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quicksilver
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The WORST BOOKS Ever Written
I wonder if the individuals who contribute to the postings on Energetic Materials would contribute their selection for "The WORST BOOK EVER
WRITTEN" about energetic materials or related subject matter.
What I mean by this is not a personally boring publication ("Phase Stabilization in the Manufacturing of Porus Prills" or "The American
Journal of Guar Gum" but rather, downright dangerous and fallacious crap
books (The Teenybomber's Anthology of Amputation Technology). I believe that such a pointed reference list would be a great help to anyone EVER
thinking that something in print (or on the Internet) makes for truth and safety. For that matter there are fairly interesting books that have a great
deal of typos in them making them a prescription for disaster.
For example: The Prepretory Manual of Explosives, J. Ledgard, while being a very interesting and well thought out text has an enormous amount of typos
in it. While I certainly don't think it's a poor work by any means, there are omissions in it that are very serious. One very serious issue
therein is in Chapter 20 where the preperation for ammonium chlorate is listed. NO WHERE in there is any caution listed for the sensitivity and unique
issues entailed in production of AC. Unfortunatly (including the amount of typos) spoiling a potentially good work.
What do YOU think are some of the worst books ever written on this subject (& why)?
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chloric1
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Well, also in his book he list the preparation of silver perchlorate as from silver oxide and sodium hypochlorite! I have yet to see a peer reviewed
article about using this method for ANY perchlorate. None the less, it is still a good read to have while on the crapper. 
Fellow molecular manipulator
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Axt
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So I presume " The Preparatory Manual of Explosives" isn't referenced? That really bugs me as you dont know if its copied correctly, an
interpretation, an analogous reaction or even derived from a reputable source.
What happens to the sodium in NaOCl?? I cant see any feasable way to prevent AgCl from precipitating, AgClO4 is extremely soluble.
Anyway heres the chlorate. See, if hes just assumed an analogous reaction with NaOCl as Cl donor, or misread "chlorate" as
"perchlorate" theres no way of knowing without a reference.
PATR2700, 2, C197.
AgClO3 was prepd in 1802 by R.Chenevix(See in Ref 2), by passing chlorine gas into w in which silver oxide was suspended.
2) Mellor 2 (1922)
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quicksilver
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Axt
So I presume " The Preparatory Manual of Explosives" isn't referenced? That really bugs me as you dont know if its copied correctly, an
interpretation, an analogous reaction or even derived from a reputable source.
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What little I can tell you about that book in particular is that MANY patents he referred to I could not find under any circumstances. Perhaps they
were typos; I don't know.
He lists a section at the end of the book but it simply contains a vast compendioum of sources; none of them specific to the individual items.
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Sickman
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I've prepared a few of the step-by-step synthesis methods in The Preparatory Manual of Explosives (which was the first book about explosives I
ever perchased) I say that most of the procedures in the book if carried out to the letter usually results in run-away reactions and low yields
depending on the procedure. It is obvious to me that this Jared Ledgard did not carry out any of the procedures in the book to see if they were safe
before sending it to the press. For example in the second edition, pages 312 and 313 describes a "Lead Picrate Initiating mixture" which is
claimed to be a legitimate replacement for mercury fulminate and lead azide. Well anyway I tried the procedure and couln't get it to detonate
dry picric acid even in gram amounts up to 15 grams. I don't think the author just made this stuff up. I think he was reading quickly through a
patent for bullet primers and came across this mixture which makes a great primer for bullets, but cannot compare to mercury fulminate or lead azide
for initiating a high explosive. Over all I'd say I'm glad I own the book because it stimulates my thinking about just how many different
useful explosives there are. When I find one I'm interested in I go to the patents and the tried and true references like Davis, PATR,
Urbanski,ect.
