Customer Reviews

Boomerangs: How to Make and Throw Them

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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.

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.

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.

Mason tells how to build and throw an assortment of throwing objects besides the boomerangs, built out of wood or cardboard. As well, he suggests forms of competitions and judging. He puts a big emphasis on safety -- boomerangs and throwing sticks were designed to bring down small game, or even enemy warriors, so they require care in use. This would be a great addition to the after-school or summer fun program of your park, club, or school. It's also fine to do by yourself during the hours the playground is empty.

I loved this book as a kid so I purchased a copy for my kids.

Everything you need to know to make boomerangs of all types is covered here. The book does show its age some, as do many Dover reprints (you are unlikley to find the wooden sticks used by service stations for checking gas level anymore... use a thick yardstick instead).

My son has an affinity for the Aussie weapon. He often would try to construct a model boomerang from cardboard and other materials. A few would last for a brief duration while others failed altogether. I purchased this book to help him better understand the structural considerations among the various boomerang designs in use. The book is a quick read, and soon afterwards my son was designing better boomerangs.

Very easy book to read and understand. I have yet to try to build any of the booerangs it explains how to build, but I now have the basic understanding of how to do just that.

This is an excellent introduction to making and throwing boomerangs, but is a little out of date. Unless you want to make a left handed boomerang, this book will show you everything you need. I found the section on tumblesticks especially interesting.