government. These books are often the sole gateway to introduce explosives and pyrotechnics to the ignorant masses, not exactly the best foot forward eh?

I think it is high time we as a community undertake the task of dissecting these manuals for their inaccuracy. As these books are the most notable ambassadors to our chosen hobby, I feel we are in the position to correct their nonsense. It has long been the policy of The Forum to disregard these materials out of hand, and rightly so, but what specifically do we disregard?

I feel The Forum is uniquely situated to undertake the task of responsibly and intelligently criticizing these misguided manuals for the benefit of the ignorant who read them. We alone are poised to scour away the lies and mistruths and replace them with hard facts.

Others have from time to time tried to critique the info and expose the wrongs, but these individual attempts are scattered around the web and swamped under the volume of the originals. I want The Forum to gather this malfeasant knowledge and force it to heel. We can provide a place for it to be responsibly disseminated to the masses so we can disabuse the “kewls” that this knowledge is in fact less than useful.

I don’t anticipate this taking long or even being that taxing on the ol noggin, such is the miserable state of the misinformation. I believe we should first start by gathering together all of the manuals before we begin distilling. I am familiar with some of the names, but probably not all. To aid me in this quest would everyone who knows of a name please post that name so it can be searched.

My list of mayhem manuals:

The Anarchist Cookbook
The Anarchists Handbook
The Terrorist Handbook
The Jolly Rogers Handbook
The Big Book of Mischief (TBBOM)
Kitchen Improvised Plastic Explosives (KIPE)
Kitchen Improvised Blasting Caps
Mujahideen Explosive Book
Anarchist’s Home Companion
CIA Dirty Book of Tricks
Anarchy '97
Anarchist's Today
Anarchist's Compendium
Anarchy n' Explosives
Avenger's Handbook
Black Hole Books 1 & 2
Bombs Explosives Experiments
Captain Hook's Book of Anarchy
Darkstrom's Book of Knowledge
Home Companion
Jynx's Journal v2
Minds High All Drugs Information
Ozymandias Sabotage Skills Handbook
The Inctek Guide To Street Anarchy and Terrorism
The New Complete Terrorist
Unibomber's Manifesto
Vortex's Cookbook v2
XOO's Cookbook Classic Edition v2

I know there must be many different versions and revisions of the books floating around out there. As soon as we can narrow down a list of titles we can begin compiling the information. I rather feel this task is like cleaning the toilet, nasty but it must be done from time to time. Once we start to get some copies of this stuff I will create a new section and we can have another Special Project.

[IPN]

I wasn't aware of that the KIPE 1-2 and KIBC were books full of shit, the procedures have worked and all...

[megalomania]

I have a few additions to my list...

BHU's Cookbook
Forbidden Knowledge Formula for Terror
The School-Stoppers Textbook
Vandal's Cookbook
Anarchy - Cookbook style

No, I don't consider KIPE full of shit, it is in fact a shining example of what should be done. I do include it as a "book" though since to my knowledge it exists exclusively as an e-text.

[zeocrash]

i believe you are frogeting the many volumes of Poor man's james bon (PMJB)

[vulture]

I wouldn't be too happy distrubuting knowledge to the thousands of ignorant kewls out there. They will blow themselves and others up by the hundreds, causing every single chemical to be banned and every internet site and it's owners shut down.:mad:

[zeocrash]

i think it's stupid and pointelss to ban chemicals, far more deaths have been caused by fists, feet and other parts of the body than by home labs. but i dont see them banning hands and feet. (wouldn't it be ironic if... :P)
how about box cutters/standley knives, they were the weapons used in the september 11th attacks, but i dont see any ban on the purchase of sharp objects. the hipocrasy is terrible. the press only push for the government to ban these things because they themselves do not associate with these objects. if pyromania was a popular hoby among the media chemicals would be easily availible. Ambulence chacing lawyers are also responsible, with thier "where there's injury theres blame policy". and juries that hold the same view. beautifully illustrated by the cases where people sued mcdonalds because they burnt themselves on a cup of coffee which was labled "warning contents may be hot".
anyway with that rant over with, i'll upload the anarchist's cookbook navigator to the ftp when it's back up. it's some dude who has transcribed all incarnations of the ACB and aload of related literature into a program. I didn't realise how bad the ACB was until i had a look at the navigator.
for example, on the subject of a "blast box" the book says
"Ever want to really make yourself be heard? Ever talk to someone on the phone who just doesn't shut up? Or just call the operator and pop her eardrum?"
i'm guessing this technique only works if the recipient of the noise has their phone plugged into something like a Marshal JCM800 stach, and has then positionted the aformentioned equipement next to their ear. (sounds like the kind of thing your average crapbook reader would do) :P

[Kriegsminister]

Here is even more crap to add:

Anarchy 'n' Explosives - Volume 7
Improvised Munitions - Black Books Volumes I, II, and III
How To Make Bombs Book - Volume I and II
Home Made Bombs!
Bombs/Explosives/Experiments

However, I don't know if these are the original names.

[Anthony]

I'd imagine that a lot of these Literary Masterpieces are all pretty much the same thing, with a few words/sentences altered or a new stupid idea added. So although we may start with a list of 50 titles, we may only need to dissect a few of that number.

[cutefix]

Indeed these books can be considered worthless( to professionals )but I doubt if not many of the regulars here did not peruse some these manuals as their first introduction to pyrotechny and explosives. Their sensationalized way of presenting the interesting ideas is an eye opener to a would be pyro enthusiasts;and thus discover the nature of their unique hobby.
And how much knowledge they have gleaned from these materials which provided them with enough vocabulary to make them seriously interested to study more about it advanced books and other literatures.
I had seen people in the explosives department who does not snicker on looking at these items but look at it with caution.I even know of a certain EOD practitioner who think that many of these manuals are still dangerous that even his son is not allowed to read it! But I doubt how he will succeed in long term as his lad has a pyro tendency.:p

[nbk2000]

I've read most of those listed and, of them, only the following ones were of any worth.

Kitchen Improvised Plastic Explosives (KIPE)
Kitchen Improvised Blasting Caps
Ozymandias Sabotage Skills Handbook
PMJB
Black Books Volumes I, II, and III

But even these have various problems with them.

The KIPE and KIBC are needlessly complicated, overestimate the dangers of certain primaries (like AP), and understate the difficulty is detonated some other (AN based) explosives. But, overall, it's a good read.

The Ozymandias sabotage book (if it's the same one I have) is an excellent guide to monkey wrenching and sabotaging of machinery, but doesn't know what the fuck it's talking about when it comes to arson. Hey, no can know everything, right?

The PMJB are excellent in their presentation of archaic knowledge, such as the "Medical Jurisprudence" section in the Granddads chemistry book, which goes into great details of various poisons and their analysis.

However, the sections on improvised weapons and explosives that were written by kurt and his readers are, for the most part, lame at best, and insanely dangerous at worst. The fact that he's missing most of one hand because of a mistake is proof of this fact.

Though there is some good information there, like the ricin extraction, that you wouldn't find mentioned anywhere else for another decade till Fester wrote a book.

The black books...sigh...that's a tricky one. Most of the weapons will work, like the pipe shotguns and mortars, but the explosives are a mix of practical and worthless.

We all know that the TNP from aspirin works, since we've done it to death, and we all started from the black book process. Same for AP, AN/NM, and several other explosives.

The nitromethane/sawdust, HTH/naptha, and many others are worthless wastes of material though.

And some...like mixing sulfur and chlorate in a pipe bomb by rolling them back and forth with ball bearings?! :eek: I'd swear that one was put in by government agents so would-be bombers would kill themselves.

For these books, I'd have to say it'd be up to which process a pyro tried as to whether he'd succeed, fail, or accidently kill himself.

And, unfortunately, the BB are the books most often used as a basis for the creation of "original" crapbooks. Often times, it's cut and pasted in various forms, with the occasional bit of original bullshit thrown in to make it sound more interesting and k3wL.

So, by analyzing and correcting the errors present in the original BB series, we'd be correcting the same errors in the countless incarnations of the BB found in crapbook format. :)

One excellent "cookbook" not mentioned is the ELF (Earth Liberation Front) arson manual. Well illustrated, thourough in explaining the how and why, and describes the many precautions needed to work safely.

[Arthis]

I don't understand exactly what you Mega want the Special Project #2 to be ? You want to take all crap books, one by one, and modify them to make them right ? Since many of these books are about the same stuffs, we will be doing the same corrections over and over again, that's not really fun.

[A43tg37]

Four more that are complete crap:

The Anarchists's Guide to Civilian Warfare and Sabotage
Shadowspan's Book of the Unlawfuls
Anarchy for Fun and Profit
The Patriot Guidebook to a Better America

The first three are more or less rehashes (and pretty bad ones at that) of an already sorry text, the Jolly Roger Cookbook. The last is a mix of John Bircher, Minuteman and militia-type political ideas, material stolen from lockpicking guides and electronics texts on TOTSE, and explosive and firearm ideas that won't work or are just suicidal.

Next, I'm surprsied no one has mentioned Lowry's Big Book of Mischief. It's kind of in a land of it's own between crapbooks (I mean, come on...an aerosol can "sluggun"...blowing up ant beds...hydrogen balloons) and information that has a tiny bit of usefulness (at least to a beginner or ex-kewl; obviously, we here have moved on to bigger, better, and more advanced things). IIRC, the original HTMLized version had a link to the Forum on it, so some of us here may have gotten our start reading this cookbook instead of something worse.

Then, there's the "White Militant's Stores List". Not really a crapbook, but most of it is ripped off either from the black books, the White Resistance Manual, and the Big Book of Mischief. There are nuggets of original info in it though, and the author promises more updates.

NBK, when you mentioned the ELF arson guide, you did mean "Arson Around With Auntie Alf" didn't you? I guess combining its arson ideas with Ozzymandia's sabotage ideas would make for a fairly practical book. Another "sabotage" type of e-book that deserves mention is the Army of God's Manual. It has practical and useful tips on sabotage of cars and buildings, as well as on harassment, evading police, and decoying them...of course, being from the AOG, its ideas are primarily meant for use by anti-abortion nuts; still, almost all of them could be used as is or easily reworked to sabotage any undesired building or vehicle. Their use of terminology is also interesting...while we have "dreams", they are known to say that "termites" cause or have been known to cause explosions and sabotage.

