Ask HN: Does the Anarchist's Cookbook still have any practical uses?

9 points robfjames | 10 comments | 19 Oct 24 00:11 UTC | HN request time: 0.636s | source | bottom

the 1971 book from William Powell, specifically. Remember wanting to read it as a kid and eventually doing so on early versions of the internet, but even then it seemed either over my head, make believe or outdated.

just curious.

1. ctoth ◴[19 Oct 24 00:26 UTC] No.41884651[source]▶
Yes. It serves a purpose. It allows people to know anyone who cites it is ~17 and knows everything about everything ;-)
replies(1): >>41885176 #
2. nosmokewhereiam ◴[19 Oct 24 01:27 UTC] No.41884926[source]▶
He made a doc explaining his difference of views now vs when he wrote it, that felt more relevant.
3. sksxihve ◴[19 Oct 24 01:32 UTC] No.41884945[source]▶
There's a documentary (American Anarchist) about William Powell and Anarchist's Cookbook, his remorse for writing it and how he felt about it, absolute rubbish as he put it.
4. L0in ◴[19 Oct 24 01:48 UTC] No.41885019[source]▶
It never had.
5. ctoth ◴[19 Oct 24 02:24 UTC] No.41885176[source]▶
I was actually talking about my earlier self here, sorry if I hit a nerve!
6. mikeodds ◴[19 Oct 24 05:05 UTC] No.41885764[source]▶
driving a non zero amount of demand in the teen segment for fertiliser?
7. brudgers ◴[19 Oct 24 05:54 UTC] No.41885918[source]▶
If you want to trip on morning glory seeds, yes.
8. mikewarot ◴[19 Oct 24 10:36 UTC] No.41887001[source]▶
Once upon a time, I read through TM 31-210[1], and it seemed to me that anyone who had a long term goal of doing bad things to someone, could clearly do so with this as a guide. I decided I'm not that type of person.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TM_31-210_Improvised_Munitions...

9. JohnFen ◴[19 Oct 24 14:02 UTC] No.41887817[source]▶
It has exactly as many practical uses now as it did then (not that many). However, it's full of a ton of bullshit, and some of it is dangerous bullshit.

Another thing that's as true now as it has ever been: you can easily learn the same stuff (and more) with a much lower amount of bullshit by going to the library and reading the more mainstream sources. They won't be written in as breezy or entertaining of a style, but they'll be much more dependable and comprehensive.

A chemist friend of mine once commented about the chemistry-related (particularly incendiary and explosive) things: if you really want to learn how to be dangerous, a wizard, or do really cool party tricks, your best bet is to actually learn chemistry more holistically. I bet the same is true for the other things in it as well.