A Booming Five Stars!!(Rating: 5)
I've had this book a while and have read it multiple times. With four growing boys in the house this is an amazing way to spend innumerable Saturdays and be the hero all at the same time!

Potato guns, tennis ball mortars and carbide cannons? Holy smokes! Talk about fun! Who said home schooling was tough?

Build a few memories with the boys, learn some basic physics and history all at the same time. Buy this book and prepare to have a 'blast'. (And, yes. Projects are totally safe if you follow the guidelines in the book.)

A BIG five stars.

Interesting and great fun(Rating: 5)
This is one of those ultimate guy books, fun for boys 8 to 80. It brought back memories of building similar devices in my youth, although I never built anything close to the diverse collection the author has brought together and describes in this interesting book. The book contains instructions and even troubleshooting suggestions for 12 different projects, ranging from a potato canon to Greek fire to the dry-cleaner bag balloon. I remember using a compound called Bangsite 40 years ago when I was a boy that was probably calcium carbide to build a primitive canon, and he was a similar one here.

In addition to all the projects, the author does a fine job of providing a little education on the fine points of the history of many of these devices, and on some of the most important inventors in history. There are briref but very readable articles on Archimedes, Robert H. Goddard (the "father of rocketry"), Alfred Nobel, and others.

A particularly interesting section is the one on the history of the catapult. The author details its use from 400 B.C. to the 15th century. For example, we learn that last successful use of the catapult (before it was replaced by canon) was at the Battle of Rhodes in 1480, and that 500 A.D. is the earliest recorded use of gravity-powered catapults or trebouchets in the Middle East. In 1191 Richard I (the "Lion-Hearted") participated in a hard-fought battle between the Franks and the Turks in which they battered each other with 300 catapults. And torsion engines were in widespread use in the Roman army by 50 A.D. In 1450, the canon supplanted the catapult throughout Europe and its long use in warfare came to an end.

There are also interesting articles on The Roman Candle, the Medieval Crossbow, and Secret Weapons (such as missiles and rockets). At 170 pages in medium-size format, there are a lot of interesting historical facts and information in addition to all the material on the projects. This is a great idea for a book and I'm surprised no-one has ever done it before.

Lots of fun(Rating: 5)
Definitely fun projects for guys! If you feel like blowing something up, but still want to be safe, this is for you!

Pleasing men of all ages!(Rating: 5)
Being an avid potato gunner, I picked this book up at the local library, and after reading it over, I just had to to get it. The book will please everyone thats into building fun projects during the lazy summer days & will provide enjoyment for hours! The book goes into very good detail with each project & stresses safety as a key thing, which is good because the projects in this book can be somewhat dangeroeus ONLY if you don't follow instructions & use common sense. I recommended this book to anyone in need for a good project to work on or just for fun! Definitly on my top 10 list.

Backyard Ballistics Review(Rating: 5)
My son and I built the potato cannon. We modified the plans to use 4 inch PVC instead of 3 inch. With the lantern sparker (from Walmart) and using Right Guard deodorant, you can launch a potato several hundred feet. Great book, fun reading.