Also, is this being done as a total rewrite of certain crapbooks, with full correction, or is it more an "annotated and revised" type of modification to existing crapbooks, where we show where the mistake is and then show the correct procedure or formula? Given a choice, I'd be inclined more toward the latter, so that we can show where each error is, rather than someone having to have a copy of our version and the original crapbook open at the same time to see where all the errors were in the original.

[vulture]

I know that chemicals aren't dangerous, but I'm only me and I'm only a frustrated wanker which dears to study the evil and immoral art of chemistry.:rolleyes:

Convincing the media that chemicals aren't dangerous would be the same as bringing peace to the middle east: Mission Impossible.

So even if we know how to deal with it, if a kewl blows himself and some other people up while being stupid with something that actually goes boom, you can imagine what a feast it would be for the media. They would gladly help the government pass another Patriot Act so that their reporters are allowed to report americas next war (unbiased of course :rolleyes: ) from the frontlines.

Take some, give some, that's how it works and will always work. If you want to get your ass up somewhere high you'll have to shove someones elses ass up too and shoot some others down.
We always say "one's death is anotherone's bread".

[megalomania]

I see the project as being more of an exercise in debunking. We take the original in all of its ignominy, we go through each procedure and open it up to debate on The Forum, then we compile our reasons why the bit is dangerous, inaccurate, half-correct, implausible, or just plain suicidal. We publish this corrected information along with the original and reissue the work. We need not necessarily provide working instructions in most cases, just reasons why the info as presented will not work.

Hopefully a reader of our material will see what a complete load the originals are and be encouraged to seek out real books in libraries, or at least gain an appreciation of why these kinds of books are bad. I think we can hammer that point home time and time again throughout the work.

Indeed these books have already done irreparable harm to our interests; I want to try and heal this rift. These books remain as starting off points for the curious amateur. I admit these types of books were my first reading materials in pyrotechnics and explosives although I was smart enough to realize they were crap. If we can interject logic, reason, and hard scientific facts into these books, as well as a healthy dose of what real books to get at the library we may be able to save some lives and improve the outlook the public has on our interests.

Like it or not these crapbooks are a part of our heritage as improvisational chemists, independent scientists, amateurs, hobbyists, or what have you. I think we owe it to our community to dispel the myths these kewl manuals propagate. I think it is more dangerous and damning to us in the long run to allow these pamphlets to be disseminated without challenging them. If we can disabuse one kewl from doing something stupid, or steer one potential scientist in the proper direction I say we have done good.

[Arthis]

You think that transforming these crapbooks in good books will changes things ? It's like asking people on Totse to stop telling craps and come here, and impose them our rules. These lamers won't accept that. Why trying to release good versions ?

A single compilation of our own should do the job. NBK's trying to make his DVD, why would he put his articles/technics in an already known lamer book ?

[Anthony]

Because a kewl would look at the Crapbook, look at our book and decide that the (over-simplified/incorrect) procedures in the crapbook are much easier and so follow those.

"You think that transforming these crapbooks in good books will changes things?"

You'd have to be a real fucking idiot to read a lame procedure, then read the detailed, logical explanation underneath of why that procedure won't work, and then decide to try it anyway.

Fools of that calibre can't be helped, period!

[Darkbloodpriest]

Why don't we (the forum) make a book ourselves?
I mean....come on....there's probably more useful information in a months worth of posts here than there is in all the crapbooks combined.
I know NBK has his book, but I would consider that his project that he has worked on; and I doubt he wants to sell/distribute it for the good of humanity :D

The book would:
A. Increase the quality of knowledge "readily available."
B. Generate a nice profit.
C. Give us a platform to shout from.

The book could be filled with 50 pages of badly scanned photos, and
a few recipes for ap and bombz and such; I bet we would sell hundreds of copies.
I doubt this will be the end result, but look how many of US are here because of a little page by a guy named Lowry...
Hell...why not start our own Federoff (spelling?) quality series?
Volume 1 of the forum library perhaps?

Vulture: I do not think the solution to a problem is to simply keep the information
to yourself because everyone else might hurt themselves.
Quote: "They will blow themselves and others up by the hundreds..."
Why is this bad? Less herd, more room for us.
Quote: "Take some, give some, that's how it works and will always work"
Yes, you are correct...and as long we (or kewls) don't start getting all anti-government or appear to be a threat to
national security we should have nothing to worry about because we have done nothing wrong.

The reason this doesn't happen isn't because good knowledge isn't
available to the common kewl, it's because your average kewl can't find or make
the chemicals and materials needed for your more dangerous compositions(wmd,
quality homemade firearms, railguns, etc.) and procedures. If they COULD kill hundreds,
thousands, or millions, where are all the leveled cities and countries run completely amok?
You underestimate the stupidity of your fellow man, and overestimate his ability.

Simply leaving them to their own devices won't help us in the fight to increase the
quantity of scientific minds out there, it will only leave others like us out in the cold.
There simply aren't enough Lowry's in the world...

Besides, isn't the pursuit of knowledge the forums goal(Not to mention the reason for this project)? Sorry to get off topic...

[stickfigure]

Something that would be helpful would be a list of recommended reading. So someone who doesn't have a lot of cash doesn't waste their cash on paper wieght. NBK's DVD would be nice but hopefully not a legal problem for him and make him respondsible for others actions. In my younger days I was fascinated by the ACB as was I "The Faces of Death" until I grew up and figured out that it was fake and outdated. Then I got a hold of a Delta Press catalog and found what I had been missing out on, I didn't have the cash to buy any of these books, and didn't know what to buy. Now I have an idea but, a lot of these books are out of print and it would be nice to have a definate required reading list. Books that even if they are out of print can be bought for a cost. On top of whatever you guys come up with. But the "Crap" List is very helpful and cross referenced with some of the other members agreements and suggestions will help me out.

[nbk2000]

I wouldn't be putting anything of mine into a crapbook, that's for sure! :)

What we would simply be doing is explaining the errors present in the existing text. I don't think we'd be explaining our own processes.

For instance, where the typical k3wl text says to mix chlorate and sulfur together, we'd point out how the sulfur contains acid residues that could cause spontaneous igniton of the mix, leading to fire/explosion. We wouldn't be telling them to add 1% baking soda to nuetralize the acids. Rather, we'd tell them to read Weingarts or some other pyro text, from which they'd learn that and more, on their own.

Also, it's not our intention to spread correct explosives synths through the use of crapbooks. That'd just make us "terrorists" spreading such "dangerous" knowledge about.

No.

Our purpose is to debunk the crapbooks, saving the lives of precious children! ;) If this happens to get them to learning how to actually make things the right way...well, at least they're not going to kill themselves in the process, right? :)

This way, if any politician points to one of our revised crapbooks and says "LOOK! DANGEROUS BOMB KNOWLEDGE!", we can rightly point out that NOWHERE in the text did WE provide any process or information on the preparation of the explosive/weapon in question. All we did was point out the errors and explain why the process wouldn't work, or would work but kill the maker in the process. We'd be like the Ralph Nader of anarchy! :D

[Darkbloodpriest]

Even though I don't mind Nader...
I'm not sure if I would like to be viewed as such a voice as his,
you see how popular HE is(or lack of popularity).
But anyways...
VoD: What about the revolutions in South Africa, or Russia, or the Middle East
(picking from several time periods)? People didn't start making explosives
and weapons in the last few months or anything. Why would our book be
a brightly shining light to anyone except people looking for correct information?
It isn't like people don't know we exist...why we suddenly appear to be hatemongers
and bad people ingeneral because a book comes on the market?
Whoever said we have to stick the forums stamp on it? No one
has to find out that this was the forums book except the people who work on it.
Also, wouldn't it be simpler to make our own book than to search thru THOUSANDS
of pages of drivel? I'm sure Mega could spout off a hundred pages of personal
thoughts and recommendations on whim. I'm sure we all have enough creative energy
to make a simple book of facts, or maybe even correct synths and such.
I simply cannot see how spreading CORRECT information is going to ruin the world
and nuclear winter will ensue because of an all powerful book that transforms
Joe Kewl into Macguyer. Look at the past...if you were right Kurt Saxon should
"disappeared" years ago! THEY would have gotten him and all the rest of the people
out there spreading this information if they worried about such information.
Why haven't parents, and cops, and school teachers looked around on the computer
shutdown the sites on their little Timmys bookmark list? Because as much as we distrust
these people, they aren't as stupid as people make them out to be. I'm sure
we have many cop members in our midst...why haven't we been shut down?
Fearless leader Mega and Hed executioner NBK would have been on the six o'clock
LOOOOOONG ago. I don't have enough space or status here to continue with my argument.
(Sorry to get into a rant....I'll be quick.)
Stickfigure: Why couldn't we have a list of recommended/required reading in our book?
I think having one(or more) definative book would be great! Why buy 20 crapbooks
when you could get the E&W bible? We would save people a lot of time and money
by simply combining all the correct information into one source. I believe this
would still go hand in hand with Mega's plan but in a different way.
NBK: Yes....it is about the children isn't it? :)
Why not explain our own processes?
What do we have to lose by the spread of knowledge? But I simply can't and won't disagree with
you...I simply think it would be better to put it all in one nice little volume and save people
from having to buy every book in the Delta Press catalog.
Sorry to interrupt everyone, I'll try not to do it again...especially since I appear to be wrong.

[Sparky]

Personally I think this whole debunking of cookbooks is a great idea. I know someone ;) who started off his pyro hobby reading those things, and he wasted a lot of his time on them. Looking back, it was probably fortunately that he didn't have the chemicals he has now, or he might have done some damage. I would like to help prevent this time wastage from happening to someone else. I guess this is whole thing is Special Project #2? About time for another one if you ask me. I say start this thing ASAP.

[nbk2000]

One thing we'd definitly want to do first, before providing any sort of references to books, would be to have PDF copies of these books made and scattered about the 'net.

This way, if any bookburners decide to ban these books, or they mysteriously become "unavailable for checkout", it's TOO FUCKING LATE! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! :p

Otherwise, we might find ourselves giving the enemy the information they need to use against us, by naming the really "dangerous" books. Specifically, the books which contain the REAL knowledge...the books gathering dust on library shelves 'cause no one knows what's in them...instead of the pseudo-dangerous books like Ragners shit, that's all fluff with no real substance, but looks "scary" because it has a gun/bomb on the cover. :rolleyes:

A copy of "Incendiary Weapons" by SIPRI contains more real information than any five of the typical "Dangerous Knowledge" bookz you'll find in a Paladin (punks who sold out the Constitution to save on their insurance premiums) Press catalog.

