back to article How-to terror manuals still being sold by Apple, Amazon, Waterstones

WH Smith was quick to remove DIY terror manuals from the digital shelves of its online stores after El Reg highlighted their sale but other retailers have demonstrated less of a knee-jerk reaction. A fortnight ago the Brit book and stationary outlet shuttered its website for emergency maintenance to remove books including the …

  1. EddieD

    Sorry...I don't believe it...

    '"To protect freedom of speech and avoid censorship, unless a title is illegal we tend not to remove it from the iBooks Store," a representative at Apple told The Register.'

    An Apple rep talking to El Reg. Pics or it didn't happen...

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Sorry...I don't believe it...

      Unless those books contain nipples or something. Oh, those books never got in in the first place so they weren't removed.

      Always re-read the PR spin.

      (Apple uses El Reg if they think some damage needs controlling, otherwise they ignore it.)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "If they think some damage needs controlling"

        Or their press people have a list of questions they think might come up and have answers at the ready for. It is only for something which isn't on the list of pre-answered questions that needs to go to their PR people that they consult the List of Excommunicated Media, find El Reg listed, and refuse comment.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      Daily Mail

      And Thomas Mair, the convicted murderer of MP Jo Cox, was thought to have purchased the Improvised Munitions Handbook from a US source. This book "demonstrates... techniques for constructing weapons that are highly effective". Mair shot Cox with a homemade gun.

      I think you might have accidently had your article published by El Reg instead of the Daily Mail. Mair shot Jo Cox with a factory made rifle, from which he had sawn the barrel and stock. What he did is clear from the picture in the following "how-to terror manual":

      http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2016-11-23/thomas-mair-guilty-of-jo-coxs-murder/

    3. Chris King

      Re: Sorry...I don't believe it...

      "An Apple rep talking to El Reg. Pics or it didn't happen..."

      If we get one it will be a Playmobil pic, to maintain El Reg standards.

  2. Mark 110

    The big news!!!

    "a representative at Apple told The Register"

    Since when did Apple start talking to the vulture again?

    1. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge

      Re: The big news!!!

      Apple probably have a special channel for when they suspect not responding would see them stitched up by some journalist poised to accuse them of supporting terrorism for want of a click-bait article.

      It probably hasn't done anything to improve the relationship on any other channels.

  3. heyrick Silver badge

    Is this any sort of "solution"?

    When I was young and the world was screwed up differently, I downloaded and read the entire Jolly Roger cookbook. Having done well in GCSE science I understood the chemical aspects, but generally considered making nitro glycerine in the kitchen as being an excellent way to self-cleanse the gene pool. It's an utterly ludicrous idea.

    Worth that in mind, I'm not sure trying to stamp out these sorts of books is going to serve any useful purpose. Information can be passed around in many other ways. Maybe it's better to try to deal with the causes of radicalisation instead of deluding ourselves that removing some books will make the problems go away?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Is this any sort of "solution"?

      Making nitro glycerine in the kitchen

      Yes. Which is exactly why you _COULD_ in those days synthesize hexogen in your kitchen. Try to get the key ingredients for it now (not saying what they are to comply with UK thought crime law).

      Not that it was particularly necessary - one could get their mitts on fertilizer which has not been spiked with NH4SO4 in any quantity they wanted as well as the necessary things to detonate it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Is this any sort of "solution"?

        > (not saying what they are to comply with UK thought crime law).

        Fine, I'll look it up then. Even better, I'll buy one of these books.

        1. Khaptain Silver badge

          Re: Is this any sort of "solution"?

          I just had a quick look on Amazon for the 100 deadly skills. If that's what the terrorists are using then we really don't have much to fear....

    2. Baldy50

      Re: Is this any sort of "solution"?

      Me too!

      Poor it down the sink quick with plenty of water when that tell tale silver deposit is visible.

      trinitrotoluene, C7H5N3O6, nasty shit when you consider NW's are rated against the quantity of this stuff.

      Love the Blaster Bates tale of him having a large overdraft the bank wasn't happy about and after a competitor was blown up whilst driving to or from a job, decided to give him enough to buy a van instead of the motorcycle he was using at the time for work.

      Can you imagine a coppers face today if you were pulled and they found all that material he carried in panniers?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Is this any sort of "solution"?

      I downloaded and read the entire Jolly Roger cookbook

      and before downloading was possible you could buy a Penguin paperback all about making your own explosives. From memory (can't be bothered to go digging through boxes of books) they did recommend that you use the garden shed for your experiments.

