[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anarchist Cookbook (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 11/5/2009 6:37:48 AM EDT
|
Anyone here ever read this book? I think the book is banned now. I've always been interested in finding a copy just to see what the hype is all about. |
|
Quoted:
Anyone here ever read this book? I think the book is banned now. I've always been interested in finding a copy just to see what the hype is all about. Well, you got the "hype" part correct. Its all hype. 100%. Spend four hours randomly surfing Wiki or the Outdoor Forum for a better result. |
|
Quoted:
Anyone here ever read this book? I think the book is banned now. I've always been interested in finding a copy just to see what the hype is all about. Books can get banned? What country do you live in? I read it perhaps 25 years ago. Interesting to read as a teenager, but never tried any of the recipes from the book (which is a good thing, as many are flawed/dangerous). If you want to read it, you can always order it on Amazon. It may be out of print, but it certainly isn't banned. |
| If you are interested in that type of stuff there are far better resources available. The A.C. is extremely dangerous. Most of the "recipes" will blow up in your face. Some of the things are interesting, but all most none of it is safe to try. The stuff about what you used to be able to do with phonelines is actually pretty cool. It is easy to find a copy via google. |
|
Quoted:
Anyone here ever read this book? I think the book is banned now. I've always been interested in finding a copy just to see what the hype is all about. Yeah I did as a teen. The napalm and match-head bombs worked well..... or at least thats what some freinds told me. 
|
|
Banned? You can get copies off of Amazon.co.uk! Worst. Ban. Ever. A google search should bring up hundreds of online and pdf versions.
Anyway, 99% of it is pure grade A bullshit or misses out information that most people would consider fairly important. Stuff like "mix the two thoroughly. By the way, if you use a metal spoon to do the mixing, the thing will explode in your face". |
|
My brother and I bought a copy when we were in school (early 90's). Good to read and pretend you know something. Do Not, I repeat, DO NOT, try to make the Molotov cocktail launcher with a big dowel stick, 12 gauge with shot removed and a glass bottle. Just trust me. |
|
Quoted:
I had a copy in high school (1986) and even then I knew most of the stuff in there was either wrong or dangerous. It's kind of fun to read, however. I saw a softcopy once upon a time but I don't remember if I downloaded it or not I remember in the 80's when people believed when you bought a copy of it, you went on "a list" 
I miss the 80's. Badly. 
|
|
That was way too easy. 
|
|
Quoted:
If you are interested in that type of stuff there are far better resources available. The A.C. is extremely dangerous. Most of the "recipes" will blow up in your face. Some of the things are interesting, but all most none of it is safe to try. The stuff about what you used to be able to do with phonelines is actually pretty cool. It is easy to find a copy via google. A lot of the phone (Phreaking) stuff is still possible in certain areas. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
I had a copy in high school (1986) and even then I knew most of the stuff in there was either wrong or dangerous. It's kind of fun to read, however. I saw a softcopy once upon a time but I don't remember if I downloaded it or not I remember in the 80's when people believed when you bought a copy of it, you went on "a list"
I miss the 80's. Badly. Dude, you got put on "the list" as soon as you clicked on this thread. 
ETA: Crap. 
|
|
Quoted:
My brother and I bought a copy when we were in school (early 90's). Good to read and pretend you know something. Do Not, I repeat, DO NOT, try to make the Molotov cocktail launcher with a big dowel stick, 12 gauge with shot removed and a glass bottle. Just trust me.  
|
|
Quoted: This.Quoted: Anyone here ever read this book? I think the book is banned now. I've always been interested in finding a copy just to see what the hype is all about. Well, you got the "hype" part correct. Its all hype. 100%. Spend four hours randomly surfing Wiki or the Outdoor Forum for a better result. While the stuff in there is not outright BS, most of it is old and essentially worthless. You can get some things the way it says (chemicals and such), but at such crappy purity and in so low yields that it is of no practical value. |
|
From what I've heard, and the bits and pieces I've read on the internet, it's full of inaccurate and sometimes dangerous advice. Basically written by someone who doesn't really know what they're doing, but got the idea of how do do things from bits and pieces all over.
EDITED TO ADD: You WILL be bits and pieces all over if you follow the book's instructions. |
|
"Unfortunately, the book continues to be in print and with the advent of the Internet several websites dealing with it have emerged. I want to state categorically that I am not in agreement with the contents of The Anarchist Cookbook and I would be very pleased (and relieved) to see its publication discontinued. I consider it to be a misguided and potentially dangerous publication which should be taken out of print.
William Powell" The author's own words, 40 years later. |
|
It was written by a dimwit for dimwits.
