Does anyone know the characteristics of different types of fuels? Like what burns and what explodes? And what about diesel vs. gasoline vs. stove fuel? Please help! I need a cool way to start a bonfire and I don't want to lose all my hair.

the heavier the fuel the less likely it will "burst" into flames. No fuels really explode, just some are much more volatile than others and are hence more flammable.
Diesel or kerosene won't really flare up. One cool thing I've done is poured gasoline onto a pile, the stood back and shot at it with bottle rockets until the gasoline caught fire. You could also mix gasoline and oil to make a heavier fuel.

what i do is through whatever on all my wood then make a trail of fuel to where we are drinking at then whenever we want the fire lite we just through a match onto the trail and then your not near the bonfire when it goes up
*note* dont leave a 44 gallon drum 1/3 full of fuel next to the fire