Boomerangs: How to Make and Throw Them [Paperback]

Bernard S. Mason (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1974

Learn to make and fly nearly every type of boomerang! This outstanding primer combines native methods and the author's new designs — all of them easy to make and throw, safe, and full of possibilities. Varieties include cross-stick boomerangs from 14 inches to 3 feet, pinwheel boomerangs, bird- and airplane-shaped boomerangs, and more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (June 1, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486230287
• ISBN-13: 978-0486230283
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #382,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems > Manufacturing
  • #30 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Outdoors & Nature > Hiking & Camping > Instructional

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic book on boomerangs, November 18, 2005

By 

Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boomerangs: How to Make and Throw Them (Paperback)

Would you like to make a boomerang? This book will teach you how to do that. And it tells us plenty about all sorts of boomerangs and how to throw them.

You start with a stick. You round the top side to a roughly convex shape while the bottom remains flat. And you bend the ends slightly towards the convex side. If you do it really well, it may already be a boomerang (called a "tumblestick"). You can try it. But it is better to make two of them and attach them to make a "cross-stick" boomerang. These tend to work very well indeed, unless they get caught in a wind. You can even put three of these sticks together, to get a "pinwheel" boomerang. And Mason describes a bunch of variations on all these designs.

Of the variations, the most interesting are the "boomabirds," which look like birds. There is some fascinating material on how to make them.

The book also includes a section on Australian boomerangs. There are two types. One is called the "return" boomerang. When thrown vertically, it makes an arc and returns (unless it hits something). The other is misleadingly called the "non-return" boomerang. When thrown horizontally, it returns. But when thrown vertically, it just keeps going until it lands. Australian boomerangs are weapons, and birds (which generally do not realize that they need to avoid them) are the prime targets.

I enjoyed reading this book, and I recommend it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Slightly dated, but good information, November 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Boomerangs: How to Make and Throw Them (Paperback)

The book concentrates mostly on crosswing boomerangs and those built along the same lines. These are a lot of fun to make and fly but if you really want to get into the real thing (sport booms, not "hunting") there are better, more informative books available.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very baroque, but a fun read for present-day boomerang throwers, July 11, 2005

By 

Christoph Schmitz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boomerangs: How to Make and Throw Them (Paperback)

I'd like to state that this is definitely not the book you should read if you want to make or throw a contemporary sports boomerang. The instructions Mason offers really scare me: he proposes multi-bladed boomerangs with a diameter of 36 inches with a 5 inch metal screw poking out on the back for easy one handed catching - give me a break! Two-bladed boomerangs only occupy a small bit of the book.

On the other hand, it's a nice historical view on a certain stage in the evolution of sports boomerangs (the book is from 1937 originally), and it contains the only description I know (including the web as known to Google) of one-bladed boomerangs, so-called tumblesticks.