Absinthe & Flamethrowers

Customer Reviews

• Dangerous book for Men  Jun 3, 2009 (20 of 22 found this helpful)

  This book is kind of a The Dangerous Book for Boys but for men. It covers a variety of subjects like eating dangerously, making a flame thrower and making gunpowder or your own Absinthe. There is some interesting stuff in it and an important thing to realize about this book is in the title "Projects and Ruminations" It isn't just projects it also talks about various pursuits that are a bit dangerous like eating dangerously or the hottest pepper in the world.
  Plenty of safety warnings and a real focus of the book is on the science/art of doing things in a way that makes dangerous less risky.
  
  This book is definitely not for boys, grownups only.
  What I like most about the book is the variety of resources it gives you on where to get supplies for your projects. And these suppliers and sources vary widely. The author calls this the art of Obtanium.
  
  

• too much gunpowder, not enough Absinthe or Flamethrower  Jun 14, 2009 (27 of 32 found this helpful)

  With a title like "Absinthe and Flamethrowers: Projects and Ruminations on The Art of Living Dangerously," I expected a wider variety of different projects, stunts, and useful information. The Bulk of the book, however, has nothing to do with Absinthe or Flamethrowers, and is devoted largely to making small batches of gunpowder and using it in various ways.
  
  I don't have anything against making or using gunpowder specifically, but with so much space devoted to the chemistry-intensive gunpowder projects, all the other interesting topics like absinthe, zippo tricks, bartitsu, knife-throwing, and bullwhips get significantly less attention.

• Great read, excellent projects!  Jun 3, 2009 (19 of 22 found this helpful)

  Bill Gurstelle is a great maker who takes on ambitious projects and then shares them. This book follows in his great tradition of awesome books that combine great projects with storytelling. Besides being a book that gives you a roadmap for making life more interesting, it's got great projects and Bill's storytelling ability makes it a great read. Even if you want to live the dangerous life from an armchair perspective, you'll love this book! I give this book 5 stars for sheer entertainment value and for inspiring me to live life closer to the edge!

• Blown Away!  Jun 10, 2009 (6 of 7 found this helpful)

  Bill Gurstelle has done it again! This is an amazing, entertaining, disruptive, instructive guide to fun. You could call it the true "Dangerous Ideas For Boys" and Girls book... because Bill shows you how to do all the things Mama told you not to... and makes an exceptionally compelling case for why it is meritorious to do them!
  The New York Times gave the book a glowing review today (June 10, 2009) which was well deserved. Never mind that, Bill taught me how to make a flamethrower ---perfectly safely, I promise :)--- and you can too. We live in an age where disruptive ides are critical to our future. Thank you, Bill! Moms and Dads: Buy the book for your kids! Give them the "license" to invent.

• Seductively titled and conceived, but ultimately disappointing  Sep 14, 2009 (3 of 3 found this helpful)

  I was very excited when I saw this book suggested by Amazon. I read the first few pages online, and was very intrigued. Gurstelle has done his research, for sure. The opening pages discuss psychological theory about thrill seeking individuals, and is very well-written. His explanation about the manufacturing of gun powder seems as informative and cautionary as it should be. But when I got to the chapter about smoking cigarettes, I immediately thought, "Aw man - this is a hoax. I don't need advice about how and when to smoke. This is all about image. It's superficial." And truth be told, it turned me off so much, I haven't bothered to pick it up since I made it a few pages into this chapter. I skimmed the rest of the book, but found nothing that really grabbed me. Learning how and when to appear cool and rebellious is not what attracted me to this book, but if this is what you're looking for, this one might have some good leads.