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The Dangerous Book for Boys | 
| Authors: Conn Iggulden, Hal Iggulden
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $9.99
You Save: $16.96 (63%)
New (71) Used (32) Collectible (7) from $9.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  647 reviews
Sales Rank: 435
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 270
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 7.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0061243582
Dewey Decimal Number: 031.02
EAN: 9780061243585
ASIN: 0061243582
Publication Date: May 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This terrific book celebrates old-fashioned boyhood, when fishing, skimming stones, building tree houses and watching cloud formations were the stuff of everyday adventures. It's a guide for digital-age dads as well as sons on how to reclaim it together. The book covers eclectic topics and skills such as 5 knots every boy should know, fossils, common trees, navigation, coin tricks and oodles of facts and activities. Engagingly written and, we might add, is a pretty fun read for girls, too. 288 pages. Ages 8 to 88.
Amazon.com Review
Equal parts droll and gorgeous nostalgia book and heartfelt plea for a renewed sense of adventure in the lives of boys and men, Conn and Hal Iggulden's iThe Dangerous Book for Boys/i became a mammoth bestseller in the United Kingdom in 2006. Adapted, in moderation, for American customs in this edition (cricket is gone, rugby remains; conkers are out, Navajo Code Talkers in), iThe Dangerous Book/i is a guide book for dads as well as their sons, as a reminder of lore and technique that have not yet been completely lost to the digital age. Recall the adventures of Scott of the Antarctic and the Battle of the Somme, relearn how to palm a coin, tan a skin, and, most charmingly, wrap a package in brown paper and string. The book's ambitions are both modest and winningly optimistic: you get the sense that by learning how to place a splint or write in invisible ink, a boy might be prepared for anything, even girls (which warrant a small but wise chapter of their own). p align=left span class="h1"strongInside iThe Dangerous Book for Boys/i/strong/span ptable width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="4" cellpadding="4" tr align="center" valign="top" class="tiny" td width="35%"img src="http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/a-plus/Iggulden_Knots_06_250._V22799812_.jpg" border="0"brFigure 8 Knot/td td width="65%"img src="http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/a-plus/Iggulden_Knots_17._V23062802_.jpg" border="0"brSheet Bend Knot/td /tr /table ptable width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="4" cellpadding="4" tr align="center" valign="top" class="tiny" td width="100%"img src="http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/a-plus/Iggulden_Waterloo_500._V22799815_.jpg" border="0"brThe Battle of Waterloo/td /tr /table p p align=left span class="h1"strongQuestions for Conn Iggulden/strong/span p Conn and Hal Iggulden are two brothers who have not forgotten what it was like to be boys. Conn taught for many years before becoming one of the most admired and popular young historical novelists with his Emperor series, based on the life of Julius Caesar, and his newly embarked series on Genghis Khan, while Hal is a theater director. We asked Conn about their collaboration. p strongAmazon.com:/strong It's difficult to describe what a phenomenon iThe Dangerous Book for Boys/i was in the UK last year. When I would check the bestseller list on our sister site, Amazon.co.uk, there would be, along with your book, which spent much of the year at the top of the list, a half-dozen apparent knockoff books of similar boy knowledge. Clearly, you tapped into something big. What do you think it was? pimg src=" http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/a-plus/Iggulden_Conn_200._V22799813_.jpg" border="0" align="right"strongIggulden:/strong In a word, fathers. I am one myself and I think we've become aware that the whole "health and safety" overprotective culture isn't doing our sons any favors. Boys need to learn about risk. They need to fall off things occasionally, or--and this is the important bit--they'll take worse risks on their own. If we do away with challenging playgrounds and cancel school trips for fear of being sued, we don't end up with safer boys--we end up with them walking on train tracks. In the long run, it's not safe at all to keep our boys in the house with a Playstation. It's not good for their health or their safety. p You only have to push a boy on a swing to see how much enjoys the thrill of danger. It's hard-wired. Remove any opportunity to test his courage and they'll find ways to test themselves that will be seriously dangerous for everyone around them. I think of it like playing the lottery--someone has to say "Look, you iwon't/i win--and your children iwon't/i be hurt. Relax. It iwon't/i be you." p I think that's the core of the book's success. It isn't just a collection of things to do. The heroic stories alone are something we haven't had for too long. It isn't about climbing Everest, but it is an attitude, a philosophy for fathers and sons. Our institutions are too wrapped up in terror over being sued--so we have to do things with them ourselves. This book isn't a bad place to start. p As for knockoff books--great. They'll give my son something to read that doesn't involve him learning a dull moral lesson of some kind--just enjoying an adventure or learning skills and crafts