Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon

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.

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.

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.

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