Sartori's "War Gases" is almost 80 years old, but the knowledge within would make the FBI shit on themselves if they knew Al-queada was reading it. :)

[megalomania]

Actually, VoD, that is exactly what I had in mind. I think we should start off with one book and make a post about each “procedure” and open it to debate, compile our refutations and published the results.

I do think we should devise some ways about going through all the non explosive or weapons related info, but I am sure someone will have comments of everything at least. For example the anarchist cookbook starts off with counterfeiting money. The article reads more like a book report ripped from an encyclopedia rather than any actual useful information on how to actually counterfeit money. I would point out that one cannot faithfully reproduce money from a color printer because the paper is completely inappropriate and will not pass inspection by the dullest of monkeys. I have an x who’s brother tried this, he could not fool a gas station attendant, and he damn sure got a visit by some police detectives. His defence at trial? “Uh I only meant to use the money to pay my drug dealer, I accidentally used it at the gas station.” I only wonder what the dealer would have done…

[Kid Orgo]

The dealer would probably make prison look like a wondeful vacation.

[nbk2000]

I would nominate the original ACB to be the first target of our dissection, since it is the great-granddaddy of all cookbooks, from which all the others sprang.

Speaking of which, I saw a segment on the McNeil News Hour about the patriot act as it regards libraries, and they were showing some liberals checking out "bad" books from the S.F. public library as a protest. :rolleyes: Anyways, the showed some lame checking out the ACB, and mentioned it specifically as containing "recipes for making bombs". :barf:

If anything, once we're done dissecting it, we should then spam all the media outlets with a corrected copy, so they don't have the excuse of not knowing better when saying how "dangerous" it is...the only person in any real danger being the reader who tries using anything out of it. :)

Oh, and the dealer would likely have "Bubba'd" the dude for being so stupid. :p

[Kid Orgo]

Are you just talking about marking up all the complete inaccuracies in the book, explaining why it's BS?

Or do you suggest actually putting in the right info?

Like using acetone or benzene to make a true napalm instead of burning gunk, as suggested in the ACB?

[megalomania]

I found a few links to potential subversive literature that may be of some use to the project. These environmental people seem to take this kind of stuff to heart, and because they practice what they preach they have better quality stuff.

http://www.earthliberationfront.com/library/
http://www.animalliberation.net/library/publications.html

Lets see, we have at these sites Arson Around with Auntie ALF, Security Culture, what to do if an agent knocks (that may come in handy for some people, I should mirror that), How to sink Whalers (ships), The Final Nail, the ALF Primer, Guide to Direct Action, and possibly more.

[Bitter]

I'd be cautious about the advice taken from sites like that- Ideologially, they are only a few notches above @/\/aR(hY (read: Kewl) sites, plus they don't seem to be into explosives.

[nbk2000]

They may be ideologically equal to an @/\/aR(hY nut, but they know how to deal with police surveillance, and avoid leaving evidence behind.

If anything, we could learn from them about developing the "security culture" like they have. After all, it's not like we don't have the occasional run-in with the pigs ourselves.

You're right, they're not really into explosives,but they are firebugs. :) They know how to get a fire going and spreading real quick. :D

I don't see any reason why we couldn't join together...meat eaters and tree huggers...in the common interest of mutual learning and sharing of pyro/security skills.

Though we might draw more federal heat (pun) if we were being linked to on radical treehugger sites like ELF/PETA.

[knowledgehungry]

The idea of being associated with those types is stomach turning to me, unless they had something VERY useful to give us i wouldnt want to help them at all as their goals go directly against mine:D. I like leather boots and jackets, hunting, eating meat and saying fuck you to the enviroment!

[mrtnira]

Lets see, we have at these sites Arson Around with Auntie ALF, Security Culture, what to do if an agent knocks (that may come in handy for some people, I should mirror that), How to sink Whalers (ships), The Final Nail, the ALF Primer, Guide to Direct Action, and possibly more.

Does anyone have these documents to upload? Or, does anyone know of a rapidshare link for these documents? The parent publishing organizations mentioned by megalomania in the original post have gone off the net. In searching the internet for the "Arson Around with Auntie ALF", I have not been able to find an active link with that document.

I don't advocate using these for any purpose. However, I have read them in the past and would like to do so again. Many on this site (myself included) read "how to" documents the way others read novels or watch the History Channel. How things are done is a fascinating read; doing it may be both unwise and counter-productive to life in general.

[Defendu]

Arson Around with Auntie ALF

Try http://69.30.199.241/lib-explosives_real.html until thedisease.net is fully rebuilt.

"What to do if an Agent Knocks On Your Door" has been added to my box.net accound at http://www.box.net/public/qa4btn0zim#main

[defiant]

Craig Rosebraugh and those alf/elf environmental terrorists are going to ruin it for the rest of us.:D

Also, "Arson Around" is available at: http://mihd.net/xzv835

[sbovisjb1]

Those military handbooks from the 60's. They have good info, but its so outdated and obviously some of it hasn't been tested. And I just squirm reading them thinking that more than a few GI's have lost their fingers over the years.

[sobreroHWE]

I believe a true interest in explosives/incendiaries should go hand in hand with a vast library of information. Unfortunately due to the nature of our esoteric hobby, it can be difficult for beginners to find info much less determine the accuracy of a document.

Not only does this Project help to dispel all of the Clown Books, but also leads interested parties to accurate supplements to their library.

If we are going to bash the bullshit books, it is only right to give equal praise to the texts with valuable information. I enjoy my collection of CIA and other "special forces" how to books, along with good-ol-Fester!:D

[inthekitchen]

Regarding Uncle Fester--I ran into this old debate/flame war regarding his book "Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture".

http://www.erowid.org/archive/rhodium/chemistry/eleusis/eleusis.vs.fester.html

I was able to determine by simply reading product descriptions that Eleusis was wrong (and fester right) about the vacuum power of an aspirator. I was unable to determine, however, who was right about the safety and effectiveness of using cooking oil in a heating bath. This, combined with my abysmal knowledge of chemistry and my un-scientific mind leave me unable to effectively evaluate festers book as either crap or gold.

I'm assuming somebody on this forum has read or skimmed it and has enough scientific understanding to evaluate it.

[sbovisjb1]

Eleusis was right. Simply because of the fact that he created the drug Ecstasy for a living. That small nuance Fester may have been correct with, but in general, his methods are complete trash. There is a reason why the FBI doesn't care about him.

[inthekitchen]

Eleusis was right. Simply because of the fact that he created the drug Ecstasy for a living. That small nuance Fester may have been correct with, but in general, his methods are complete trash. There is a reason why the FBI doesn't care about him.

Is this Eleusis guy well known in internet drug manufacture literature circles? I had never heard of him until reading his discussion with Fester on erowid.

***Yes he is very well known, search google to find more info about him, now lets get back on the topic of discussing crap books please. The_Duke***

[sobreroHWE]

Eleusis was right. Simply because of the fact that he created the drug Ecstasy for a living. That small nuance Fester may have been correct with, but in general, his methods are complete trash. There is a reason why the FBI doesn't care about him.

Your claiming to know who the FBI is interested in? I not only believe Fester has more balls than Palidin, but I also trust his methods more than anything I download from some K3Wel with no name or Chem degree. HWE is a good book with LOTS of valuable info. Far from "Complete trash".:D

[megalomania]

I have yet to read anything good about his work by those with real chemistry skills. I seriously doubt any professional chemist will regale us with a journal level quality dissection of his information, and if some organization did it would be relegated to some internal memo within the forensics personnel of the DEA.

His information might look good to the untrained eye, but so does a diamond. An experienced jeweler can spot the flaws in cut, color, and clarity, and so to can a chemist identify the mistakes and typos that are not only dangerous, but can lead to the dreaded reduction in yield of product.

His book isn't complete trash. It belongs on the pile of junk in the garage you keep around because you are not quite sure you want to get rid of it.

Even the best textbooks and scientific publications suffer from inaccuracies. What Fester needs to do is come out with a second edition, revised and expanded.

[Enkidu]

Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture by Uncle Fester is in its 7th edition and was released recently (2005?).

[sobreroHWE]

That's a funny analogy Mega.:p Fester does need another revised addition. Or perhaps the "how-to" book is going the way of the 50# 32-0-0 bag. RS has much more info on more topics than any book. (as well as no pussies in charge to sell out at the first sign of trouble) I believe RS has made crap books moot, as most things they would erroneously cover, can be found here in much more accurate detail. Plus I come for the creativity!:cool:

[Charles Owlen Picket]

The guy (Fester) is Steve Preisler and he worked (& still may) as an industrial chemist. He's just a normal guy who wanted to make a buck so he wrote some books about clandestine chemistry. I really think he regretted his attempts today as I believe he's married, has kids and takes out the garbage like everybody else...

[Winter Wolf]

The guy (Fester) is Steve Preisler ... I really think he regretted his attempts today as I believe he's married, has kids and takes out the garbage like everybody else...

I don't think he regrets any of his past work. He has a website where he sells his books and videos. This is the web address: http://www.unclefesterbooks.com/

Anyone who advertises his website as "Porno for Chemists" on a scrolling marquee, and calls himself "...the most dangerous man in America" at the top of his web-page isn't one to shrink from his past children or not.

As to the quality of his written works, I really couldn't say.

[Emil]

I have a copy of his "Home Explosives" book, and I must say it seems reasonably consistent with some good knowledge in.

However, any author who publishes his or her work with the amount of typos present definitely needs to question themselves. Especially when dealing with potentially dangerous chemicals and procedures. I mean, you wouldn't hand in a job application letter with poor spelling and grammar, so why do it to the masses that will be paying for and reading your material?? Beings as UF is a supposed chemist of sort, I would like to think he was consistent with reading, writing and spelling correctly, so in my opinion it's just pure laziness.

