Polverone
Now celebrating 21 years of madness
Posts: 3186
Registered: 19-5-2002
Location: The Sunny Pacific Northwest
Member Is Offline
Mood: Waiting for spring
|
|
The book being banned is an urban legend. It's still a good book. There are several sites hosting it so I wouldn't worry about future unavailability.
PGP Key and corresponding e-mail address
|
|
|
chemkid
Hazard to Others
Posts: 269
Registered: 5-4-2007
Location: Suburban Hell
Member Is Offline
Mood: polarized
|
|
I don't think it was an urban legend being as extremely few (any?) libraries actually posses a copy and copies are extremely rare and often sell for
large sums of money. Clearly something happened if they are so rare. It wouldn't seem so illogical to ban it either. Considering it recommends burning
zinc (zinc oxide), making hydrogen sulfide, never recommends goggles even with solid NaOH, and so on and so fourth.
Chemkid
[Edited on 6-2-2008 by chemkid]
|
|
|
-jeffB
Hazard to Others
Posts: 185
Registered: 6-12-2007
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by chemkid
It wouldn't seem so illogical to ban it either. Considering it recommends burning zinc (zinc oxide), making hydrogen sulfide, never recommends goggles
even with solid NaOH, and so on and so fourth.
[Edited on 6-2-2008 by chemkid] |
Sorry, not buying it. It specifically shuns sulfuric and nitric acid, saying "...they should NEVER be used in the home lab. They are much too
DANGEROUS." It doesn't have any pyro formulations, it doesn't even have tri-iodide. Compared to any "Chemical Magic" book from the period,
it's positively timid. (And I read a lot of "Chemical Magic" books from the period, believe me!)
Believe it or not, you can buy chemistry sets today that include experiments with hydrogen sulfide, burning magnesium ribbon, and more. Even
in the U.S.
|
|
|
Polverone
Now celebrating 21 years of madness
Posts: 3186
Registered: 19-5-2002
Location: The Sunny Pacific Northwest
Member Is Offline
Mood: Waiting for spring
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by chemkid
I don't think it was an urban legend being as extremely few (any?) libraries actually posses a copy and copies are extremely rare and often sell for
large sums of money. Clearly something happened if they are so rare. It wouldn't seem so illogical to ban it either. Considering it recommends burning
zinc (zinc oxide), making hydrogen sulfide, never recommends goggles even with solid NaOH, and so on and so fourth.
Chemkid
|
I imagine few libraries possess it for the same reason few libraries possess other obscure 48 year old kids' books. The copies get worn from lending,
or are not lent often enough to justify the shelf space, and are sold off/trashed to be replaced with other books. New copies can't make it to library
shelves because the book's been out of print for a long time. I've seen other home science experiments books from the same era and they're comparably
light on safety instructions, but for whatever reason a myth has grown up only around the Golden Book. It could be that the "Radioactive Boyscout"
connection has led people to believe that the Golden Book is more exceptional than it actually is.
Plenty of library systems still have the Anarchist's Cookbook, which is more dangerous in every way than the Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments.
It's very difficult to censor books in the US and this would be a notable free speech case had it happened, but I don't think it did. Every mention
I've seen of government suppression of this book has been vague and unreferenced. Repetition has led people to believe it's true despite the facial
implausibility of the claim and the lack of evidence.
PGP Key and corresponding e-mail address
|
|
|
-jeffB
Hazard to Others
Posts: 185
Registered: 6-12-2007
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by LSD25
More importantly, I note that the original link above doesn't go to the PDF anymore? |
You can find a link to the PDF on this page at the same site. Enjoy!
|
|
|
chemkid
Hazard to Others
Posts: 269
Registered: 5-4-2007
Location: Suburban Hell
Member Is Offline
Mood: polarized
|
|
Though chemical magic clearly suggests some rather dangerous experiments, the preface to the first addition of Chemical Magic sets down some "hard and
fast rules" including "students are permitted to perform dangerous experiment only under competent adult supervision." The experiments may be
dangerous, but it actually recommends the use of safety, contrary to Golden Book of Chemistry which has the bare minimum on safety recommendations.
(though i did find it very peculiar that the text shunned nitric and sulfuric acid, i can't disagree with you there) I would be interested to see
other texts from the time and see what they say about safety.
Chemkid
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xpblue/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
