Christmas: boring. Getting instructions for shooting your brother in the face with that gift card: better. With easy-to-follow directions for building deadly miniature weaponry like trebuchets, catapults and crossbows out of clothespins, chopsticks and, yes, gift cards, John Austin’s Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction 3 (Chicago Review Press) is a valuable resource for carrying out terrorist actions around the house. This third volume in the series focuses on siege weapons of the Dark Ages, meaning that with just a few binder clips and ballpoint pens, you can re-create battle scenes from Game of Thrones while you wait for Season Four. All in all, a good way to stave off holiday boredom.
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2013.
