But when it comes to the theory and practice of making your own noisy, mildly dangerous fun in the backyard, America has a new poet laureate. It also contains meticulous directions for making a real, live, beastly flamethrower in your garage — albeit the propane kind, not the ridiculously dangerous liquid-based variety. Making even small quantities of gunpowder, he adds, “puts you in the rarefied company of such important historical figures as Joan of Arc, Roger Bacon, Mark the Greek, Lammot du Pont, Black Berthold and Leonardo da Vinci. I have nothing against any of these things, but Gurstelle is at his best in the garage with a “This Old Tennis Ball Mortar” sort of project. Absinthe & Flamethrowers ends with Gurstelle’s own kind of Declaration of Independence, one perhaps worth reading aloud on the Fourth of July, ideally after strapping a battered football helmet onto your head so you look a bit like B.

Tags: is, the, paintings, and, to, self portrait of Da Vinci, the Adoration of Mag, leonardo da vinci