

Anarchist Cookbook authors hopes for discontinuation (read the author review) - fogus
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0962303208/103-4939988-1526235

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horacegrant
Eh, who cares? So he had a big evangelical moment and saw Jesus, great,
wonderful. This book continues to contain information that can be useful to
people, and this is the same "book-burning" way of thinking that is so
prevalent in conservative religious communities. While the document is
injected with immature content throughout in terms of the motivations for the
activities upon which it instructs, it contains practical knowledge that can
be used for good or evil.

This knowledge cannot and should not be erased because an individual, even the
original author, has concluded that violence is under no circumstance an
acceptable way to prosecute change.

~~~
hugh3
_it contains practical knowledge that can be used for good or evil_

How can said practical knowledge be used for good? In the real world, I mean,
not hypothetical-land? Where do you suggest I should plant my homemade bomb in
order to make the world a better place, really?

You don't have to have a "big evangelical moment" to see that this book's main
contribution to the world has been a bunch of teenagers blowing up either
mailboxes or their own hands.

~~~
uxp
If you happen to scroll down further, you might end up reading a review[1] of
a person who's college ROTC instructor used this same book as training
material.

For most everyone working a 9-5 in the city with a middle-class family in the
suburbs, no this book won't have any practical day to day application. But the
review I'm referencing is quoted as saying, "Better to have it and not need it
than need it and not have it,". Having the book and being knowledgable about
it's contents can be argued to be akin to keeping 30 days of food in storage
for emergencies.

[1]
[http://www.amazon.com/review/R5M42EN2525C3/ref=cm_cr_dp_perm...](http://www.amazon.com/review/R5M42EN2525C3/ref=cm_cr_dp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0962303208&nodeID=283155&tag=&linkCode=)

~~~
tptacek
Yeah, sorry, wrong. The best-known lesson of this book was "you can walk into
a series of hardware stores and drug stores and acquire the materials needed
to make a cool explosion inside of a trash can, no questions asked, even if
you're in Tulsa and you're 13". Unfortunately, that wasn't all you needed to
know about the topic to blow up garbage cans safely.

You may have the impression that, like "Steal This Book", this was an
interesting compendium of ideas no normal person would ever put into use. The
problem was, it actually included a lot of ideas that stupid kids like me
_certainly would put to use_.

~~~
uxp
I agree, and you're also wrong.

I did have the impression that under the right circumstances, in the right
climate, the book was a very useful reference. I never said that the book was
safe. You may have have the impression, or experience to argue for, the
dangers of this book because of certain events that may have occurred, or
possibly could have occurred, after you read it at about the same age I read
it.

If I may, let me abstract both of our arguments:

I say that the book is a good tool, under certain preconditions, that may help
one in time of emergency. I'm talking about the book as a reference, as a
tool, and a guide. And by its nature, anyone with some common sense knows that
it is not a complete, concise work. There are thousands of pages omitted
regarding safety. But it can point one in the right direction when it is the
only thing available.

You say that the book is dangerous because 13 year old kids from Tulsa can buy
materials off the shelf of retail stores and build bombs, with the possibility
of killing or severely injuring themselves. You are arguing that the product
of the actions derived from use of the book in an irresponsible manner are
unsafe, and thus no one should have access to the material described within
the book. If this is not what you are arguing about, please clarify.

The book isn't inherently dangerous. It also is not inherently safe, having it
on my shelf does not make my home or family more prepared for survival than
yours, if you didn't have this book on your shelf. Nor does it make my house
more dangerous to be in. This book is a tool, just like a machette or toaster
oven. Just because a 13 year old puts shredded newspaper in a toaster and
burns his family's house down doesn't make toasters dangerous. Corollary, a 13
year old reading this book doesn't become a violent madman, until that person
acts on the ideas and methods of building bombs to take to school. It is the
action, like building a bomb, that is the danger, even for people trained and
experienced in the field.

With every liberty man has been given a burden also comes with. We shouldn't
prevent this book from being published because the fear of it being used
irresponsibly is too great. We should be teaching respect and safety to the
ideas presented within. No one answer will win this argument.

~~~
tptacek
You think I'm arguing that the book should be burned. I'm not; I'm saying that
it was irresponsible to write and publish a book with haphazard and amateurish
demolitions instructions, and calamitously irresponsible to make that book
available to teenagers. I also said, earlier, that the book launched my
career, which I'm quite happy with. My feelings about the book are
complicated.

It should go without saying that there are many tools that, unlike toaster
ovens, are not generally provided to children without supervision ---
regardless of whether they can cough up the cash to buy them.

------
tptacek
This retarded book, which has injured acquaintances of mine, is the reason I
have the career I have now. If it weren't for the Anarchist Cookbook, I'd be a
Windows admin today.

It's every bit as bad as the author says it is. But taking it out of print
won't fix anything; the copy I had when I was 13 wasn't legit, and was
accompanied by 8478439 pages of Usenet posts.

~~~
todayiamme
>>> I'd be a Windows admin today.<<<

You didn't lose any body parts with your pipe bomb right? I hope I misread
your comments.

~~~
tptacek
Nope! The Anarchist Cookbook did not ruin my dreams of becoming a Windows
admin, either.

Seriously, though, if you asked me how I got started with my career, "The
Anarchist's Cookbook" would be one of the first thoughts in my head.

The topic is interesting to me because my thoughts on the book are so
complicated.

~~~
todayiamme
I'm curious now. Why?

I haven't read the book, but what appealed and stuck with that rebellious
teenager?

~~~
tptacek
Without getting specific, let's just say that there's a path from "blowing
stuff up" to "software security researcher" that involved me knowing how to
code C before I was 15. My history of childhood mayhem is tamer than most
stories you can read elsewhere and is pretty boring. I became an ISP admin
while still a teenager and all this stuff got a lot less funny, fast.

------
hsmyers
Not having seen the book until after I got back from Vietnam I thought it
ironic in the extreme that the best way to acquire expertise on the subject
matter was in fact to volunteer for the draft, survive the year, come home and
get busy. With training before during and after my year in country even a then
'stoner' like myself learned more than enough to easily loose all of the body
parts I had available!! Didn't though, went back to being an art major...

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edkennedy
Vice Magazine tried a few of the recipes in the book in this video... like the
napalm, flaming tennis balls and a rocket assisted skateboard:
[http://www.vbs.tv/en-ca/watch/from-the-pages-of-
vice/anarchi...](http://www.vbs.tv/en-ca/watch/from-the-pages-of-
vice/anarchist-cookbook)

~~~
mattmaroon
I nearly burned my patio down building the smoke bomb in high school. I
learned in the process though that you could skip the entire cooking process.
(It does smell awful, but that's just the sugar caramelizing.

Made for a great prank on the last day of school though.

------
chopsueyar
Does anyone else here find it ironic the book is really a compilation of then
available US government published information at the local library, and then
copyrighted and sold by the publisher with the author losing all rights?

And Amazon allowing the Author of the book (who has no copyrights to said
material) to 'advertise' his desire to stop publication and sale of a book
Amazon sells?