  4. Steve Evans

    knee-jerk...

    Removing books is a bit knee-jerk TBH, anyone who has paid attention in a chemistry class at school (assuming those haven't also been banned), knows how to make something which will go *bang*.

    Given the Chinese made gunpowder for thousands of years, it's obviously not made of anything exotic, which would be hard to acquire.

    More exotic explosives are a little trickier, but still within the abilities of a backyard chemist. A few minutes on google and wikipedia would provide plenty of information.

    And if all that fails, you could just smuggle a Samsung phone into your hold luggage ;-)

    1. Toltec

      Re: knee-jerk...

      Getting hold of potassium nitrate has been getting harder since the seventies, you could just walk into a chemist back then and buy it if you had a suitable reason when asked why you wanted it. Buying the sulphur from a different chemist was a good idea, but much easier as it was still commonly used by gardeners.

      Nitrogen triiodide was fun too, though it makes nitroglycerin look stable so more of a novelty explosive made in tiny quantities to give an effect like like bang snaps (still available apparently, though not seen any for nearly 40 years).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: knee-jerk...

        Nitrogen triiodide

        We had this one as a mandatory weekly prank in winter - just leave a bit to dry on the radiators. It will explode from someone talking too loud when the next class has a lesson.

        Even this, which is not even "proper chemistry" for crying out loud, requires some going through hoops today. 30 years ago you could open nearly any first aid cupboard and find iodine solution and ammonia. Not any more. If there will be iodine antiseptic, it is likely to be Providone-Iodine and ammonia is definitely off the menu. So kids can no longer have (relatively) harmless fun :)

      2. Mark 85
        Black Helicopters

        Re: knee-jerk...

        Getting hold of potassium nitrate has been getting harder since the seventies,

        As I recall, one can make potassium nitrate without much difficulty. We did it as kids to make gunpowder. Yep... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_nitrate One does have to be patient though as it takes time.

        Edit:

        Rats.. I'm hearing a knock at the door... probably shouldn't have said anything.

  5. BlokeOnMotorway

    Why does ElReg feel it's necessary to get involved in what books which sellers can provide?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Bloke

      They are Brits. They have never had nor do they understand Freedom of Speech. (And they love taxation without representation.) That's why they were booted from the States in the late 1700's.

      1. BebopWeBop

        Re: @Bloke

        I think you will find that a number of states in the US are very keen on having the IRS pursue taxes from US citizens who are denies representation (if by that you mean the right to vote) - in fact the Republican (GOP) party seem terribly keen on doing just that

        1. Jeffrey Nonken

          Re: @Bloke

          ...Which just proves we are hypocrites. Something that is already pretty obvious. Your point?

      2. fruitoftheloon
        FAIL

        @AC: Re: @Bloke

        So says the 'brave patriot', hiding behind the cowards' curtain...

        Irony much???

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'm glad El Reg did publish this. I wasn't aware that a teenager had been jailed for owning a book in this country and am frankly outraged. Historians own all sorts of books and other artefacts, and reading the BBC story this kid could just as easily have been collecting interesting things relating to a topic he was interested in (how historians start). Yes, he may have been planning terrorist activity - if that's the case then watch him with a suitable warrant from a distance while letting him make his own decisions.

      For the record, I don't object to making certain specific books illegal, although obviously not in favour. The article doesn't say the books were illegal, and frankly how would one know which books are illegal anyway, is there a list? The issue here seems to be the potential intent of owning said books and that's WAY too subjective to base life-changing legal decisions on.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Do they still sell "Conservative Party Manifesto" during Elections ?

    Pretty terrifying stuff (unless you are a bloated Fat Cat).

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: Do they still sell "Conservative Party Manifesto" during Elections ?

      They do.

      But they do not sell Mein Kampf and Stalin's speeches so you cannot verify where most of it is plagiarized from nowdays.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Do they still sell "Conservative Party Manifesto" during Elections ?

        But they do not sell Mein Kampf

        Probably because you can get it free now the copyright's expired.

        And a fascinating read it is. Areas where there's considerable insight and intelligence, others where a conclusion is reached (of a view declared) without any discussion. An expected narcissistic psychopathy, but (very) occasional human sympathy that it at odds with everything we know. The reader, of course, has the considerable advantage over the author that we know how it all ends, but the command of language, even in translation, is impressive. The early pages have a feel to them that I find reminiscent of the feel of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I had hoped to understand how the anti-Semitism was triggered, but whilst the flaws of representative democracy are well dissected, the fate of a few million Jews appears to be decided in a handful of lines of the book.

