Paul, Jim. Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon. Avon, 1991.
Reason read: In October there is a festival where people fling pumpkins. Read in honor of gourds flying.
Jim Paul first got the idea to build a siege weapon when he was traveling back from Utah a decade or so before 9/11. He had been in the desert writing a piece about Dinosaur National Monument when he found a sizable piece of quartz. Toting this quartz through security at the airport he said, “It’s not a weapon. It’s just a rock” but the more he thought about it the more he envisioned the quartz flying through the air like some kind of Monty Python gag. Recruiting his first-name-only friend, Harry, Paul goes about finding funding to build a catapult as an art installment. What transpires is a humorous look at history, science, physics and friendship.
As an aside, Jim Paul was not the only person to be fascinated with flinging things. Ozzy Osbourne wanted to fling chicken livers into the audience during his early shows.
Jim Paul was also very funny. Here are two quotes that made me laugh, “Her scream made my eardrums rattle like bad speakers” and he confessed to a “therapeutic measure of irresponsibility” (p 10).
As an aside, when Paul mentioned a woman named Veronica worked on the movie Star Wars I had to wonder if she was in the series ILM. I think Harry worked at ILM, too. Can you tell I am watching the ILM series right now?
Author fact: In addition to being a writer for the Washing Post Jim Paul was also a poet.
Book trivia: The illustrations are pretty cool.
Music: Frank Sinatra’s “Young at Heart” and Guns ‘n Roses.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Living Your Dream” (p 156).
~*LunaSea*~ 