Amazon seller suck

[Dreamstalker]

I ordered a used copy of The Anarchist's Cookbook off Amazon a few weeks ago.

It arrived yesterday. Ordinary manila envelope that feels a bit thinner/lighter than the book should be. OK...

What I wound up getting was a marginal-quality comb-bound photocopy (according to my dad, the book was...well, a bound book). Two problems: a) this was intended as a gift and b) isn't that illegal? I now seem to recall a couple other people having problems with the guy, but now can't find the website where that was posted.

I intended to contact Amazon directly right off, but they won't let me do anything without contacting the seller first. So I've contacted the seller through Amazon, we'll see what happens.

[Gerrinson]

I've seen several copies of this particular book both normal bound and looking like the one that you describe. My reaction to the ones that look like copies was the same as yours. I believe they were probably illegal copies, but if you look at the target audience for the book, it's not too much of a surprise.

The people who had the legality challenged copies were just happy to have a copy of some sort. Perhaps a wee bit too happy...

[Dreamstalker]

Yeah. I now find out that there is another version written as a "response" to the original...pondering whether to just return this one, get a legit copy of the newer book, and d/l the original...if that's even possible.

To me, $20 for a (poor) photocopy isn't quite right, IMO. It's the principle of the thing...if I'm going to pay full cover price, I want a real book. There was nothing on the listing indicating that this was going to be a copy, and that misrepresentation is what bugs me..

[Jbball]

Wait.. you're giving someone the anarchists cookbook as a gift?

The same book that teaches you how to build bomb (and atomic bombs)?

Damn kid...

[DevilBoy]

To me, $20 for a (poor) photocopy isn't quite right, IMO. It's the principle of the thing...if I'm going to pay full cover price, I want a real book.

$20 is nowhere near the full cover price for that book... at least not a new copy.
I have seen copies of the book sell for $200+.
If you are paying less than around $75, you are more likely to get a photocopied version.

Here is a version that seems to be a legit, used copy of the trade paperback version:

http://www.biblio.com/books/179233743.html

[Nyoibo]

Wait.. you're giving someone the anarchists cookbook as a gift?

The same book that teaches you how to build bomb (and atomic bombs)?

Damn kid...

My dad taught me to make bombs when I was about 6 or 7.

[Captain Trips]

Making an atom bomb isn't that hard either - at least in theory. High school science fairs have had them. You just bring two perfect hemispheres of uranium 235 (that together mass more than 6 kilograms) together quickly, and BOOM - no more city! (The real trick, though, is to bring them together so fast that they don't melt each other before they merge into critical mass. Oh, and getting the uranium isn't that easy either.)

[RayvenQ]

Wait.. you're giving someone the anarchists cookbook as a gift?

The same book that teaches you how to build bomb (and atomic bombs)?

Damn kid...

Maybe the person who it is for is like me, someone who has neither the resources nor inclination to actually put any of it to any use, but are regardless amused and entertained by the information within.

'sides, would come in handy in a Zombie Apocolypse.

[Dreamstalker]

Correct. Not to say that the person couldn't get some of the materials if they really wanted to, but they like staying on the law's good side.

I figured out how to make a smoke bomb at age 10...not once did I use that power for evil though as I knew my dad would kick my ass if I got arrested/set anything on fire. How I was able to get my paws on potassium nitrate at that young age...I still don't know how that was finagled.

The title listing I made the purchase from specified a paperback--IME, "unknown binding" in the listing means you don't know what you'll end up with. PB/HC should be obvious.

[wagegoth]

If you just want the text, you can download the book for free. How legal is it? I don't know. But, well, it's about anarchy, what is more anarchic than the internet?

[Hyndis]

Wait.. you're giving someone the anarchists cookbook as a gift?

The same book that teaches you how to build bomb (and atomic bombs)?

Damn kid...

Ehh, its overrated. Building a nuclear bomb is actually an extremely simple thing. Its basically a sphere of fissile material surrounded by soccer ball shaped pieces of hard plastic explosive (jigsawed like the surface of a soccer ball to make a sphere) with all of the detonators connected by wires of the same length. Thats it.


Now, getting your hands on the fissile materials and the plastic explosives and the detonators and the machine shop to work the metal...thats another matter entirely! Rather bit more difficult to get the parts.

[Bliss]

Meh, a professionally bound copy of the anarchist's cookbook is akin to a Hobo stick-and-bag made by prada... I mean, wtf I'd preffer the original "bound in toilet paper in a kid's basement" original style any day for the representation of what that book used to be, any day.

[PepperElf]

id say return it as "item was not as advertised"

i did that for a book i ordered once.... the sticker on the back said "Lunar Activities by Elizabeth Moon" but the book itself was some Haig techno-thriller book. they refunded me the cost of the book and some shipping too.

[bunnyboy]

As for legality...well it's legal for a few reasons....

mostly because most of the things in there are actually stuff that I once knew people could do for science fairs.... or the stuff is hard to get ahold of....


now I remember when you had the net versions which had the unintended, but (in my sick and warped way) darwinian "errors" in some of the recipies.

well that and IIRC didn't they have various designs for various Phreek boxes... who still uses those?

[PepperElf]

then again, if it was illegal to sell or read... amazon wouldn't be offering it, right?

though.... schools, universities, places of employment (etc) can have their own bans on bringing that book onto their property.

and of course, check with your local state laws.