2/03/2009

I have formed a "book club"

I have formed an IM book club. So far the only members are my friend Ofer and myself. If you are interested in joining our book club all you have to do is read the chosen book and then IM with us about it. Those are the only rules. You don't even have to leave the house! 

This month's book was:



Mantrapping by Ragnar Benson.



I was fascinated by the book from the moment I first saw the cover. I mean, who names their kid Ragnar? It sounds like a character from Battlefield Earth or a viking or something. Awesome!
Also, the book is about how to trap people. Who knew this stuff existed? Not me. It's mind boggling. Sort of like that band I posted for you a while back, The Berserker. I'll bet If those guys had a book club they would probably read Mantrapping. They would also probably read with gloves on like they do when they play the guitar.(I'll tell you a secret: just thinking of trying to turn a page with gloves on makes me feel really uncomfortable. blek.)
Anyway, Mantrapping is a pretty quick read especially if you skip over the crappy writing and just look at the 20 or so diagrams of traps. I read the introduction and all it really says is that you're about to read a book about trapping people and how trapping people is way harder than trapping rabbits because people are smarter than rabbits. It's pretty straightforward stuff. The rest of the book is a bunch of wicked boring descriptions of traps which, with one look at the diagram you're like, "oh, i get it. sweet." *turn page* The diagrams are way better then the words. Check this one out:


They're all like that. Simple and to the point with just enough detail so that you could totally build one yourself. Except for the Cuban Water Trap. I still have no idea what's going on there. 

The only problem that I have with a lot of these "traps" is that they're not really traps. They're more like killing machines activated by tripwires. 

Traditional Jungle Snare? Trap
Jivaro Catapult? NOT a trap.



If I got hit by this thing and somebody asked me what happened to me I wouldn't say "Oh I got trapped" I'd be like, "I got slapped in the face with a board of nails and I am dead now because of it." Regardless of it's official trap status the Jivaro Catapult is totally my fav.

Ofer's favorite "trap" was the Armored Personnel Carrier Trap:





Wow, ok this post is getting really long and honestly I'm getting a little bored writing it. If I'm getting bored you guys probably went to lolcats a long time ago. If you somehow made it this far, i love you.

P.S.
If you are interested in joining our IM book club next month just send me your internet screen name and get yourself a copy of:



See you next time! LOL!

4 comments:

Ofer said...

I LOLed when I saw that I had totally LOLed. That post is like an LOL mantrap

pete said...

So it worked! An LOL mantrap...Ragnar would be so proud!

Jean's Mom said...

Oh man, this was so funny! I laughed so hard, and then I looked up lolcats, and they are not funny at all.

Jaime said...

HA! Amazing.