I wouldn't brand his work "crap book" material, yet it wouldn't be the first choice of literature I'd recommend. But saying that, I personally haven't read any of his other books.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

Do we have a definitive working definition of a "crap book"?
Would we agree on a book designed to titillate via "secrets" of a science explained in such a slipshod manner as to not be accurate, present a danger to the experimenter, have little in the way of checkable sources, report inaccuracies (via laziness or otherwise) as truths, and not maintain a cohesive understandable method(s) of completion. - If that's the case the road widens as we explore historical works! (Wiengart or Lancaster could be said to offer issues with half-truths, etc)

If that's not an effective definition what could be added or altered to describe a true "crap book"?


Re: Steve Preisler, the guy feeds his family with his website stuff. Personally I honestly think if he had it to do over he would have done it differently. But that's the case with almost anyone who gets in some shit; that's entirely natural.

[Enkidu]

Re: Steve Preisler, the guy feeds his family with his website stuff. Personally I honestly think if he had it to do over he would have done it differently. But that's the case with almost anyone who gets in some shit; that's entirely natural.

Only he could say for sure. AFAIK, he is an active member here and at WD, and probably elsewhere, and he continues to publish and update his books.

@Anyone who badmouths Uncle Fester: I, personally, hold a lot of respect for Uncle Fester. Yeah, his books may not be perfect or even near perfect. How many of you have written and published a set of books? Better yet, how many of you could even spot the errors?

[nbk2000]

Those who could spot the errors are the ones who've studied the field of E&W for a long time, as well as experimented with explosives, who'd shake their head at what they're reading and go ' How could anyone write this crap and get paid for it?'.

Those who couldn't spot the errors would the the ones in the hospital or morgue.

If someone was to write a book about surgical procedures that got the critical details wrong, wouldn't the dead mans family be perfectly justified in suing the author? Yes, they would.

But n00b's who get themselves maimed or killed are extremely unlikely to do so after blowing off their hands, because they're likely sitting in jail. What a perfect racket for lousy authors...those who don't try it never know what a piece of shit they bought, and those who do can't sue! :p

[Rbick]

These books are part of the reason you can't really blame the media completely for giving explosives a bad name. When people see sites like totse and crap books, its no wonder people think those who make explosives are all porn addicted teenage faggots who hate their parents and couldn't spell or use grammar correctly to save their lives. For instance, this is what you see when you first go to totse...

Bad Ideas
Drugs
Ego
Erotica

and of course the explosives section is called "Ka-fucking boom"... Sounds pretty mature and safe right? Not to mention the word "anarchy" that seems to be linked with energetic materials all the time. So its not just the government and the media we have to blame for our problems, but k3wls who think mixing vasoline and KNO3 makes an explosive as powerful as C-4, and of course the Crap Books that teach them how to do it.

Maybe Crap Books are an elaborate attempt to cleanse the gene pool by having all the idiots out there blow themselves up or die from exposure to Hydrazine when trying to make "the most powerful non-nuclear explosive", astrolite... If this is true, it seems to be working pretty well. :D

[festergrump]

Good points, Rbick. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me too much if all of totse was a governmental honeypot (as NBK likes to say) or misinformation central run by the fedgov itself. Misinformation can be a valuable tool, afterall, and is a favorite of governments of the world.

Why anyone would go to totse after being here is beyond me. Even if you got banned here, you could always just shut your piehole, UTFSE, and learn everything you ever needed to know about E&W, no? (it seems like common sense, but as they say, "common sense is NOT always commonplace!"). :rolleyes:

[LibertyOrDeath]

Regarding Uncle Fester's Home Workshop Explosives, it struck me as quite well written (from an English standpoint) when I began reading it, and that led me to believe that it was of good technical accuracy as well. However, not being a chemist, I couldn't immediately verify this for myself.

When NBK told me on another thread several months ago that Uncle Fester had been "discredited almost to the point of k3wlishness," I was surprised and somewhat disappointed. But I take the advice of those experienced in this field very seriously, so I quit reading it.

Here's something strange, though. On Uncle Fester's site (LINK (http://www.unclefesterbooks.com/book_hwe.html)), the description of HWE doesn't match what's in my book at all:

Topics covered in detail include: The Hardware Store Nitro Recipe, fuel-air explosives, ammonium nitrate mixtures, improvised detonators and fun with explosives including air cannons, RC cruise missiles, and RC torpedoes.

It also says that the book is a 2nd edition and contains 170 pages. My copy, copyright dated 1990, doesn't say anything about any editions and has only 122 pages, but the cover is the same as that shown on the website. And my book doesn't cover the above (somewhat k3wlish-sounding) list, but rather a little preliminary chemistry, nitric and sulfuric acids, nitroglycerin, nitroglycol, nitromannitol, PETN, RDX, and a brief note on detonators.

Is this just a mistake on Fester's website, or are there really two fairly different editions of HWE? :confused:

[Enkidu]

Those who could spot the errors are the ones who've studied the field of E&W for a long time, as well as experimented with explosives, who'd shake their head at what they're reading and go ' How could anyone write this crap and get paid for it?'

The same could be said of Ledgard and quite a few patents that I've looked through (the details 'known to those in the art' and patents such as the DPPP patent). There aren't any recipes in Urbanski. Who are you going to trust?

It should be noted that I've only browsed through the later editions of his books, as I prefer Ledgard (sorry UF) and Federoff.

Is this just a mistake on Fester's website, or are there really two fairly different editions of HWE? :confused:

UF's subsequent editions are usually quite expanded.

[megalomania]

Fester is an opportunist who put just enough time and effort into writing a book to get it published by a third rate publisher. The book is then overhyped as having some wonderful secrets and valuable knowledge. In EVERY case of a crapbook I have read they fall flat on real details. Seymour Lecker’s book is one egregious example that springs to mind.

The essence of a crapbook can be identified by the intended audience. If the book is resplendent with quips about killing people, committing terrorist acts, fighting the system or the man, or has a casual disregard for the serious nature of energetic materials then it is a crapbook.

Ledgard’s book is a step in the right direction, but it too falls short in my estimation. A revised edition with properly cited sources would greatly improve the work. I would not classify his book as a crapbook. It is a generalist work for a non-professional audience, but an audience with technical skill. It is rather like The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives, although less rigorous.

The situation LibertyOrDeath described about Fester’s book is a hallmark of crapbooks. The description of the work is written to fascinate and entice. Like a salesman hocking snake oil you fall for the claims, you part with your money, and the blessed tome turns out to be just another scam. A book should be judged by the depth and breadth of its scientific content, not solely by the advertising on the cover.

Here is a quote from the introduction to Fester's book:
The material in this book is largely the result of numerous experiments I did in the field in my dorm room back when I
was in college.
God help us all! Dorm room experiments are usually confined to drugs and homosexer gay sex. I know first hand a dorm room is not a suitable laboratory environment for energetics.

Enkidu, are you in fact a nom de plume for Uncle Fester, or perhaps a personal acquaintance? Methinks thou dost protest too much…

[nbk2000]

I got that impression too.

[Enkidu]

Methinks thou dost protest too much…

Probably. :D I felt like sticking up for the underdog.

[Rbick]

God help us all! Dorm room experiments are usually confined to drugs and homosexer gay sex. I know first hand a dorm room is not a suitable laboratory environment for energetics.


I agree with you on that Mega, but I don't think many of us sound much better when we say "In my Parents' basement" :D. This is the case with myself unfortunatley, but tell me where I could safley conduct a nitration in an apartment building...

But someone saying they wrote a book based on experiments done in a dorm room probably shouldn't be publishing works about materials that can very easily turn you into pink mist.

I also noticed that much of the text in their work (crap books) leaves out most of the technical and chemical aspects, making it seem far more simple than it really is. I think this is what causes a general lack of respect for the things we do here. It also obviously attracts k3wls and teenage kids who play counter-strike too much.

[Hirudinea]

You know that since there are so many experts here on chemistry, and I'm not being sarcastic, this board is full of people who really know their stuff, someone should write a small critique/ranking of the major crap books out there, this would be a very helpful list for people like me who still think that they good deal when they bought $500 dollars worth of dehydrate water for Y2K (hey, just add water, what could be easier! :) )

[megalomania]

I was at a conference today where part of the power point presentation was a few pages of how to evaluate a scientific journal or book for scientific accuracy and validity. There are a few key points that, alas, I didn't write down in time, but I will dig them up. I hope to get a copy of the presentation by next Friday...

[Hirudinea]

I was at a conference today where part of the ... presentation was ... how to evaluate a scientific journal or book for scientific accuracy and validity. There are a few key points ... I hope to get a copy of the presentation by next Friday...

Well a review of crapbooks for accuracy and validity by our favorite mantis would be great!

[megalomania]

I was unable to get a copy of the PP presentation because the guy was swamped Friday, but I will try again if I see him next week.

I could probably look this up on google, but I won't... I hope I don't mangle what I remember from the presentation.

Part of the peer review process involves examining the experimental methodology. Was the experiment (could also be synthesis, manufacture, food recipe, etc.) conducted in a manner consistent with the field of study. Watching uncle Ragnar scoop out powdered ricin onto his table while wearing only a dust mask strikes me as a bit... stupid/dangerous/foolish/risky (insert adjective here). Improvised experiments are not automatically in kewl territory, but all kewl experiments are improvised.

Grammar, spelling, punctuation, properly labeling graphs and charts, correctly doing all mathematics and equations, and structuring sentences are all part of what makes a good work. Crapbooks are frequently riddled with minor errors that could easily be corrected with a spell checker, or should be found with proof reading. Any book or journal may have an error or two, but it would be rejected if a preponderance of such errors were found.

That is all I remember for now.

Crapbooks can also be dangerous by what information they exclude. Omitting even minor safety precautions, especially when dealing with a non-professional audience, when such information is critical to the success of a procedure is not good. Some of the crapbook procedures may indeed work, but would you want to do a synthesis where the yield is 0.1% when there are better procedures? Would you want to make meth in high yield that contains a byproduct that is toxic? Crapbook’s fail to mention these valuable bits of information all too frequently.

[Hirudinea]

Crapbooks can also be dangerous by what information they exclude. Omitting even minor safety precautions, especially when dealing with a non-professional audience, when such information is critical to the success of a procedure is not good.

Yes killing your readers is not the best way to get repeat customers.

Some of the crapbook procedures may indeed work, but would you want to do a synthesis where the yield is 0.1% when there are better procedures? Would you want to make meth in high yield that contains a byproduct that is toxic? Crapbook’s fail to mention these valuable bits of information all too frequently.