        The State of Bavaria was wrong to ban the book - it should be encouraged to be read, because it certainly isn't going to win new recruits to the cause of national socialism (Jezza Corbyn is a considerably greater threat on that). It is a fascinating if partial insight to the mind of nutter who still casts a strong shadow over Europe well over a hundred years after his birth, and that shadow arguably extends across Eurasia and the Middle East.

        If you don't mind a bit of hard going (some of it is very dull and repetitive, more James Joyce than Conrad), and you make sure you read it where nobody will know what you're reading and drawing the wrong conclusions, this is well worth the effort. Don't worry: Afterwards you won't be pulling your boots on and donning your Hugo Boss.

        I thought hard whether to AC this, and on balance, yes.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Do they still sell "Conservative Party Manifesto" during Elections ?

      But the Conservative Party Manifesto is a work of fiction, not indended to be taken seriously....

  7. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    FTFY...

    "Manuals still being sold by Apple, Amazon and Waterstones."

    You are on a slippery slope El Reg if you want to start policing the internet out of fear for a few miserable sad extremists that may or may not actually exist. More importantly... I still get confused as to whether the full stop goes inside the final " or not. I thought I'd add some excitement to my day by going for the former...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: FTFY...

      Even though it looks wrong, I'm fairly certain that inside the quotes is the correct form.

      1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

        Re: FTFY...

        Under the unwritten constitution of the English language, corect is whatever most people do. (Placing the full stop inside the quotes marks you down as an Arts-y type, whereas placing them where they logically belong marks you down as a STEM-y type.)

      2. heyrick Silver badge
        Headmaster

        Re: FTFY...

        I believe Americans put the punctuation inside the quotes, while British usually put the punctuation outside. The British method is better not because am British but because it is logical - punctuation should be within quotes if it is a part of that which is being quoted, like maybe "Stop!". Putting the sentence ending punctuation inside something quoted is, frankly, bizarre.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: FTFY...

          I'm pretty sure I was taught at school (UK) that the full stop belongs inside the quotes.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: FTFY...

            I'm pretty sure I was taught at school (UK) that the full stop belongs inside the quotes.

            Same here. But the best way to resolve the matter is to hold another civil war. Left versus right, Brexit versus Remainderers, Prov versus Anti migration, etc. The Syrians have of course demonstrated that holding a civil war with thousands of different sides isn't very effective, so we'd need to align the various causes.

            Obviously Left wing/Remain/pro-migration etc. But I'm struggling to see how to assign the punctuation. Any thoughts?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Better to just outlaw wrong thoughts.

    Obviously we cannot allow the sale of books or information we do not agree with, for the safety of the children, but that isn't enough. We need to make clear that thinking certain things is wrong. At the very least we can put these laws and practices in place for the day when we elect an Imam or a Trump to protect us all.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They make great gifts

    I bought a hard copy of the Anarchist Cookbook from an Amazon Marketplace seller in the US for a friend's birthday back in 2003 without giving it a second thought. Funny to think of it now. When he saw it, his face lit up as he revealed that he'd wanted it for ages. I was initially overjoyed at having bought such a great present but that quickly turned to dread when I considered that he was my next-door neighbour and his bedroom was on the opposite side of the wall from mine.

    1. BebopWeBop

      Re: They make great gifts

      I have a copy (typewritten script from the late 70s, purchased on a visit to the US) Being in the middle of A Level;s at the time, including chemistry my copy (YMMV) was positively dangerous to the unwary - not a present for a friend

      1. Chris King
        Mushroom

        Re: They make great gifts

        A-level chemistry textbooks from that era (pre Health and Safety hysteria) contained some pretty hair raising stuff. I had one that contained a method for producing TNT, along with several compounds that are now classed as chemical weapons.

        I threw it on a bonfire many years ago, and it burned with an odd-coloured flame...

  10. pxd

    Knock, Knock - it's the Grammar Police!

    I think you'll find that WH Smith operate stationery stores - which do tend to be stationary (unless WHS have branches in NZ, in which case . . .). I'll get my coat. pxd

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "disseminate a terrorist publication with the intention that it will encourage or assist terrorism, or if they are reckless as to whether it will do so"

    Have these books been proven to be terrorist publications? Are they reckless in doing so?