Anyway I'd definitly tell anyone that the anarchist cookbook is total crap. So are books by uncle Fester and other idiots who don't use
there real name to publish a book that is supposed to contain accurate info. Books that have any kind of title like "the poor man's"
this or that and titles that talk about "kitchen chemistry" titles that use the word "improvised" are also a big no no.
Basically I'm interested in books and works written by experts in there feild like military scientists and historical figures like Alfred Nobel.
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Swany
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Some of the improvised, kitchen, etc. titles are decent if all you want to do is blast stuff. If you are looking deeper into chemistry then they are
essentially worthless. Maybe to be used at totse, but here they would be prohibited, in theory.
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chromium
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I do not know much about explosive books but another book by J. Ledgard "Kings Chemistry Survival Guide" contains also syntheses that
probably will not work as described. For example there is process for geting rather pure ethyl acetate by distilling mix of 6% vinegar and 80 proof
vodka and some drops of battery acid. No distillation columns are mentioned.
It had been very interesting if autor had tested this with proper analysis of product but there is no analysis whatsoever just claim that product
after drying with small amount of MgSO4 and second distillation will be of 99% purity.
[Edited on 11-10-2005 by chromium]
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quicksilver
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I would like to report on two books I receintly read. The first "Lamont Du Pont & The Amercian Explosives Industry" Norman Wilkinson,
Univ of Virgina Press is a historical piece. Slow, ploding but has some interesting issues (Du Pont was a Civil War draft dodger). I don't think
this fits into a science milieu but as a critque of style it could have been really powerful. Instead it was slugish and missed a chance to underscore
why "cocca powder" was unique addition to the propellant industry in that time period. It touches on some mfg. issues.
Another book "Powder & Propellants, Energetic Materials at Indianhead Maryland" was a great read. It fused both history and science in a
great style. Published by Univ of N. Texas Press in 2002, it does a good job of presenting the American explosives industry's challenges in the
context of the military / Industrial complex. This one may be worth your time. It does a fair job of presenting science and history in a very readable
fashion and although does not go into great depth on many science-related issues - it does present the challenges of the energetic materials industry
in the period of transition from 1890-2001; great stuff for a person with a love for history & science.
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MadHatter
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Indianhead
I'll have to find that book ! Several of my relatives are life-long members of the Indianhead
community. I want to know if any of them were involved in any of those "tests".
From opening of NCIS New Orleans - It goes a BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM ! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !
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a_bab
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quicksilver, this thread is about the WORST books. The books you mentioned are good ones.
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quicksilver
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| Quote: | Originally posted by a_bab
quicksilver, this thread is about the WORST books. The books you mentioned are good ones. |
The Du Pont book would put a speed-freak to sleep. Unbelievably slow, ploding and pedantic. It also was rather fawning on Du Pont, the man - raising
his stature inappropriatly. It had subject matter and material to be a great work and just was a total failure. The incidental issues were that it DID
have facts like Du Pont's draft dodging were to underscore how it could have presented the reader with something but was just a let down - I
mentioned the other book as a good one because I just happened to finish it at that moment and was drinkling a lot of coffee while typing
this......the Indianhead, MD book was pretty good. I figued it's easier to mention a good book in this thread once in a while then to start a
whole new thread.....no?
[Edited on 17-11-2005 by quicksilver]
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franklyn
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Online texts providing formulation preparations and little chemistry, much
disdained by many here , are nontheless often the first source of practical
know how aquired by entrepid novice experimenters. It's not so much that
they may contain errors , scholarly texts have errata , but rather a lack of
safety protocals. But then not even here has anyone ever made the point
that static electric charge can unknowingly initiate many explosives during
handling. The books alone , wether scholarly or practical do not ensure
safety. No one I'm sure would want to have brain surgery from someone
who only read on how to perform such proceedures.
For want of another place to post these , I submit for your disapproval
a selection of classics authored under U.S. government sponsorship.