Well it depends on what the book is aiming for, if its for backwoods survivalists a procedure that can make what you want with a 1% yield from pine cones and racoon poop boiled in an old pot is better than a procedure that has a 90% yield but requires a $100,000 lab and $50,000 in chemicals, if you see what I mean.

[megalomania]

It is not the yield that is in question, it is the fact the crapbooks fail to mention the procedure has miserable yields that is important. By not indicating a procedure is of limited usefulness a crapbook can make all sorts of exaggerated claims to entice readers: "make LSD from orange peels and a common household product!" Yes, 1 miligram of luevelic acid stable distillate. Oh, were you expecting some other kind of LSD? You will be sorely disappointed if you actually want a procedure to be as expected from the claims, claims which are frequently exaggerated in crapbooks. As a lad I loved how Ragnar would give all these recipes to make explosives with chemicals you could scrounge, but then were made useless when he recommended a commercial blasting cap. If I could get blasting caps, I sure as hell would not be trolling the shelves at the garden store.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

The "commercial blasting caps" issue is actually common, IMO. I believe this goes back to using US Army field manuals as base material for extrapolated material. A Hell of a lot of books have "piggy-backed" on field manuals and the result was useless to the average Joe.

Quite a bit of the material I remember first having read in the 1970's made it seem like EVERYONE could casually pull out a box of #6 fuse caps from the garage or barn. That was a consistent annoyance & I remember skimming through books exactly for that issue before buying them.

[Hirudinea]

It is not the yield that is in question, it is the fact the crapbooks fail to mention the procedure has miserable yields that is important. By not indicating a procedure is of limited usefulness a crapbook can make all sorts of exaggerated claims to entice readers: "make LSD from orange peels and a common household product!" Yes, 1 miligram of luevelic acid stable distillate. Oh, were you expecting some other kind of LSD? You will be sorely disappointed if you actually want a procedure to be as expected from the claims, claims which are frequently exaggerated in crapbooks.

Ok, see what you mean, I just wanted to point out that a low yield for a simple process with readily accessable component is probably better than a high yield process that is impossible for the average person to do, but of course any process has to produce somthing like it promises. But of course a misleading or outright lie, that should be pointed out in any review.


As a lad I loved how Ragnar would give all these recipes to make explosives with chemicals you could scrounge, but then were made useless when he recommended a commercial blasting cap. If I could get blasting caps, I sure as hell would not be trolling the shelves at the garden store.

Talk about taking a kid to the candy store then telling him he can't buy anything. :mad: By the way didn't Ragnar write a book on making homemade blasting caps?

[sobreroHWE]

I am glad someone else hates that worthless assumption that we all have access to caps or a delay device/cap or 30 ft of det cord. Or the references to Hydrazine as if a simple call to Home Depot will get your a nice full bottle.

One problem I have come to realize reading these posts is that while we hate the worthless shit that is published under the guise of accurate and reliable information, we also do not want Johnny K3wl knowing correct and accurate ways of synthing NG or ETN or AP. I believe if all of the crap books gave 100% safe and accurate info we would have more bans on items due to stupid fuckers (like 50# AN sacks and M-80's). Let them stick to their match head/C02 devices.

[nbk2000]

I've no fear about a 100% accurate 'cook book' being a detriment to us if it fell into the the hands of k3wLz.

After all, to do it properly means work, and work means the k3wLz will quit half way through it. :)

Doing it properly means making or buying a ball mill, sourcing or making non-sparking media, taking hours to mill it (not minutes of shaking BY HAND :p), etc. etc.

[megalomania]

nbk is right on the money there; a kewl only wants to know "how to make a bomb from household materials." They want the rice-crispy treat version without having to resort to doing any work. Any endeavor beyond a few hours causes the kewl to lose interest.

Crapbooks recognize the short attention span of kewls and try to capitalize on it. There is a reason all those crapbooks say "for entertainment purposes only." You can imagine making some explosive, but a funny picture in your head as as close as you will come with the utterly useless information in the crapbook.

The entire purpose of refuting the crapbooks is to expose their lies and shed some light on the real difficulties, dangers, and impracticalities of the information they contain.

[ChippedHammer]

Someone should make and hype a true crapbook. Filled with glorious gene pool cleansing information for dipshits and ragheads to try out.

I can picture it now :D

"A 21st century guide to mischief"

Chapter 1: Chlorate and sulfur, safe and cheap pipe bombs in a flash.
Chapter 2: Nitroglycerin in a jam-jar.
Chapter 3. How to inhale HCl and get high.

etc

[Rbick]

HA! Thats awesome. I got a good laugh out of that. In the second chapter, you could also add how you need to shake the Nitroglycerine rapidly in the jar to clean it. Or "Chapter 4: Acetone Peroxide: The safest and most stable explosive to use"

Its not a bad idea, all the k3wls would be dead in a matter of a few years. We could open a section of the forum for everyone to compile ideas, and then we'll publish it, using the name of whoever the hell runs totse...

[Hirudinea]

Someone should make and hype a true crapbook. Filled with glorious gene pool cleansing information for dipshits and ragheads to try out.


Chapter 1: Chlorate and sulfur, safe and cheap pipe bombs in a flash.
Chapter 2: Nitroglycerin in a jam-jar.
Chapter 3. How to inhale HCl and get high.


HA! Thats awesome.

"Chapter 4: Acetone Peroxide: The safest and most stable explosive to use"


then we'll publish it, using the name of whoever the hell runs totse...

No, publish it under "Darwin's Revenge Press" ;)

[nbk2000]

Gene Poole Press sounds good. ;)

[sobreroHWE]

This almost seems better suited for the "hand grenade" thread but it had four months of dust on it so.....:rolleyes:

I have a small booklet from Desert or Loompanics IIRC,("hand grenade lighter" or some lame shit like that) explaining how to use a spent lighter body to make a self igniting grenade using the original sparking wheel and the two separated compartments inside the lighter. The only reason I bring it up is to illustrate how a crap book (talks about using HMTD as the starting material for HMTD...what a typo:D) can produce some type of usable thought process, other than "Huh, this book is shit!"

"My friend" got some fuse a short time ago and decided to find entertaining uses for it. After using many feet for simply extensions, he got bored. This book gave my friend the idea to fill these empty bodies, not with a KClO3/AL or HMTD mix the book suggests, but rather with a more serious charge and small fuse sensitive cap. Making either a water proof and easily overlooked "explosive destructive device", or a covertly lit time delay booster for a larger charge. Just a thought.......;)

[UnderConstruction]

I mentioned HWE, it was already mentioned. Sorry for this mistake.

[UnderConstruction]

Regarding Uncle Fester's Home Workshop Explosives...Is this just a mistake on Fester's website, or are there really two fairly different editions of HWE? :confused:

Don't quote whole posts, says nbk2000.

Yes, there is a second edition. This later one is much the same and remains lacking in the aforementioned, in fact he explicitly mentions under the chapter "fun with explosives" that he isn't writing a book about making bombs, which annoys me a little that he would advertise like that. However, I have communicated with him numerous times via email and he's always seemed very sell-oriented.

[Big Mac]

Regarding Uncle Fester:

I purchased a copy of his book "Vest Busters" and have to say, aside from the points about government thugs it really is crap. I actually do own copies of the ACB and PMJB. These were bought when I was still fairly new to the whole concept of homemade toys. I'm not really further in the way of working knowledge but I am wiser for having wasted hard-earned money. The books are interesting in the fact they are classic pieces, albeit crappy ones.

[sobreroHWE]

In all of the criticism of Fester I have yet to see a true review of any of his works. All I have seen here is people saying "I think Fester sucks" or "his books are crap.". This may be the case, but I don't see anyone trying to list specific examples. Are his methods flawed? Amounts? Temps and times? Does he give synth info that works a little or not at all?

I own Home Workshop Explosives, Vest Busters, and Silent Death. And would be happy to point out what mistakes I ( amateur, noob, not a chemist) have found. For example IIRC he says something like 7000 mps VoD is "much greater than C-4" and obvious bullshit like this, that makes me place Fester many notches below COPE or Dr Explosives Engineer whoever with 10 books on the subject. The chemistry skills in SD are way beyond me and so I won't even try on that one, but I have seen similar subjects discussed here.

You might call them crap buy why? Are any other crap book authors chemists by trade? I agree Fester is not a Dr. at Los Alamos, but I have seen his info put to use many times with success.

Begging the question, What defines crap book? Wrong info? Dangerous but workable info? Correct info with typos making it wrong? I would like to think the EW community can provide a greater level of dissection.

[hickey]

Thinking outside the box...we have to remember that many of the members here before they become "experts" actually gleaned lots of information from the stuff that they recently call crap ....:p

Anyway the true measure of competence in many of the subjects that pertains to explosives, poisons,weapons, etc is how you can aptly apply those information to practical use and still come out alive with all of your limbs intact ,and most important still sober to repeat the feat :D

Therefore even if you still have copies of those things (that you call garbage) is not important all...Its No different from the nursery books that we read as a kids, it has its time of usefulness.

[Enkidu]

The crapbooks can serve two purposes. They may spark an interest, or give the reader the idea that there's actually information pertaining to 'our' hobbies out there.

Other than that, they are worthless.

I never learned a damn thing from a crapbook.

[JekyllandHyde]

Quite a few (if not most) of the books written by Ragnar Benson would belong in the crapbook category. Particularly the following:

1. Home and Recreational Use Of High Explosives
2. Homemade Detonators
3. Mantrapping
4. The Modern Survival Retreat - A New and Vital Approach to Retreat Theory and Practice

The reasons behind my labeling these books crapbooks are:

1. Badly written, inaccurate information, too many tall stories
2. Too bloody dangerous! IF the author has ever made these things, then I’ll assume that he is crazy
3. Too many tall tales, but good if one wants to know several ways to swing a big log from a tree
4. I found that this book didn’t so much explain what to do as it did say what others did in the given situation. It is also not very in-depth

Another book that may or may not be considered a crapbook would be “Homemade C4 - A Recipe For Survival.” This book describes how to make an ammonium nitrate based explosive that does work, but it is not C4, nor even aplastic explosive. Another drawback to the recipe given is that nitrobenzene is extremely toxic, dangerous to handle, and hard to obtain. In addition to this ammonium nitrate can only be bought by primary producers in Australia now, and may be hard to obtain depending on ones location.