    The difference between raiding a local book shop and Amazon / Apple?

    Lawyers. By hinting the small fry, they never have to worry about annoying things like setting precedents, because the well funded supplier takes it all the way to the Supreme Court.

  12. stu 4

    WTF

    What's happening here - has my DNS been hijacked and I'm reading the Daily Mail online ???

    Paul Kurent - I put it to you that your hand holding nanny state censorship bollocks will find few friends here.

    p.s. Paul - do you know its possible to KILL someone with a kitchen knife ? These items are READILY AVAILABLE. TO ANYONE!!! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!! I suggest you start your next campaign today to remove all sharp edged cutlery from shops..... sigh

    1. wikkity

      Re: WTF

      > READILY AVAILABLE. TO ANYONE!!! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!! I

      They already have, you have to be 18 to buy a knife in the UK. Children have to steal one from the kitchen.

      1. Hans 1
        Windows

        Re: WTF

        > Children have to steal one from the kitchen.

        And mom keeps her kitchen secure, all knives, forks, any cutlery that could cause harm, like little spoons (for eyes) or mugs, coffee cups, plates etc .... are locked up in a safe. In this country, kids are not allowed to have toys, because wood or plastic can be broken, out of which you can make lethal weapons. There are no windows in our houses, you cannot move beds, chairs, tables, or the chandelier, as those could become lethal weapons as well ... shoe laces are illegal around here too, as are ropes ...

        Now, where have you seen a room where you cannot move the table, chair, or bed ?

        I would much rather see those burn who call for books to be burned, history tells me I am right !

    2. Unicornpiss
      Alert

      Re: WTF

      Some time back, at work, I was using the folding 4" knife I always carry to open some boxes. My (thankfully now ex) boss remarked in a snotty way about my carrying a deadly weapon at work. A dozen feet away a contractor was using a large screwdriver to pry something on a door frame. I asked my boss if the worker should have his 8" screwdriver banned, as it would certainly be easier to stab someone with that than my little knife, which would more than likely just make someone very angry if I were to go off the deep end and slash someone with it.

      Amazingly, the point was taken and I didn't hear another word about it.

      1. CraPo

        Re: WTF

        "It is illegal to carry any sharp or bladed instrument in a public place (with the exception of a folding pocket knife, which has a blade that is less than 7.62 cm (3 inches))." Presumably you don't leave it at work every day...

        1. Alan Mackenzie
          WTF?

          Re: WTF

          > "It is illegal to carry any sharp or bladed instrument in a public place (with the exception of a folding pocket knife, which has a blade that is less than 7.62 cm (3 inches))."

          I think not. People regularly buy knives at kitchen shops and carry them home. For that matter, I routinely carry hypodermic syringes. Or is it one of these ludicrous laws that everybody breaks, which the police can then use to harrass people they don't like?

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: WTF

          Surprisingly the law permits a knife that you use at work to be carried to and from work.

        3. Unicornpiss

          Re: WTF

          "It is illegal to carry any sharp or bladed instrument in a public place (with the exception of a folding pocket knife, which has a blade that is less than 7.62 cm (3 inches))." Presumably you don't leave it at work every day..."

          **Totally legal to carry in my state in the USA, as well as everywhere else in the US as far as I know.

  13. sisk

    NOT terrorist publications

    These are not terrorist manuals. Not by a long shot. Most of them are guidebooks for military techniques, written by the US Army and marketed to military enthusiasts with a secondary market among survivalists. Calling them terrorist guidebooks is intellectually dishonest pot stirring. Just because they teach skills which may be of interest to bad guys does not mean that they shouldn't be available to anyone else wanting to know about such skills for non-malicious reasons (such as, you know, military geeks and survivalists, the folks the books are marketed to). After all, a textbook on network security would be pretty useful to a novice cyber-criminal, but no one would argue that it should be yanked off the market on that basis.

    As for the Anarchist Cookbook, I read that thing back in the 90s out of pure curiosity. We could make a pretty significant dent on the total terrorist population of the world by giving it away for free. Half the recipes in it would blow up in your face if you tried to use them. You're talking about a book that has instructions for making nitroglycerin that says it's safe to handle at temperatures up to 100C and says to put a mixture of plaster and unstable explosives in the oven to help it set faster. I say give it to terrorists and let them blow themselves up.

    1. GrumpenKraut
      Mushroom

      Re: NOT terrorist publications

      > Half the recipes in it would blow up in your face if you tried to use them.

