Customer Reviews

Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is NOT intended as a "technical" handbook on making catapults: If that's your thing, you should probably try to find the equivalent of "Medieval Soldiers of Fortune." Nor is it a popular mechanics book primarily for men; just as fine arts are not, of course, just for women.

Instead, it is a book about two men who build an anachonism, and have fun while doing it. Inspired by a Scientific American volume, delving into ancient and contemporary history (they meet the inventor of the "Ozzy Osbourne Liver Launcher," a catapult designed to fling cow organs into the audience, but which, in its beta version, splattered security personnel on stage) they recount the difficulties of recreating a centuries-old weapon without DOD funding (although they succeed in winning a $500 grant from a local Arts Center "to observe the impulse to shoot a catapult").

The authors describe the catapult's history, with notes on the development, historical use, and mechanics of other weapons. All of this is interesting, but is not the heart of the book: How two contemporary adults--with the vague and unencumbered fascination of the naive--transcend limited mechanical and material resources and build something transcendent and personal, both art and science. Self-indulgent? Perhaps. But clear, plain writing and a nice eye for detail make this entertaining and unusual story work.

Catapult is perhaps my favorite book - and I'm a nonfiction writer, who reads. The ironic voice, the pitch-perfect sense of humor, the grabby topic - but best of all, Paul interweaves a beautifully and concisely told story, about boys being boys, with a fascinating episodes-with-catapults history and with a surprising and wary meditation on the joys but also the questionable consequences of boys being boys. It's terrific.

...

In this book, Jim Paul too is fascinated by catapults and by the concept of throwing stones for great distances. He wangles some grant money, recruits his friend Harry and together they build a working catapult & hurl stones off of a cliff in Marin County. Interspersed with the true story of their project are vignettes from the history of the catapult and siege engines ranging from Biblical Times to Edward "Hammer of the Scots".

I loved it and I don't think a weird obsession with ancient weapons is required.

GRADE: B

I read this book when it first came out in 1991, which was before medieval siege weapons had become trendy. When the crew on Northern Exposure launched a piano, I wondered if somebody had read Jim Paul's book. When I discovered that PBS was doing a special on trebuchets, I looked this book up to see if it was still in print. Paul must have influenced these other experimenters.

This is a guy's book. It is about a quest; the noble search to do something completely useless and extravagent. The journey is the reward. The book was educational, but that isn't its purpose--it certainly isn't an instruction book for Society members looking for accessories for their costume. This is about doing something so old that it is new, on a scale that seems impossible for two individuals. This is an adventure, and it was a privilege to share it with Jim and Harry.

The problem might be in me, having bought this book with the wrong set of expectations, but Jim Paul spends a lot of time writing about things that aren't the catapult -- the engineering and weapon-maker's mindset, masculinity, objectivity about one's work, friendship, family, art. Paul is a talented writer, with a real gift for the mot juste and the ability to pick out the distinguishing characteristics of people, things and events, and if the book had been called _Jim Paul Reflects On Life_, I probably would have liked it better.

But it's called _Catapult_, and I expected more information on the catapult itself, rather than just having it as a spur to drive the reflections forward. There's not a single diagram of the completed catapult; the only photograph is a deliberately arty one in ultra-high contrast so that all you see is a black silhouette against the blank white sky.

Basically, I identify with Harry -- I would have loved to have known more about Harry's thoughts as the project developed -- what worked, what didn't, approaches considered and rejected, tradeoffs made in design, and so on and so forth. Engineering stuff. But this side of the project is given pretty short shrift.

This is not a book about mediaeval weaponry, it is a book about a man who becomes obsessed with an illogical pursuit - building a catapult. The man knows nothing about such endeavors, like myself when I first read it, and being historically accurate was not his goal. He just wants to shoot a projectile with as much force as he can. As Mr. Paul became engrossed in his quest, I became engrossed in his book - and his obsession. I lost this book in the Ft. Collins flood several years ago and have been obsessively trying to find another copy. Thanks, Amazon.com.

Hey everybody, it's not a how-to manual, so if you come with that expectation you'll be disappointed (although there was more than enough detail for my taste). This quirky and wondrous account of two guys and their nutty project--think of Jim and Harry as ego and id--is more in the vein of Ross McElwee's Sherman's March, opening a big but oddly shaped window on history and the human soul. It also became an instant favorite of my technology besotted 10 yr old when he got hold of it.

Jim Paul is an author who perfected a genre of writing - creative non fiction. In Catapult, Jim and Harry convince an art foundation to fund their project, building a life size seige weapon. Inspired by rocks they collected and can't wait to launch, they scrounge parts and tools to fashion the weapon, and finally get permission to stage their launching on the Marin headlands near SF, but the permit has a notation, "simulated rocks"only. Although the narrative itself ends in a one time use performance of the machine, the action, trailing connections to medieval and modern warfare, transforms the horror of killing into the wonder of playing. Jim is a great writer, bringing mystery and serendipity into simple actions, e.g. looking for springs and other metal parts. His musing about the history and the engineering of seige weapons is only a part of the researched information the reader will ingest as easily as the story about artists and whimsical passions.

I was at a reading party with friends, taking turns reciting passages from our favorate books and I noticed than Mary had a book called "Catapult." I instantly realized that I had to have it.

You see, I've built siege weapons myself. Granted they are mere models but I do have greater vision.

To be honest, Jim Paul's story was a little dissappointing. He prose is good and, as a writer, he is accomplished, but I think he missed out somewhat on the true wonder of hurling objects great distances. Oh sure, he realizes while he's actually throwing rocks over the cliff that he's having fun, he later retreats from this joy, back into the world of the serious artist that must find deeper meaning in such a 'performance piece.' The catapult that Jim and his friend Harry spent so much time, money and spiritual energy was used on one morning and then put away.

I found the three chapters chronicling the development of the attom bomb to be needlessly philosophical and not really on the topic of ancient siege engines. His other historical asides were very interresting and clearly on topic, although, his story of Napoleon's catapult was actually a trebuchet.

Which brings me to another little personal nit: Jim Paul derrides the medieval trebuchet, a counterweight device, as being "imprecise, immovable, liable to break down and generally stupid." As a builder of these devices, I can attest that, when properly built they are highly accurate an consistant device. A small device I made would consistantly hit a man-sized target 30 yards away with a golf ball. Trebuchets, using the smooth and constant acceleration of gravity to power them, are less prone to the catastrophic breakage that can happen with a torsion machine and, with less stresses, the machines were able to be built larger and have a greater payload than any previous design.

OK, so I've taken that a little personally.

Anyway, if your looking for some inspiration to build something a little on the wild side, "Catapult" is a geed book to read. I would like to see someone out there do a similar thing, but from the point of view of someone who knows it's going to be really neat and a lot of fun. There are certainly people out there who have built these great machines for just those reasons. Hey! You with the siege engine! Tell me your story and we'll write a book! Any takers?

Kevin Geiselman END

This book describes a project I myself might have dreamed up, and people who might as well be my friends, who help the catapult project along. It takes place in the SF bay area, and it involves a long term project taken on by two very human, very average friends who build a catapult to throw stones into the ocean. It's a great story, and it's full of wonderfully human characters who you would love to hang out with. A must for those who thrive on projects as entertainment