[sobreroHWE]

A short review of Home Workshop Explosives will show many non-home related items mentioned. For example the first section deals with methyl nitrate. Fester says again and again how dangerous it is and that its production should not be attempted due to it's danger. Yet detailed instructions are nonetheless given. The same goes for the nitromannite section.

The section on AN has a hydrazine recipe in it, which won't be too hard to find at the old mom and pop shop....right?
He goes off for some pages about ways to look like a red neck hill billy with a junk car, in order to buy 55 gal drums of NM.:rolleyes:

He says that looking up glass ware dealers in the phone book will be just fine and not be a problem.
The super dangerous AP is also mentioned as "dangerously unstable", which it may very well be when your cramming it down a pipe with a Q-tip. :eek:

Fester likes to reference alot of patents as well. The entire AN section is patent numbers with his overview. "My friend" has seen some of these actually work, however fester is unclear on VoD and other important aspects. Fester makes reference to other explosives rather than finding a VoD. XYZ is "more powerful than C-4" or whatever is "as powerful as high grade dynamite" or "TNT".

It is nice to see him clown on people that publish acetic anhydride type RDX recipes. He also mentions things like "other pamphleteers say...." and he actually makes fun of Kurt Saxton by name in Silent Death but then says "I really shouldn't make fun of him.." and something to the effect of because he has no chemistry skills.

I also admire his mini rant at the beginning of HWE 2 about how inanimate objects, like explosives, are not the problem. But rather letting our borders get so out of control that we are bombarded with "suicide kamakazies" is a far bigger problem. He goes on about how making harsher laws and restricting more chemicals will only make the evil doers resort to DBSP and pipes, while labeling the truly interested experimenter a "terrorist".

[Charles Owlen Picket]

"Kurt Saxon" -=DID=- blow his fingers off with some energetic crap he fucked around with. That is not necessarily the person I would want to glean advice or information from... I think Steve Preston's still got all his digits.

[Hirudinea]

"Kurt Saxon" -=DID=- blow his fingers off with some energetic crap he fucked around with. That is not necessarily the person I would want to glean advice or information from... I think Steve Preston's still got all his digits.

Gee I don't know, seems to be blowing a few fingers off is a pretty good lesson in lab safety, one you won't likely forget, especially when typing. :D

[Enkidu]

Blaster (IIRC) blew his fingers off; he is experienced in explosives. Sometimes shit happens.

[megalomania]

It is the man who has blown himself up more than once that you should not trust.

[Aristocles]

It is the man who has blown himself up more than once that you should not trust.

:D

Indeed, a classic pearl of wisdom... thus I must steal it for my signature :eek:

[Charles Owlen Picket]

Indeed; I don't feel that beating up on someone for a single fuck-up is productive, either. I have had a mistake in my life as well (but not two of the same). From what I understand it was containerized dry-mix of Armstrong's at the multi-gram level; loss of a thumb and fore finger.

But when everyone and their dog says to be a bit mellow when dealing with chlorate's and red P; mix them in a whetted state; keep the amount small, etc. I can't see how this fellow didn't receive that information prior to his accident....the point being that it's not like he was dealing with an unknown.

Picture the kid who makes up a very large amount of TATP and places it in a glass container with threads prior to a terrible accident....In all honesty, he should have heard many cautions about the material and method of storage previously; no?
"Saxon" had his mishap during a period where access to the internet was primarily a university-level academic exchange, so I doubt he had access to any search engine to learn more. ....I really don't know if that could have been prevented as I don't know this "Kurt Saxon" and how cautious he was.

[Aristocles]

Charles:

From his 1970 Senate Sub Committee Transcript, posted on his website- Saxon=Sisco:

"Mr. ADLERMAN. You, yourself, did experiment a little with explosives?

Mr. Sisco. I certainly did, and I blew the fingers off my left hand. It had nothing to do with the book or anything that would have gone in the book."

I had no idea that the internet was around in any form back then, was it just more like 'networking'?

[Kaydon]

I had no idea that the internet was around in any form back then, was it just more like 'networking'?

In basic terms, it was just a big ole BBS and not much else.

[JekyllandHyde]

All books written by Seymour Lecker are crap. So crap in fact that they are not worthy enough to be used as fire fuel. The following are not even worth reading:

1. Homemade Semtex: C-4's Ugly Sister
2. Deadly Brew: Advanced Improvised Explosives
3. Explosive Dusts: Advanced Improvised Explosives
4. Poor Man's TNT: Improvised Guncotton

The reasons why are:

1. Most of this book is dedicated to describing the chemicals used to make Semtex; In fact only three pages relate to the actual manufacturing of Semtex. Also of concern is the reference list: for a man who is said to have been an explosives expert in the Israeli army he uses very non-academic source material (all of the sources can be obtained through Paladin Press).

2. A list of exotic and difficult to obtain chemicals

3. Another list of exotic and difficult to obtain chemicals. No instructions relating to actually manufacturing an explosive devise

4. Out of this 32-page booklet, less than 250 words relate to the manufacturing of guncotton. As always the book is mostly a list of the characteristics of the chemicals to be used. Questionably source material is also cited in the partial bibliography – experts should be able to do better.

[WWII]

JekyllandHyde, What books do you recommend then ?

[JekyllandHyde]

How about the following:

Chemistry/Pyro

A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents by Jared Ledgard
Blasters Training Manual
Chemistry and Technology of Explosives vol 1-4 by Urbanski
Chemistry of Powder and Explosives by Tenny L Davis
Chemistry of Pyrotechnics-basic principles and theory by John A. Conkling
Do-It-Yourself Gunpowder Cookbook by Don MacLean
High Explosives and Propellants by Fordham
Kings Chemistry Survival Guide by Jared Ledgard
Assorted Nasties by David Harber
The Advanced Anarchist Arsenal by David Harber
The Anarchist Arsenal by David Harber
The Preparatory Manual of Black Powder and Pyrotechnics by Jared Ledgard
The Preparatory Manual of Explosives by Jared Ledgard
The Firecracker Cookbook
Setting Fires with Electrical Timers: An Earth Liberation Front Guide

Weapons

A Do-It-Yourself Submachine Gun
Blowguns – The Breath of Death
Breath of the Dragon
Expedient Homemade Firearms The Submachine Gun
Field Expedient Hand Grenades
Home Workshop Firearms Vol 2 - The Pistol
Home Workshop Firearms Vol3 - The .22 Machine Pistol
Home Workshop Firearms Vol4 - The 9mm Machine Pistol
Home Workshop Firearms Vol5 - The AR15 - M16
How to Build Flash/Stun Grenades
Submachine Gun Designers Handbook

Medical

Ditch Medicine
Emergency War Surgery
Where There is No Dentist
Where There Is No Doctor - A Village Health Care Handbook

Combat

Bloody Brazilian Knife Fighting Techniques by Uncle Fester
Invisible Advantage - Ghillie Suit Construction Made Simple
Medieval Swordsmanship by John Clements
Put 'em Down, Take 'em Out
Renaissance Swordsmanship by John Clements
Small Unite Night Fighter Manual
The Secrets of Street Self-Defence
U.S. Army Special Forces Caching Techniques (Hiding & Storing Stuff Safely)

Survival

Life after Doomsday by Bruce Clayton
The Individual's Guide for Understanding and Surviving Terrorism
Wilderness Evasion A Guide To Hiding Out and Eluding Pursuit
The Household Cyclopedia

Locksmithing

Complete Guide To Lockpicking by Eddie the Wire
Home Workshop Professional Lock Tools by Eddie the Wire

Miscellaneous

Amateur Rocket Motor Construction by David Sleeter
Basic Armouring - A Practical Introduction to Armour Making
Build Your Own Combat Robot
Home Distillation Handbook
Making Gin & Vodka - A Professional Guide for Amateur Distil
Making Pure Corn Whiskey - A Professional Guide for Amateur
Pattern-Welded Blade
Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warefare
Mini Manual of the Urban Guerrilla

Criticisms and reviews of these books are more than welcome.

[Rbick]

Wow, thats an incredible amount of books. I had no idea there where actaully that many being circulated. I noticed the same authors for quite a few of them. I'm assuming scum like this get together occasionally and scheme on how to make the k3wlest sounding books to rip off 14 year old kids that make their parents buy it for them. Later checking into the ER when they blow their face off with flash powder or to reattach fingers after practicing "Brazilian Knife Fighting Techniques" in their room.

I can predict one of the upcoming books: How to make Nuclear warheads with common household chemicals! -Uncle Fester

Sounds funny, but I bet there are dumb asses out there that would buy it...

[BlackFalcoN]

Wow, thats an incredible amount of books. I had no idea there where actaully that many being circulated. I noticed the same authors for quite a few of them. I'm assuming scum like this get together occasionally


I think he wasn't actually recommending them all as 'crapbooks', since there are actually quite a few books in there I would label as 'thrustworthy'.

I wouldn't declare authors such as Tenny L Davis (COPAE), Urbanski, etc as scum, since those people actually seem knowledgeable in their fields. [then again, I don't have a PhD in explosive chemistry, so I can't comment on the fine details, but their synthesis have been quoted quite a few times over here and other places]

On the other side, I have seldomly seen a reliable book that had 'survival chemistry', 'anarchist' or 'secret techniques' in their titles... :D

I think the list JekyllandHyde provided is a mixed bag.
Some I would label little gems of knowledge, most of them are just repeating what is already written by others or give you 100 different variations on the same flawed idea.

Still, even a crapbook can be fun to read to point out the gross errors made by the author, or to come up with your own ideas while reading it.

A good guideline is to look at the legal disclaimer most authors provide in their books. If they remind you several times that everything you'll read is purely for educational purposes and entertainment value, and strongly discourage to recreate their "forbidden knowledge" then chances are you are dealing with a crapbook since real scientists don't really care if your incompetence gets you killed. Scientists report on facts of nature and scientific principles & theories. Crapbook authors speculate on the readers imagination and the 'coolness factor' of their work, cashing in on half-assed techniques that COULD work with a lot of imagination [plays McGyver themesong] and current 'hot topics'.

Reflect on what is written, absorb knowledge from knowledgeable sources, but always use your own brain when putting written words into practice...

[Aristocles]

JekyllandHyde, What books do you recommend then ?