Improvised Munitons Handbook
http://www.textfiles.com/anarchy/imh1.txt
http://www.elitehackers.info/files/txt/archive/Blackbook.TXT
Kitchen Improvised Explosives
http://www.flashback.se/arkiv/98/2/KIPE2.txt
Kithchen Imp Blasting Caps
http://www.flashback.se/archive/KIBC.TXT
Explosives How To site
http://www.freewebs.com/lpumsun/index.html
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Boomer
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You forgot the terrorist shitbook and the anarshit crapbook.
Oh and about the kitchen series, I took the time to point out some (!) errors:
Errors in KIPE 1
page / Error
2 .. .lecithin acts to prevent the formation of large crystals of RDX ... NOT GROUND BEFORE?
3 ... it should be very cap sensitive ... a booster will be a good choice ... WTF?
4 ... (RDX) is manufactured by nitration of hexamin with strong RED 100% nitric acid ... RED?
4 ... (nitric distillation) ... place 32g sulfuric acid and add 68g potassium nitrate ... YOU NEED >66g ACID!
4 ... heated until no more collects in the neck of the retort ... DECOMPOSITION! STOP EARLY!
4 ... (RDX) ... will detonate ... density of 1.55 g/cc at ... 8550 m/s ... AT 1.8, not 1.55!
5 ... TABLE IS INVERTED!
5 ... substituting ... for part of them percentage of wax ...
6 ... HTH (calcium hypo-chlorate ...
6 ... when the formation is no longer formed ...
7 ... if potassium chlorate were used instead of the sodium chloride ... POTASSIUM CHLORIDE!
9 ... this red gas nitrogern trioxide ... NITROGEN DIOXIDE!
9 ... (NG) is still the most powerfull explosive available ... PURE NG AVAILABLE?
9 ... (BG) which is propperly called collidon COLLODION!
9 ... the detonation of velocity ... DUH
10 ... in that it is easier to collidon the smokeless powder DUH
10 ... Glycerine and glycol ... both form a trinitro compound TRI + DI, AND THEY ARE ESTERS!
11 ... because the slightes bump could possibly explode ... THE BUMP OR THE NITRO?
Errors in KIPE 2
page / Error
2 ... (C4) based on the amount of acetone used ... ACETONE IN C4?
6 ... This plastique is a water gel ... and is hygroscopic ... WTF?
6 ... heat the liquid to 4045 degreesC WTF?
12 ... Mannitol Octanitrate ... HEXA!
13 ... polyisobutalene and etylhexy sebecate ... DUH!
14 ... friction could cause the premature explosive ...
14 ... exposure is limited to dermititus ...
14 ... Place 1000g of sulfuric acid or equivalent. To this add ... PLACE IT WHERE?
14 .. The temperature is raised to 40 degrees and stirred for 30 minutes TEMP STIRRED?
Errors in KIBC
page / Error
4 ... tendency of nitromethane to collidanize nitrocellulose ... DUH
8 ... MHN listed as a primary!
9 ... (HMTD) due to the extreme excess of oxygen ... OB IS NEGATIVE!
10 ... picric acid is more powerfull than TNT. It is prepared by diazoization of picramic ... HE MEANS DDNP!
15 ... When the silver dissolves (gentle heating ... to get all the mercury to dissolve) MERCURY OR SILVER?
17 ... 32 grams sulfuric ... add 68 grams nitrate SEE ABOVE!
17 ... nitrogene trioxide ... SEE ABOVE!
17 ... till no more collects SEE ABOVE!
20 ... (TeNN) rapid heating will cause detonation IT RATHER BURNS!
20 ... (TeNN) cast prior to loading the primary ... DAVIS: NO DET AT 30mm DIA WITH 20g FULMINATE!
HE OBVIOSLY NEVER TRIED, BUT COMPILED THINGS HE READ WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING CHEMISTRY (NITROGEN TRIOXIDE!!!)
