Steal This Book

This book want to start a revolution. On its day of print caused a riot with critics at the time saying that will be end free speech. This was in the 70s though it's 40 years old yet the old and the age shows.


There are 3 reasons why I like this book.

1 Is the science freak in me who wants to try out the Molotov cocktail to see the explosion

2 Is the mini historian inside me who is fascinated by anything from the Cold War era and would like to compare the techniques used then and if it could be applied to today's world.

3 Is the very small hint of an anarchist who likes to know that if in a riot what helmet to wear and also a comprehensive chart of how to deal with different types of riot sprays.

The book is compelling yet by the end you end up flicking through some of the pages simply because its just reams of contact lists for different towns and places. Which I would love to track down and see if they work.

Also if you wanted to know I didn't actually steal the book because I thought it would be ironic to actually go against the advice of the book.

Elephants on Acid and other bizarre experiments.

The book is a colourful look at some of the most bizarre experiments in history. Its loaded with experiments throughout the ages. Ranging from the morbid to the just simply silly. Some of the experiments seems like common sense but its nice to know that the guys in white lab coats are out there checking and confirming these result especially when you find that the results aren't quite what you thought they would be.

This book does however has a draw back it will for the next few days after reading this it will make you totally unwanted at dinner conversation as you blurt out facts about two headed dogs and how the male turkeys will show mating rituals to a female turkey but also show the same reactions to a female turkey's head on a stick. You will also have the urge to try out some of the experiments yourself on your friends which may get you in trouble as well.

A nice touch to the whole book is that like every good scientific book it references showing how to track the original documents. Which is admittedly is information erotica but its nice to know that if I wanted to track the original papers on synchronising mensurations I could quite easily.

It is also worthy of noting that if you wanted a lighter fluffier version of this book I would recommend The Book of General Ignorance which is made by the writers of my favourite TV show QI. So try QI and then move to this book they both share the same layout but I will say that Elephants on acid will gross you out more.