He was asked that question after posting this:

All books written by Seymour Lecker are crap. So crap in fact that they are not worthy enough to be used as fire fuel. The following are not even worth reading:

1. Homemade Semtex: C-4's Ugly Sister
2. Deadly Brew: Advanced Improvised Explosives
3. Explosive Dusts: Advanced Improvised Explosives
4. Poor Man's TNT: Improvised Guncotton

The reasons why are:

1. Most of this book is dedicated to describing the chemicals used to make Semtex; In fact only three pages relate to the actual manufacturing of Semtex. Also of concern is the reference list: for a man who is said to have been an explosives expert in the Israeli army he uses very non-academic source material (all of the sources can be obtained through Paladin Press).

2. A list of exotic and difficult to obtain chemicals

3. Another list of exotic and difficult to obtain chemicals. No instructions relating to actually manufacturing an explosive devise

4. Out of this 32-page booklet, less than 250 words relate to the manufacturing of guncotton. As always the book is mostly a list of the characteristics of the chemicals to be used. Questionably source material is also cited in the partial bibliography – experts should be able to do better.

Clearly, that list was his retort. He proffers the list above as his response to being asked to make a list.

Urbanski, in the same league as Uncle Fester? :)

[DaedalusX]

Almost all silencers books were pieces of shit. The only accurate books I've ever read of the subject were the "Silencer History and Performance" serie.

[Rbick]

Yeah some of those mentioned are ok. I was referring to Uncle Fester, Seymour Lecker, ect. It really astounds me how many of these types of books there are and that people actually buy them. And "The Advanced Anarchist Arsenal"? Are you kidding me? It sounds soooo k3wl.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

I agree deeply with that. Having enjoyed reading history when younger the term "Anarchy" means something different to me than some childish jackass dancing in a Mosh-pit. Books with that term in the title are an instant red-flag.

On the other hand worked published in the late 18th century through the 1930's contain very valuable information. Testing by the USBoM are often invaluable; particularly those earlier works in the 19th century as they contain many reactions that are possible with simple lab equipment [compared to those of the present era].

[Charlie Workman]

"On the other side, I have seldomly seen a reliable book that had 'survival chemistry', 'anarchist' or 'secret techniques' in their titles... :D"



Actually, the original title of Anarchist Arsenal was "Infernal Machines". Advanced AA, I don't recall. Guerrilla's Arsenal was untitled, since they were just going to change it anyway. Paladin wanted "catchier" titles, and since they do the publishing, they won the argument. Their editors like to put their "touches" into books. The original AA had over forty errors edited in that were not in the original manuscript. It's funny to see an incendiary referred to as an explosive. Nice folks, but a bit heavy handed. Improvised Landmines and Assorted Nasties are the titles the author originally gave those books.

I didn't see any on the list I would classify as "crapbooks". Some are exceptionally good books. Some are just ok, and I don't know about the knife fighting books. Most I've seen have been retreads of Styers and Fairbairn.

The ELF timer book is very well written. The author has obviously done their homework as well as field testing.

[aikon]

"



...Actually, the original title of Anarchist Arsenal was "Infernal Machines". Advanced AA, I don't recall. Guerrilla's Arsenal was untitled, since they were just going to change it anyway. Paladin wanted "catchier" titles, and since they do the publishing, they won the argument. Their editors like to put their "touches" into books. The original AA had over forty errors edited in that were not in the original manuscript. It's funny to see an incendiary referred to as an explosive. Nice folks, but a bit heavy handed. Improvised Landmines and Assorted Nasties are the titles the author originally gave those books....
testing.

Where did you get these information?
What kind of errors do you mean in the AA book?
Can go go into more detail please. I did some research about David Harber but I wasn't able to find anything about or how to contact him.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

There was only one "knife fighting" book that ever made any sense to me or that I would ever consider paying for for that matter. I would keep Fairbairn, et al and whatever if I could get 1st editions as I enjoy collecting books but the only "knife fighting" book I ever read that makes sense and is worth reading for the material was Don Pentacost's book on edged weapon's usage in a prison. Basically everything in that book was logical and workable. I was surprised when I read it as I thought no one would put these things down on paper.

[Defendu]

I would keep Fairbairn, et al and whatever if I could get 1st editions as I enjoy collecting books but the only "knife fighting" book I ever read that makes sense and is worth reading for the material was Don Pentacost's book on edged weapon's usage in a prison.

I once read on another forum that Don Pentecost didn't want to title his book "Knife Fighting Techniques from Folsom Prison". Pentecost had a manuscript on both unarmed and knife fighting, but Paladin wanted to sell it as "prison" knife fighting.
This is the only good explanation I've heard for why a book on "knife fighting techniques from Folsom Prison" teaches a fighting stance, but doesn't teach how to stab people in their sleep.

[WWII]

The inmates have a " blanket party " where they throw the blanket over the un-suspecting victim sleeping then he is trapped and can't defend himself while homemade shivs plunge into him then once he rips the holes from the blanket then he will want to get up and fight, they just grab his arms and legs then he is immoblized by physical force.

I guess they finish him off with the homemade shiv knives. It does not just happen at bed time, they could have a bedsheet folded under a library cart then they throw it over the unsuspecting victim and wrap him around then stab him like that right there in the daytime in prison.

I have a friend who is a prison guard and goes to work everyday in a state prison he said it is not a very nice place to be. Pretty cold stuff. It isn't like what the movies show.

It has been said that in prison there are a thousand different ways to kill a man. They grind glass with a kitchen rolling dough tool then put it in his food and he slowly dies a painful stomach death. Much more gruesome stuff goes on the inside than we will ever know about. :eek:

Anyways, the books with Fairbairn, Sykes and Applegate in their first editions are worth keeping and they command a high price for a first edition. I have some of their books. Very historical books and makes for good reading.

[Bugger]

And that is probably after the poor inmate ended up in jail as the result of being framed by corrupt Pigs desperate to obtain promotion, either for alleged offenses they did not commit, or for much more serious offenses than what they really did commit. And as the result of harsher and harsher sentences being passed into law by corrupt politicians for cheap vote-catching, and because they have been bribed by the jail construction firms, security firms, and electronics and clothing manufacturers, who stand to gain from there being large jail populations.

[Rbick]

Something rather amusing was mentioned in my EMT class today. My instructor was telling us about Uncle Fester and how many patients we see resulting from idiots playing around with stuff found in his books. My instructor also said he attempted to purchase one of his books, so he could use it in class as an example of the types of idiots and the injuries we would be dealing with. When they asked for his personal information, he decided against it. I didn't realize the pigs were watching his (Uncle Fester's) work so closely... It seems like a lost cause, since anyone actually trying the shit in his books are either too dumb to understand chemistry to the slightest degree or comprehend the English language all that well.

I also found out that Uncle Fester lives very close to me. I may pay him a visit. A nice punch to the face would probably suffice, and maybe a book burning demonstration of all his crap in his front lawn.

[Big Mac]

I don't know about punching Fester in the face. At least the man is thinning out the retards of the world. I own several of those crap books. After reading them, I realized that either I was scientifically stunted (not possible, since I enjoy science more than any other subject) or these guys were just full of shit. Money wasted but experience gained in the realization that these things must be considered with more caution.

+++++++++++++

Stop quoting whole posts! There is no need to quote an entire post when your replying to the last post in a thread. If this conitinues you will be given seven days of "time-out" to think about why it pisses us off so much.

[Rbick]

Yeah they're full of shit. The books are great for a good laugh though. I wouldn't feel too guilty, I think we can all say we had a stage of being a newb, maybe some more extreme than others :D I remember when I found totse, back when I was 14 I think. At the time, it seemed like good information, until I tried one of the methods and nearly started my house on fire. That taught me a lesson I followed for the rest of my life. Its ok to make one mistake, but shame on you if you do it again!

[megalomania]

I just read that blurb about Kurt Saxon testifying before a Senate Committee, and my first reaction was to be a little envious. That is of course not a logical desire to have :) While looking for more info about his testimony I arrived at Kurt’s website where I found this wonderful article that very accurately sums up crapbooks. He might ramble on a little too much about super glue in the middle, but he gives a good overview of the kinds of books (and book sellers) that we call crapbooks.

I think the quintessential argument that Saxon makes about what defines a crapbook is crapbooks are written by an author who does not care if the material is wrong, and markets the book to people who don’t know any better.

From http://www.kurtsaxon.com/controv012.htm

Beware Unscrupulous Book Dealers
By Kurt Saxon

Several years ago when I began getting a lot of publicity warning of civilization coming apart, a particularly corrupt branch of the sucker-book field was established. The "suckers" these books are directed at are those who know things are bad and are getting worse.

To such book dealers as Delta/Desert, Paladin Press, Loompanics Unlimited and Butokukai, those who would prepare for an uncertain future are fair game. They reasoned that since this class of suckers was only fantasizing, it was all right to just feed those fantasies.

They needed no real knowledge, accuracy was unnecessary and any material which could be passed off as secret, underground, classified or dangerous was sucker-bait. Books on destructive devices are falsely advertised as CIA, Frankford Arsenal, real super stuff! Most of their material on improvised weaponry is not CIA, etc., but simply from military manuals.

Actually, I already have all the better material from the military manuals in the Poor Man's James Bond series. What they advertise as real Terminator material is mostly what I rejected as uninteresting or impractical in light of better methods. But this same uninteresting, unimportant and impractical material can still be sold to suckers. Then there is that material written by ignorant jerks who don't know their subjects and couldn't sell their material to ethical publishers. But if it reads well to a child, the suckers will buy it.

Other books, or booklets, as most of them really are, are just plain silly. Like Desert's "Improvised Batteries and Detonating Devices." This is a hodgepodge of impractical information, some even unrelated to the title. Page 2 has "GELS: Oil Gelation in automobile engines causes permanent damage to moving parts due to oil starvation. The most successful gelling agent among those tested is N-coco-y-hydroxybutyramide. This substance can be added to the engine oil pre-synthesized, or it can be formed in situ by the reaction between coco amine and butyrolactone.

"A Polyacrylamide gelling agent was used to completely gal an automobile engine cooling system."

Why would the scientist who could understand that and get it, be messing with people's car engines? I've never heard of it. But the clincher is that the stuff doesn't work before 18 or more hours.

The parts on batteries are extremely technical and require a much higher education in chemistry and electronics than the line soldier or average man possesses. It was not tailored for just anyone who can read, as books on anything improvised should be. In short, unless you have a really good background in science and have access to materials even I would find hard to get, the booklet is worthless.