so that he has a feeling of competence and confidence--just as we have. pstrongAmazon.com:/strong You made some changes for the U.S. edition, and I for one am sorry that you have removed the section on conkers, if only because it's such a lovely and mysterious word. What are (or what is) conkers? pstrongIggulden:/strong Horse chestnuts strung on a shoelace and knocked against one another until they shatter. In the entire history of the world, no one has ever been hurt by a conker, but it's still been banned by some British schools, ijust in case/i. Another school banned paper airplanes. Honestly, it's enough to make you weep, if I did that sort of thing, which I try not to. Reading Jane Austen is still allowed, however. pstrongAmazon.com:/strong What knowledge did you decide was important to add for American boys? I notice in both editions you have an excellent and useful section on table football, as played with coins. Is paper football strictly an American pastime? I'm not sure I could have gotten through the fourth grade without it. pstrongIggulden:/strong I like knowing the details of battles, so Gettysburg and the Alamo had to go in, along with the Gettysburg address, stickball, state capitals, U.S. mountains, American trees, insects, U.S. historical timelines, and a lot of others. Navajo code talkers of WWII is a great chapter. It probably helps that I am a huge fan of America. It was only while rewriting for the U.S. that I realized how many positive references there already are. You have NASA and NASA trumps almost anything. p As for paper football, ever since I thought of putting the book together, people keep saying things like "You have rockets in there, yes? Everyone loves rockets!" Paper football is the first American one, but there will be many others. No book in the world is long enough to put them all in--unless we do a sequel, of course. pstrongAmazon.com:/strong Do you think iThe Dangerous Book for Boys/i is being read by actual boys, or only by nostalgic adults? Have you seen boys getting up from their Xboxes to go outside and perform first aid or tan animal skins or build go-carts? pstrongIggulden:/strong I've had a lot of emails and letters from boys who loved the book--as well as fathers. I've had responses from kids as young as ten and an old man of 87, who pointed out a problem with the shadow stick that we've since changed. The thing to remember is that we may be older and more cynical every year, but boys simply aren't. If they are given the chance to make a go-cart with their dad, they jump at it. Mine did. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to know the book is being used with fathers and sons together, trying things out. Nothing is more valuable to a boy than time with his dad, learning something fun--or something difficult. That's part of the attitude too. If it's hard, you don't make it easy, you grab it by the throat and hang on for as long as it takes. p The book is often bought by fathers, of course. Their sons don't know Scott of the Antarctic is a great adventure story. How could they if it isn't taught any more? Good, heroic stories don't appear much in modern school curriculums--and then we wonder why boys don't seem interested. pstrongAmazon.com:/strong And finally, on to the important questions: Should Pluto still be a planet? And what was the best dinosaur? pstrongIggulden:/strong Pluto is a planet. I know there are scientists who say it isn't, but it's big enough to be round and it has a moon, for crying out loud. Of course it's a planet. Give it ten years and they'll be agreeing with me again. p As for the best dinosaur, it depends what you mean by best. For sheer perfection, it probably has to be the shark and the crocodile. Modern ones are smaller but their record for sheer survival is pretty impressive. I only hope humanity can do as well. The only thing that will stop us is worrying too much. /p
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| Customer Reviews: Read 642 more reviews...
 Great gift January 7, 2009
I got this for my cousin (he's 13) and it was a big hit! He got it just before dinner started and he wouldn't eat because he was too busy reading. :)br /br /I got the girls book for his younger sister and encouraged them to read each others' books, which they seemed to like the idea of. Lots of things for them to do together!
Great Book for All Ages - even teenagers! January 7, 2009
I purchased this book for my teen son after reading good reviews from others. I agree, it's great! My son hasn't put the book down in days and has even shared the book with friends. The topics vary greatly but it's what curious boys want to know. Some topics include tying knots, understanding grammar, how to play poker, how to identifying trees, famous battles, and the list goes on. There really is something for everyone in this well written book.br /I will purchase other copies to share with nephews and cousins.
the dangerous book for boys January 6, 2009
A book every boy should have!! A partial solution to getting kids away from in front of the TV and out and about exploring.
dangerous book for boys January 6, 2009
This was a Christmas gift for a grandson, I looked it over when it arrivedbr /and I was really impressed.
Great for an 11 eyar old boy. January 6, 2009
I bought this book for my 11 eyar old son, and he loves it. It is full of interesting stuff - stories, activities, lessons, facts, history, and lots of cool things for boys to do. Lots of variety, easy to read, short articles - it made me want to be 11 myself!
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