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Absinthe & Flamethrowers: Projects and Ruminations on the Art of Living Dangerously |  | Author: William Gurstelle
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $9.19
as of 9/4/2010 09:03 CDT details
You Save: $7.76 (46%)
New (37) Used (14) from $9.18
Seller: backpack_books
Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 20134
Media: Paperback
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5
ISBN: 1556528221
Dewey Decimal Number: 155.232
EAN: 9781556528224
ASIN: 1556528221
Publication Date: June 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9781556528224 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
A Selection of the Scientific American Book Club Want to add more excitement to your life? This daring combination of science, history, and DIY projects will show you how. Written for smart risk takers, it explores why danger is good for you and details the art of living dangerously. Risk takers are more successful, more interesting individuals who lead more fulfilling lives. Unlike watching an action movie or playing a video game, real-life experience changes a person, and Gurstelle will help you discover the true thrill of making black powder along with dozens of other edgy activities. All of the projectsâfrom throwing knives, drinking absinthe, and eating fugu to cracking a bull whip, learning bartitsu, and building a flamethrowerâhave short learning curves, are hands-on and affordable, and demonstrate true but reasonable risk. With a strong emphasis on safety, each potentially life-altering project includes step-by-step directions, photographs, and illustrations along with troubleshooting tips from experts in the field.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
 Nothing new, more for kids April 16, 2010
Bean Slap (COLORADO)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Wow, with a titled like "Absinthe and flamethrowers" I had high hopes for this book. I love tinkering books (especially when they talk about building flamethrowers) and hoped this book would be something like Gurstelles "Backyard Ballistics" mixed with the innovative and creativity of Kaden Harris's "Eccentric Cubicle." This definitely lacks in that area. The beginning half of the book is filled with a page-taking boring questionaire about 'how dangerous you are.' The flamethrower project you can get online and make one that are even portable from various maker sites. Also, only an idiot would make absinthe at home. Good way to poison yourself. I bought mine illegally from Amsterdam for $100 bucks-with the thujone (which makes it illegal in U.S. because its a marijuana derivative). Other ideas read blandly and boringly and one could learn from a book actually dedicated to the subjects. For example, on knife throwing. The instructions read childishly and seem hokey. Get a book dedicated to the subject rather than this one. Overall I had high hopes for a book with absinthe and flamethrowers in the title, but was let down. This is more a book for teenagers not adults who want alot more substance and daring projects given with more elaboration and investment.
LOL to the guy that says this is a dangerous book "for men" (not to mention how childishly sexist that is). Dont think he is one if he thinks that. This is for kids.
 And, this guy has an engineering degree? February 26, 2010
Childhoodsend (Sacramento, California)
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
1. First of all contrary to the statement in the above book, history's most powerful rocket the Von Braun team's Saturn 5 booster was NOT a solid fuel rocket. As a matter of fact as correctly stated in the above book it was the Caltech Parsons team that pioneered Solid Fuel rockets.
2. Yes Parsons was eccentric but, mostly he was simply an engineering pioneer that like most pioneers can be recognized by the knife in the back... and ridicule by fools. If you really want to know what one of the original Rocket Scientists was all about find (in amazon.com) "Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons" and find out how the scientific/engineering world REALLY works...
childhoodsend
Disappointingly un-dangerous February 14, 2010
Joseph Parks
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The projects in this book may be considered dangerous at the nunnery, but certainly not to anyone who picks up the book looking for what its front and back covers suggest it can offer. I go to sea for days at a time catching and tagging some of the biggest sharks in the ocean and may be slightly biased as I fall beyond the "golden third" (median to one standard deviation above in a scale of having a risk takers mindset) but come on. There's actually a section titled "how to drive fast". I was topping speeds of 110 at age 15 and I'm guessing anyone else who feels compelled to drive fast has already done so without the aid of a book. He also has a section on how to smoke! How daring. In fact, any of the activities that interested me such as building homemade rockets, throwing knives, and making smoke bombs I have already gotten my fill of in high school.
The notes on saftey bored me to tears.
I wanted to distill my own absinthe and build a flamethrower. However the book only dabbles on the history of Absinthe, how to drink it and what seperates the good from the bad. Good information, but now what I was looking for. The flamethrower he constructs seems to me like a totally lame waste of time and money. It in no way resembles the one on the cover and is basically an oversized, fixed, propane torch.
I do have to give it a second star maybe even a third because I enjoyed reading the non-project related sections and the benefits of taking risks. I couldn't have agreed more. And the projects may give you some real excitement if you've been a total wuss your whole life.
 Reasonable Danger January 25, 2010
TK
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Last summer I saw the New York Times rave review of this book, and as a longtime fan of "Backyard Ballistics" I have really been looking forward to the read. Gurstelle's new book is like "Backyard Ballistics" with philosophy and style. It's great. And I don't think it really matters if you plan on making gunpowder, building any of these contraptions, or digesting any of these edibles -- you can stay in your armchair, away from your garage, and still love taking this tour of dangerous living. (For those on the adventurous side: great instructions, plenty of photos, clear diagrams, and, yes, flamethrowers.)
 Great if you Skip some chapters December 17, 2009
I. M. Barndt (Kenai Alaska)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The beginning of this book is great as I am not much for the psychology of things. I found this interesting and after I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps found that my risk taking was off the chart. The projects are cool but if you are into Make or Instructables you will already know how to do all the projects. The book is well written and fun to read but like other reviews to much about safety, I skipped those sections and cigarette smoking, really? How about Cigar's risk takers smoke cigars. A section about how to identify a good cigar, different kinds, history, how they are made, or even how to hand roll one would have made this book a definite winner, then add a whisky section with the absinthe and compare the two. I like Absinthe, and buy a case every time I go to France, but Absinthe is like having a Latte while sitting in a café and whisky is good black coffee at a truck stop diner both are good and would add to the overall experience of the book. Now revise the book, adding these sections and taking away safety and cigs and you are going to have a classic.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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