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quicksilver
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Book Review:
The Preparatory Manual of Black Powder & Pyrotechnics
author: Jared Ledgard
1st edition 2006
Mr. Ledgard, who wrote The Preparatory Manual of Explosives and The Preparatory Manual of Chemical Weapons as well as King's Chemisty Survival Guide,
added another large volume to his collection in mid-2006. The book is only available in a limited printing through Lulu's Books (a private printer and
publisher). Where as his other books had been picked up and printed by a firm independant of him, I believe that this latest one had trouble being
picked up and he let Lulu's print them as they were sold. Perhaps due to the nature of his past works and the troubled times we live in, Ledgard's
latest work hadn't found a home with a permanent publisher. If you want one you need to contact Lulu's and have one printed for you! Thus there may be
some collector's value here....
At 600+ pages this is his largest work to date. It looks more like a phonebook in fact. Source material for this work is much more accurate than the
The Preparatory Manual of Explosives, which was VERY poorly documented. That does not mean that this work is without problems however. The book
preports to discuss 1187 indiviual compositions and once again we see that Mr ledgard is in love with a very well equipped lab. Some of the
compositions would only be available to those with access to restricted chemicals (List I & II) as well as some rather esoteric items that I can't
find in a Spectrum or Fisher catlogue.At very least an undergrad level of equipment is referenced several times in the context of teflon coated mixing
apperatus.. A large amount of comps make use of red & white P. And Once more he uses ammonium chlorate liberally in some compositions (albiet
with a one word warning: dangerous). A large amount of comps make use of teflon coated SS mixing balls (expensive) and even though he relates this to
Ball Milling (constantly), his stuff is done with a damn fine lab, certainly equipped with a variable vacume source, etc.
A serious fault I found for myself in his book is the difficult way he develops page layout. It is very difficult to follow some of his resipes
(...make no mistake this IS a resipe book) as they flow from one colum to another page in a colum in a similar position. It is not written in the
manner of a full page but colum to colum which is even difficult to discribe. It is annoying to read as well. As to the substance of the text; there
are some very unique rocket compostions that may well be worth the price of the book. It is certainly a book for those with an enjoyment of chemistry
and moderate lab knowlege. this is not a "pyro cook book". Some moderate lab technique is nesessary for most of the compositions. As well as motorized
strirring devices and common lab equipment. It's not a low tech composition compilation. A background in energetic materials is valuable as Mr Ledgard
does make use of common primary and secondary explosives in some of his presentaions and compostions. The Black Powder section in the beginning is
noteworthy and interesting as well. But note well that this is a huge compendium of material. It would do well as bathroom reading rather than the
easy chair.
All in all it's a heck of a sight better than the other Preparatory Manuals he put out over the past few years. As soon as I received the book I
researched his source material and found many of them. In The Preparatory Manual of Explosives one could find next to nothing of the source he sited
!!!
-> Worth buying....it's available for download on a number of FTP sites as a fast scan someone did. So you can get the idea if it's for you. The
second time you brouse through it you see that he really enjoyed writting it. I found it worth buying. He seems to enjoy his writing and gets better
over time. I honestly hope he continues as I believe he is a hobbiest at heart (albiet very well educated) and a good one.
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franklyn
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Boomer
You forgot the terrorist shitbook and the anarshit crapbook.
Oh and about the kitchen series, I took the time to point out some (!) errors: |
You missed your calling as a proof reader Boomer. It's much more fun to read it out loud
and record it, then play the recording backwards to hear the demonic phrases.
Their's is evidently a different culture and use a peculiar nomenclature.
In that website I gave , it's always best to start first with the
" Chemistry Definations Dictionary " link.
For example,
did you know that metal peroxides contain the peroxide ion, O22 - , I kid you not.
and, that Phenol is a hydrocarbon derivative containing an [OH] group bound to
an aromatic _raing. Who new ?
Protons are also found in " thew " nuclei of atoms. Gosh and golly gee wiz.
oh and,
Radioactive Dating is a method of dating ancient objects by determining
the ratio of amounts of mother and daughter nuclides present in an object and
relating the ratio to the object?s age via half-life calculations.