My grandfather was the first person I knew who owned a copy. He was a cop, emergency bureau and bomb squad. Stopped in on the book section of a department store he frequented. He knew the manager. Saw the Anarchist Cookbook for sale in the store, sometime in the 60's or early 70's I'd guess, and flipped through it some. When he saw what it was, he brought it to the manager and showed him. The manager had no idea, pulled the book from the shelves, and sent my grandfather home with a copy for his trouble. It's not "banned" either, there's no law against buying, selling, or owning it. The restrictions you see on it's availability primarily reflect the personal or corporate values of the vendors who choose to carry it or not. What it is though, is a collection of poorly written, poorly researched, and frequently dangerous "recipes". The stuff you want to explode likely will not, and the stuff you don't want to explode may very well. It might be an interesting read in terms of it's counterculture and historical aspects, but it is not anything like reliable information. |
|
Quoted:
I did spend a bit of time trying to find a source for red fuming nitric acid. No luck I figured out how to make that stuff just with a little ordinary internet research. Not especially easy to make unless you have the right tools (which I don't), but not too hard either. By the way - a drop on the skin will create a deep burn that takes a month to fully heal in under ten seconds. Ask me how I know 
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
If you are interested in that type of stuff there are far better resources available. The A.C. is extremely dangerous. Most of the "recipes" will blow up in your face. Some of the things are interesting, but all most none of it is safe to try. The stuff about what you used to be able to do with phonelines is actually pretty cool. It is easy to find a copy via google. A lot of the phone (Phreaking) stuff is still possible in certain areas. Not anywhere in North America. The last mechanical crossbar switch was pulled out of the polar northern reaches of Canuckistan some years back. There haven't been any in operation in the US since '99 or so. Most of the payphone scamming info was out of date by '75, though some red box susceptible payphones lasted through the mid-90's. Once they went digital, the tone generators pretty much went the way of the 8-track player. There was a particularly amateurish "cookbook" available on the BBS'es in the 80's and 90s called the "Jolly Roger Cookbook" that had less dated info on phones. It was a collection of ASCII text files. Again, an interesting snapshot of an era's counterculture, but a lot of information dangerous to those that would take it as complete fact. |
|
Quoted:
"Unfortunately, the book continues to be in print and with the advent of the Internet several websites dealing with it have emerged. I want to state categorically that I am not in agreement with the contents of The Anarchist Cookbook and I would be very pleased (and relieved) to see its publication discontinued. I consider it to be a misguided and potentially dangerous publication which should be taken out of print. William Powell" The author's own words, 40 years later. Why ? Is he a member of the Obama administration now ? |
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0962303208/From the AuthorI have recently been made aware of several websites that focus on The Anarchist Cookbook. As the author of the original publication some 30 plus years ago, it is appropriate for me to comment. The Anarchist Cookbook was written during 1968 and part of 1969 soon after I graduated from high school. At the time, I was 19 years old and the Vietnam War and the so-called "counter culture movement" were at their height. I was involved in the anti-war movement and attended numerous peace rallies and demonstrations. The book, in many respects, was a misguided product of my adolescent anger at the prospect of being drafted and sent to Vietnam to fight in a war that I did not believe in. I conducted the research for the manuscript on my own, primarily at the New York City Public Library. Most of the contents were gleaned from Military and Special Forces Manuals. I was not member of any radical group of either a left or right wing persuasion. I submitted the manuscript directly to a number of publishers without the help or advice of an agent. Ultimately, it was accepted by Lyle Stuart Inc. and was published verbatim - without editing - in early 1970. Contrary to what is the normal custom, the copyright for the book was taken out in the name of the publisher rather than the author. I did not appreciate the significance of this at the time and would only come to understand it some years later when I requested that the book be taken out of print. The central idea to the book was that violence is an acceptable means to bring about political change. I no longer agree with this. Apparently in recent years, The Anarchist Cookbook has seen a number of 'copy cat' type publications, some with remarkably similar titles (Anarchist Cookbook II, III etc). I am not familiar with these publications and cannot comment upon them. I can say that the original Anarchist Cookbook has not been revised or updated in any way by me since it was first published. During the years that followed its publication, I went to university, married, became a father and a teacher of adolescents. These developments had a profound moral and spiritual effect on me. I found that I no longer agreed with what I had written earlier and I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the ideas that I had put my name to. In 1976 I became a confirmed Anglican Christian and shortly thereafter I wrote to Lyle Stuart Inc. explaining that I no longer held the views that were expressed in the book and requested that The Anarchist Cookbook be taken out of print. The response from the publisher was that the copyright was in his name and therefore such a decision was his to make - not the author's. In the early 1980's, the rights for the book were sold to another publisher. I have had no contact with that publisher (other than to request that the book be taken out of print) and I receive no royalties. Unfortunately, the book continues to be in print and with the advent of the Internet several websites dealing with it have emerged. I want to state categorically that I am not in agreement with the contents of The Anarchist Cookbook and I would be very pleased (and relieved) to see its publication discontinued. I consider it to be a misguided and potentially dangerous publication which should be taken out of print. William Powell |