Dangerous books

Mark has a short review and round of some dangerous books, some more than others, including my favorite he Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments… he writes –

Already a huge hit in the UK, The Dangerous Book for Boys, by Gon Iggulden and Hal Iggulden, is taking the US by storm. The first print run of 80,000 has been supplemented by a second order for 300,000 copies.
While the book is beautifully produced and entertaining, it really doesn’t contain any risky projects that the title and nostalgic design suggest. I can’t blame them — the authors and publisher would open themselves up to lawsuits if they included potentially dangerous projects in the book.

The trouble is, an awful lot of exciting projects carry an element of risk. Things that explode, burn, fly, and make loud noises are great fun. Safety precautions are necessary whenever you experiment with anything that is capable of quickly releasing a lot of energy. Because many people don’t bother with goggles, gloves, grounding, and other safety measures, today’s book publishers are reluctant to publish books that have potentially unsafe projects in them.

But “dangerous” books are available, if you want them. Some are reprints of old books now in the public domain, others can be picked up used or downloaded on P2P networks, and some are still being published today by brave authors and publishers.

Dangerous books – Link.