Another example is "Improvised Munitions Black Book Vol. 3." Pages 13-15 describe a grenade made up of a short piece of pipe threaded on both ends and capped. It is filled with dry potassium chlorate, sulphur and ball bearings and will explode on impact. The reader is cautioned not to use it after five days. Bad!

When Sulphur is exposed to oxygen, molecules of sulfuric acid are formed which can explode potassium chlorate. Pure sulphur doesn't react spontaneously with potassium chlorate.

Pure sulphur is that which has not been exposed to the air. Raw sulphur is burned and the fumes are condensed in a large hood The "flowers of sulphur" are scraped off and packaged airtight when meant for fireworks or explosives makers. They know it has not been exposed to air. But how do you know the sulphur you are using has not been exposed to air for who knows how long before being packaged as garden sulphur or for uses other than for explosives?

It is still fine for gunpowder or most any fireworks not using dry potassium chlorate. Still, you do not know if it is dangerous for a grenade, even if you have just opened the package. The device is stupid and extremely dangerous to it's maker. At any rate, never mix dry sulphur with dry potassium chlorate.

That book is filled with seemingly clever items but hard to get ingredients. It is dangerous, impractical and filled with overly complicated processes.

Then there is Paladin's "Hit Man". I think the writer meant to discourage any reader from actually hurting anyone. The main emphasis is on not getting caught, making the hit man so paranoid and overly cautious that the job would never get done. If anyone tries to kill me, I hope he goes by that book.

A real clunker is "The Anarchist Cookbook". It's author was a real anarchist and just wanted to cause trouble. But he had no knowledge of the material. The book is a mishmash of useless formulas and outdated weaponry. Also, he filled about half the book with instructions for making drugs. Weapons and drugs don't mix and any reader would have to be high on LSD to be stupid enough to shoot a molotov cocktail from a shotgun.

I read the silly book years ago and reasoned that if anyone could sell such trash I could do better. So I wrote the Poor Man's James Bond. The rest is history.

Now for the Ninja books. Lies grown from myths. If you want to be a ninja warrior I'll tell you what to do. Take off your shoes and socks, put a bag over your head and bounce off your walls for at least an hour per session.

After a few sessions you will be as good at ninja as anyone who has ever depended on those idiotic ninja books to learn martial arts.

You don't learn martial arts by reading. Get with a buddy and practice the moves and holds of the Ju-Jitsu and the Army Marine hand-to-hand combat in PMJB 1 and U.S. Militia A few week's practice in your spare time will make you more than a match for any undisciplined punk you meet.

But if you want to go on to make martial arts a part of your life, you will have to join a karate, kung-fu or tae-kwon-do school near you. In the real world of martial arts it is instruction by a professional and practice, not fantasizing through books written for suckers.

Then there are the detective books for super spies and secret squirrels. I challenge anyone to find a real private investigator who got his start by reading even the best of those books. If that is your interest, look up "Private Investigator" in your phone book and visit a real private detective.

It is mainly drudgery, not really romantic and very down-to-earth. The person you talk to will tell you the real way to become a detective and he may hire and train you if you are needed. If he is a good guy, and he probably is, he will set you straight one way or the other.

Then there are the lock-picking books. Think. If you want to get in someplace, isn't it easier to kick in the door, break a panel, jimmy a window? Of course, your fantasy is to pick a lock, enter and get valuable papers and leave without anyone knowing you were there. How many books, how many sets of lock picks will you buy and how many hours of practice on your own common locks will you waste learning this useless pursuit.

Several years ago I took a locksmithing course I saw advertised in Popular Mechanics. The first lesson showed how to make a key for one of those locks made up of layers of metal. The idea was to hold a blank key over a candle and cover it with soot. When the key was pushed in the lock and twisted the insides would take off the soot at the right points. After using a thin, flat file to file those places, the key would open the lock. It worked.

The second lesson came with a practice lock and I learned about it but it was too involved. Since I didn't really want to be a professional locksmith I sent the lessons back, telling them I didn't want back what I had paid but I didn't want any more.

If you are serious and want to be a locksmith, get a professional course as I did. By the time you have finished it you will be a locksmith. You can set yourself up or hire out to an established locksmith. Other than this, it is just silliness.

Now about those revenge books. Some of the ideas are clever but too few are practical to make the books worth their cost. You could get the same quality of practical jokes and dirty tricks by inviting a few guys over to kill a keg of beer.

While researching my article on Clarence's visit to Washington I learned the glories of Super-Glu. Treat your enemy's car and door locks to a squirt of liquid Super-Glu. Fifteen seconds and the lock has to be replaced. Just think of the possibilities. And it is available in most stores and supermarkets.

Choose your victim. While at work, find his car and Super-Glu his locks. Then while he is deciding to break a window to crawl through or call someone to take a door off, you drive to his home and Super-Glu his door locks.

This would be an awful way to treat a guy but you could turn his life around, undetected, with one small tube of glue. A tube of such glue could also disrupt businesses of all kinds as they couldn't open up in the morning.

For a pure practical joke with Super-Glu, follow your victim around until he sits down. Of course, this would mean going with him to a bar for drinks or to a restaurant, or in the office as you accompany him to his desk. Naturally, this would mean he is not a blood enemy. Of course, you don't want him to make the connection of you being nearby when it happened. But you've got fifteen seconds, remember?

A few seconds before you know he is going to sit down, squirt some Super-Glu on the seat. It is thin and there wouldn't be enough of it for him to feel through his pants, maybe even his shorts, to get up. Imagine and enjoy.

Super-Glu is terrible stuff. In Houston, a woman couldn't get the top off a tube she had used. She put the cap in her mouth to hold it tight so she could twist it better. The tube split and it squirted all over her lips. She had to go to the emergency ward where they actually slit her lips open with a scalpel. Super-Glu is not be fooled with.

If you have any good practical jokes or dirty tricks you know would work and are not complicated, send them in.

Getting back to the subject of bad books--the titles and categories I have listed are not exceptions, they are typical. You are safest by not buying anything at all from dealers who will sell such books, regardless of whatever else they sell. A Canadian who called said he had bought a bunch of books from Paladin Press and was so angry and disappointed he threw them away. I would have sent them back.

You ought to realize that the people who publish such trash don't care if the books are inaccurate. They rely on your lack of understanding to make you think you just bought something you were not ready for.

There are two reasons you may not understand a book you get from such dealers. The book may be good but very technical. Of course, the ad for it leads you to believe it was written just for you That is deceptive advertising.

You may buy the book and decide to study up on the subject later. It is unlikely but you might. But what if the book was written by some phony who counts on you to think you are too dumb to understand it, when actually, you do not understand it because it simply doesn't make any sense? If you don't realize this, you may be in danger. This can come about when you think you have what you need on a subject only to find out it is garbage when you or your friends use it. That is too late.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

After reading that I just got this picture in my mind from contemporary committee hearings of Kurt Saxon testifying (before a Senate Committee): ..."Senator's, let me introduce a man who's sulfur has not been exposed to air and who's super-glue is always ready...Mr. Kurt Saxon".... < applause from the senators >

[teshilo]

Crapbooks...Idiots who read only HWE manual not additional literature like good chemistry textbooks got only pain and death...Example: Bromine can be preparation from reaction H2SO4+NaBr+KMn2O4 ,common household items. If you dont see trap, mixe all and shaked:):)As resoult you got small boom and drops of acid on face...

[Charlie Workman]

Where did you get these information?
What kind of errors do you mean in the AA book?
Can go go into more detail please. I did some research about David Harber but I wasn't able to find anything about or how to contact him.

I used to do tech editing for Paladin, though I didn't edit AA. Seymour Lecker did that! At least for the first book, then they realized he was outclassed. Either I or Don Maclean edited the boom books after that. Most of the errors were silly little things, such as the calling an incendiary an explosive I previously mentioned or an incorrect sequence. Don't remember off the top of my head. Most were easy things to spot, for someone who knows the material, which he did. They were corrected after the first printing, for the most part. I have a copy of the original manuscript around here somewhere.

You won't find anything about him on the net. He stays out of the spotlight as much as possible. He may be having a new book or books coming out in the next year or so. Don't know if Paladin or Desert will be publishing them. No more boom books, though. Their time has passed as a regularly published item. I've heard one will be a "special weapons" book. With detailed instructions, as usual.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

Legard, who has now written quite a few books on energetic materials (all the Preparatory MANUAL stuff and a few others) has taken to having LULU do the printing. LULU is NOT a publisher. It's just a "buy-the-order" printer. Since he got a company called "Paranoia" to actually publish the Preparatory Manual series for the 1st and 2nd edition; he got some backlash. He did a couple on explosives (now in the 3rd edition!), one on chemical weapons (which generated the most reaction) and one on narcotics (I actually think he's a cook or once was) and a few others

So when you get a New book from Legard; that was printed individually now from LULU....there is no more "Paranoia Publishing". There was such a fuss over his quoting patent numbers that were inaccurate that he pushed his 3rd edition of PMoE out with a few new explosives in it - but more to get the patents more accurately written out. I don't know the guy, but he seems like an interesting fellow.

[aikon]

...He may be having a new book or books coming out in the next year or so. Don't know if Paladin or Desert will be publishing them. No more boom books, though. Their time has passed as a regularly published item. I've heard one will be a "special weapons" book. With detailed instructions, as usual.

Thank you for your 'inside story' about Paladin Press.
I am glad to hear that Mr. Harber will publish other books in the future.
I'll definitely buy them.

[WWII]

Charlie Workman, I am curious which Paladin Press books are of high quality and very good. I am looking at the military science, wilderness survival and a couple another things related to the TSHTF scenario and how to live off the land. Thank you.

[Charlie Workman]

Charlie Workman, I am curious which Paladin Press books are of high quality and very good. I am looking at the military science, wilderness survival and a couple another things related to the TSHTF scenario and how to live off the land. Thank you.

It's hard to say without knowing exactly which ones you are interested in. When I worked with them I got a 50% discount on their books, so I got a lot of them I probably wouldn't have gotten anyway, me being the cheap bastard that I am.

Any of the early Ragnar classics are great on TSHTF subjects. He wrote some later that were of mild interest. Let me know what you want to get and if I've read it, I'll give my opinion. I still get their new catalogs, but other than check to see if anyone I know has a new title, I don't usually read them any more. They are boring since they got sued.