Culling common household items to create an uncommon arsenal of miniature gadgets and side-arms, this guidebook provides do-it-yourself spy enthusiasts with 35 different surveillance tools and weapons.

We’ve come a long way from the Peashooter Era: with the advent of modern household products and office supplies—binder clips, clothespins, rubber bands, ballpoint pens, toothpicks, paper clips, plastic utensils, and (of course) matches and barbeque lighters—troublemakers of all stripes have the components needed to build an impressive, if somewhat miniaturized, arsenal. Toy designer John Austin provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for each project, including materials and ammo lists, clear diagrams, and construction tips, for mayhem-loving MacGyvers. The 35 devices include catapults, slingshots, minibombs, darts, and combustion shooters. Build a tiny trebuchet from paper clips and a D-cell battery. Wrap a penny in a string of paper caps to create a surprisingly impressive “bomb.” Several of the projects even include variations where combatants mount laser pointer sights to their shooters to increase their accuracy. Finally, once you’ve built your armory, the author provides plans for a Top Secret Concealing Book to hide your stash, as well as targets for shooting practice. Never let your personal space go undefended again!

A guide to the best ways to lighten the mood at the office, from fun pranks to strategies for getting revenge on annoying coworkers Perfect for every cubicle drone whose eyes are beginning to glaze over from fluorescent lighting and too many burned cups of coffee, Cubicle Warfare is a guide to having fun during the daily grind. Readers will learn how to make their coworkers jump, squeal, and run for cover with hilarious office traps such as the Paper Clip Chain and the Post-it Fake Out, as well as the more advanced Freezer Bomb, Foil Office, 5 Blind Mice, and Keyboard Clover. Even if readers are not pranksters themselves, they can still use Cubicle Warfare to recognize warning signs and defend their cubicles from conniving coworkers. With Cubicle Warfare, dissatisfied office workers can vent their frustrations in fun and harmless ways—and then get back to work.

'Cubicle farms are full of enemy combatants begging to be taken out.' WIRED Achieve clandestine ends practically and inexpensively with Desk Wars - perfect for do-it-yourself spy enthusiasts. Follow fully illustrated step-by-step instructions to build 30 miniature secret weapons and surveillance tools from stationery, transforming common household items into uncommon gadgets and sidearms. Assert dominion over the desktop with these cunning contraptions:

Most policymakers see counterinsurgency and counternarcotics policy as two sides of the same coin. Stop the flow of drug money, the logic goes, and the insurgency will wither away. But the conventional wisdom is dangerously wrongheaded, as Vanda Felbab-Brown argues in Shooting Up. Counternarcotics campaigns, particularly those focused on eradication, typically fail to bankrupt belligerent groups that rely on the drug trade for financing. Worse, they actually strengthen insurgents by increasing their legitimacy and popular support. Felbab-Brown, a leading expert on drug interdiction efforts and counterinsurgency, draws on interviews and fieldwork in some of the world's most dangerous regions to explain how belligerent groups have become involved in drug trafficking and related activities, including kidnapping, extortion, and smuggling. Shooting Up shows vividly how powerful guerrilla and terrorist organizations — including Peru's Shining Path, the FARC and the paramilitaries in Colombia, and the Taliban in Afghanistan — have learned to exploit illicit markets. In addition, the author explores the interaction between insurgent groups and illicit economies in frequently overlooked settings, such as Northern Ireland, Turkey, and Burma. While aggressive efforts to suppress the drug trade typically backfire, Shooting Up shows that a laissez-faire policy toward illicit crop cultivation can reduce support for the belligerents and, critically, increase cooperation with government intelligence gathering. When combined with interdiction targeting major traffickers, this strategy gives policymakers a better chance of winning both the war against the insurgents and the war on drugs.

"Cubicle farms are full of enemy combatants begging to be taken out." -- Wired The key to becoming an accomplished marksman is to practice, practice, practice. MiniWeapons of Mass Destruction Targets contains more than 100 tear-out targets to develop your skills. The targets are divided into three themes--Basic, Secret Agent, and Dark Ages--with a variety of gameplay scenarios. Blast the lock off a chained door, knock down a castle gate, compete in a game of Around the World, or shoot several miniature targets at various locations. Rules on the back of each target describe basic and advanced play. In addition to the 100+ targets, MiniWeapons master John Austin provides instructions for building five new MiniWeapons perfect for target shooting: Safety instructions are also included, as well as a guide to setting up an in-house firing range that will protect walls and furniture.

Written for reasonable risk takers and suburban dads who want to add more excitement to their lives, this daring combination of science, history, and DIY projects explains why danger is good for you and details the art of living dangerously. All of the projects - from throwing knives, drinking absinthe, and eating fugu to cracking a bull whip, learning baritsu, and building a flamethrower - have short learning curves; are human-focused, as opposed to technology-centric; are affordable; and demonstrate true but reasonable risk.