      Indeed. I downloaded the thing out of curiosity about a year ago. Certain omissions (like not watching temperature, let alone to even attempt cooling) in recipes I am familiar with look deliberate.

      My first thought was: just make it public and let them terrrrarist self-report by bang.

      Then I recalled that when I was young and playing with explody things was popular quite a few young (and completely innocent) people blew up their hands, eyes, and some killed themselves.

      It should have a big fat prominent warning to the effect that the recipes are incomplete, lack any safety precautions, and are likely to mutilate or kill if attempted as described.

      1. John Gamble
        Boffin

        Re: NOT terrorist publications

        Yeah, I read The Anarchist's Cookbook in high school, and definitely did not know enough then to recognize the flaws in the recipes. Fortunately I had no interest in making them either.

        A friend's son once made some nitro glycerine, and my friend (the daughter of a well-known organic chemist) reamed him out both for making the nitro, and for "using that crappy recipe from the Anarchist's Cookbook."

        1. sisk

          Re: NOT terrorist publications

          did not know enough then to recognize the flaws in the recipes

          I really didn't either when I read it, but my common sense tingled when I read instructions to put explosives in the oven.

  14. jonfr

    Amazon UK sent me an email

    The other day Amazon UK sent me an email suggesting those books to me (and some other). I ignored that email because I got nothing to do with books about killing my own species in horrible ways.

  15. Banfa
    Stop

    Not 100% sure if El Reg is doing a public service or undertaking some misguided "Daily mail" like attempt to create sensationalism.

  16. Cuddles

    Whining arseholes ignored by most, everyone remains safe and happy

    "WH Smith was quick to remove DIY terror manuals from the digital shelves of its online stores after El Reg highlighted their sale"

    I believe this should correctly read:

    "WH Smith was quick to remove old textbooks after being harassed by whining busybodies who have for some reason decided it's their solemn duty to police perfectly legal goods being sold in shops rather than doing their actual jobs."

  17. inmypjs Silver badge

    Half assed measures

    I demand a public burning.

    1. PNGuinn
      Flame

      Re: Half assed measures

      Terrorist Mayhem?

      1. Alan Mackenzie

        Re: Half assed measures

        For some reason, I read that as "Theresa Mayhem". Not sure why.

  18. Chris G

    " It was a pleasure to burn"

    “A book is a loaded gun in the house next door...Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?”

    ―Ray Bradbury,Fahrenheit 451

    All books are dangerous! burn them all!

    I really don't get this latest stance of El Reg, what happened to the "Biting The Hand That Feeds IT"

    attitude?

    You are becoming more like a school prefect. Although to be fair most of the really interesting chemistry I learned during my school days was from the reference section of the local library. As regards Amazon and the others, don't you think such easily monitored outlets for iffy reading matter is a useful way for the sniffers at GCHQ and the like to keep tabs on would be bomb makers?

    Crusading, evangelistic journalists are usually a pain in the arse and often in reality insincere, only looking for sensationalism and a job at the Mail orthe ex NOTW.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Big deal, because torrents, and good people should have weapons!

    Already got some of them via torrents, and some of them are obviously or subtly flawed, so dangerous to self or give a false sense of security.

    Weapons are tools which are mostly only a problem when used by bad people, and can even limit damage when used by the public, despite effeminate, collectivist and state propaganda.

    If we don't want terrorists in a country, deport and keep invasive culture people out, treat people fairly and don't make illegal war with other countries, something which 1st world countries seem to have become quite negligent about, in part because of corrosive propaganda like (Marxist) 'Political Correctness' and other corruption by psychopathic 'elites', including banksters!

    On the othe hand, prohibition of invasive cultural material is justified cultural self defense despite all the PC propaganda, especially because PC corrupted 'education' has sabotaged some fools cultural self defenses e.g. some idiots conversion to regressive Islam.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Because real terrorists are likely to buy hard copies of "the idiots guide on how to blow yourself up" by mail order to a specific delivery address versus just downloading it for free from the internet and keeping a copy on an encrypted device?!

  21. Stevie

    Bah!

    I suspect that were my home to be raided I would be in deep trouble. I have organic chemistry texts that describe how to synthesize all sorts of bang-bang-goodbye-fingers left over from college somewhere (haven't any idea where, didn't crack them while in school and don't see any reason to change that policy 45 years on), wire and electronics components left over from all sorts of dilettante experiments with analogue electronic music and Steampunky SFX, as many power tools as you care to find lying around, from a lathe (still in box after 28 years because no room to deploy it) and a floor standing drill press down to a bunch of Dremel and Dremelclone things and perhaps most damning, a .22 gauge percussion-cap nail gun.