I guess that means she's too old for me huh.
[Edited on 19-9-2006 by franklyn]
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Mr_X
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| Quote: | | So are books by uncle Fester and other idiots who don't use there real name to publish a book that is supposed to contain accurate info.
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IMHO, Seymour Leckers and Ragnar Bansons books suck much more than Home Workshop Explosives by Uncle Fester. Instruction are pretty detailed in that
book.
AFAIK, only those "black books" are sponsored by US government. Others are simply works of amateurs. Speaking about that how to site, look here: http://www.freewebs.com/lpumsun/leadazide.html . A booster charge from lead azide... Heh, should i say anything more?
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Quince
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Can't get much worse than this one:
\"One of the surest signs of Conrad\'s genius is that women dislike his books.\" --George Orwell
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nitro-genes
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You really need some professional help my friend...
But he...negative attention is also attention, right? Daddy never wanted to play catch with you?
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Quince
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Help for what? Like the great physicist Steven Weinberg said, "Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people
doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."
\"One of the surest signs of Conrad\'s genius is that women dislike his books.\" --George Orwell
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Waffles
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At least the Anarchist Cookbook and the like only have serious potential to injure those dumb enough to want to make C4 in their own kitchen…the
Bible (and other religious texts, lets not discriminate  ) has been the sole
cause of the suffering and deaths of millions upon millions of people who wanted nothing except to live their lives in peace.
The Bible, et al, win 'Worst books ever written' by such orders of magnitude that we shouldn't even bother discussing that side of things.
\"…\'tis man\'s perdition to be safe, when for the truth he ought to die.\"
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daeron
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agreed i dont want to discriminate against the religious wuns,but cmon if one is educated and really into science dont those quite simple and dogmatic
answers that start and end with GOD sound a bit too simple and retarder for a person versed in the scientific method.
Humans with their brains are like a caveman with a supercomputer. Yes there is a chance that the caveman will use it to calculate the trajectories and
the momentums of the celestial bodies, but the chances are that he will just crack open a coconut with it.
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S.C. Wack
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Uh oh with that one... not me (I agree) but others here.
I'm no biblical scholar, but I don't think that the Lutherans believe that they are God's chosen people or have been given title by God to some piece
of land in perpetuity. Not even the Catholics or evangelical Baptists can find anything specific in there about killing the infidels who refuse to be
baptized.
It seems obvious that the Bible should not be brought up outside of Whimsy, and that it was only a matter of time before Quince did what he did, given
the thread title.
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franklyn
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The faiult if there is one , is that " civilization " is a few thousand years more
advanced technologically than it is ethically. Religion has not progressed from
the time when peasantry was all there was. Books in of themselves are nothing
it's what one does that matters. Religious tomes or even something as basic
as the American constitution , are subject to the prevailing fashion. How can
the Bill of Rights which is a list of personal liberties guaranteed to individuals
specifically the right to bear arms , be interpreted in recent times as the
collective right of the state ? It takes a lawyer to reason in this way , if you want
to change the law , no need to do so , you just change the meaning of the words
so that it is not what it meant when it was written. I'm sure that the " gay ninety's "
did not invoke the same meaning in 1906 as it does today.
[Edited on 4-10-2006 by franklyn]
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not_important
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| Quote: | Originally posted by franklyn... I'm sure that the " gay ninety's " did not invoke the same meaning in 1906 as it does today.
[Edited on 4-10-2006 by franklyn] |
It did to a fairly small subset of the population, except that 'gay' has starting to take on a new meaning in the last few years.
But you have a good point, franklyn; the meaning of words change over time, even a century can be enough. Homely once meant attractive, slut once was
a kitchen maid, earlier untidy woman, and still earlier could be applied to a man.
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Mr_X
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I thought we was talking about explosives related books...
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