    Also some old Estes rocket motors (left over from brief fad with model rockets). And some flash cotton (stage magic effects).

    I can envision the headline now:

    "British Ex-Pat Had Cruise Missile Factory In Home"

    Cripes, I'm living on borrowed time in the New Trump Era.

    1. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge

      Re: Bah!

      I suspect that were my home to be raided I would be in deep trouble.

      A simply way to tell; are you brown, Muslim, or both?

    2. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

      Re: Bah!

      I have a copy of the Chemical Engineer's Handbook by Perry which describes things like producing nitroglycerin on an industrial scale.

      ATF, please! Not my dog!

  22. tekHedd

    It may be arguable but..

    it's pretty clear where El Reg stands on this issue, idnit?

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Googling 'Improvised Munitions Handbook' ...

    ... gives me a pdf as the top hit.

    "Don't be evil", my arse.

    1. Hans 1

      Re: Googling 'Improvised Munitions Handbook' ...

      >... gives me a pdf as the top hit.

      >"Don't be evil", my arse.

      Could be a booby trapped PDF ... No, I am not going to have a look, I don't need a wake-up call of the military kind tomorrow @ 5AM + a week off work in the slammer ... I live in France, folks, where this can happen to anybody.

  24. Shaha Alam

    would hardened ne'er-do-wells be buying this stuff from such well known places? or exchanging info freely on the dark/deep web?

    they should probably keep those books on sale. i doubt they put anyone at risk other than contestants for the darwin award.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Most of what's now available is useless

    Old pyro here, and have or have had all those books AND the ones that have the real knowledge, which is why I'm not acid-burned and still have 10 fingers.

    All I've seen in the last half decade out there either requires you have a source of HE (like stolen military stuff) or purports to show you how to make it - and sisk above has that right. One source even has you use "dead" battery acid for dehydration of a nitration as it's "stronger". Which of course is completely backwards (in real life, even pure battery acid is dilute and you'd have to concentrate it for that use).

    So, in this "new age" of ability == intent, of course I've had the BATF visit me, since I made a few things to play with as a hobby - no ill intent to anyone whatever. They were actually pretty nice about it when they saw what I did (tiny amounts help with those guys). During an interview with them and the FBI, I myself recommended they leave these spurious books on the market, as you'd be able to find all the "teeny bombers" by the burns and missing body parts, mostly the former as most of the recipes don't work.

    The good books on how to safely make and test nearly all HE are simply gone now....Except for a very few who bought them decades ago and have kept them. Until quite recently, those terrorists were using exclusively military supplies (which should tell you something about who is behind a lot of it), and only recently did the recipe for acetone peroxide "escape". Which is about as dangerous as nitrogen tri-iodide, again, often killing whoever makes it - a self solving problem most times.

    Anon this time, sorry. You'll figure out why.

    1. Black Rat
      Devil

      Re: Most of what's now available is useless

      You are Dr Sidney Alford and I claim my five pounds of Semtex.

  26. Mike 16

    How far back?

    Jules Verne's "Mysterious Island" contains instruction for making Nitroglycerin. It's probably mixed into the Project Gutenberg DVDs.

    I once hesitated too long over whether to buy a WWII era pamphlet with instructions on building an improvised pistol. The price was more than I could justify on impulse, and when I returned it had been sold. Clearly the SOE were into promoting terrorism (From Vichy's point of view) back before I was born.

    For the entertainment side, Encyclopaedia Britannica had a nice section on Pyrotechnics back when I were a lad.

    @AC: Thanks for the mental image of homeopathic explosives.

  27. Potemkine Silver badge

    if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle

    ""To protect freedom of speech and avoid censorship, unless a title is illegal we tend not to remove it from the iBooks Store," a representative at Apple told The Register."

    And this has nothing to do with maximizing their profits, of course...

  28. A Nonny Moose

    Books schmooks

    They're showing re-runs of MacGyver on the telly, that's teaching me how to make explosives out of pretty much anything!

    1. Swarthy

      Re: Books schmooks

      MacGyver is only slightly more accurate than The Anarchists' Cookbook. At least what they left off in the show won't (likely) hurt/kill you, it just won't work.

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