The Dangerous Book for Boys
by Conn Iggulden, Hal Iggulden
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Book Reviews of The Dangerous Book for Boys
Book Review: What's with the title? It isn't 1950 last time I checked...
Summary: 3 Stars
I looked through this book at Borders, and there is certainly some fun and interesting content for any child boy OR girl. I am a male and am quite baffled that such a blatantly discriminatory title is a bestseller. It's the 21st century, fellow men, and girls are just as capable as tying knots and learning how to fish and all that great stuff that supposedly no longer exists because video games and feminists ruined it all. Everyone is so hung up about teaching their boys to be men: is being a decent human being not good enough? Just because males have been the heads of households historically(a fact attributable to the mere coincidence of being physically stronger than our female counterparts), it doesn't mean that we have some innate right to be in that position. Times change, and just as we realized that keeping slaves probably isn't a morally upright thing, so too have we outgrown(at least partially) the assumption that the sexes are irreconcilably different. Teach your kids to respect everyone, not this rehashed machismo nostalgia that I'm sure James Dobson would endorse.
Yes, I realize that none of what I have said is expressed explicitly in the book. The fact that it is geared to a male-only audience is enough to send a red flag. This falls into the same camp as that dribble "Wild at Heart" and the Promise Keepers. Be leaders in the world because its a good thing to do, not because its a male thing to do. The end.
Book Review: Buy this for boys of any age!
Summary: 5 Stars
Today we often hear people lament the "good old days" when we let our children walk to school, and we scolded them when they fell out of trees before taking them to the hospital. No-one sued anyone for negligence, and there was a widely held, if not actually admitted, assumption that boys had to break something (or at least lose a good deal of skin) in order to be real boys.
This book celebrates the essence of those heady days without encouraging the injuries that I'm sure we can do without. Boys are still boys in the land of the Iggulden brothers!
This is a book for boys who (a) don't play computer games, (b) watch much TV and (c) are frightened of girls (there is a very informative chapter about this essential topic). Now of course we know that there are NO boys like this in the modern Western world, so this is the very book to buy for small boys who have no idea what to do when there is no electirical screen, and for big boys who have fond memories of such times.
ALL boys need to know how to tie knots, and go fishing, and discuss dinosaurs with a degree of confidence. ALL boys need to know how to live a life within their imagination, and to enjoy the simpler things in life.
This is a beautiful, well crafted and physically desirable book, one which will charm and delight any boy that you know. I know my 45 year old husband appreciated it enormously at his last birthday!
Book Review: Not Very Dangerous At All!
Summary: 3 Stars
My eleven year old son received this book as a birthday present, looked at the table of contents and put it aside. I think the title fascinated him, but the contents did not live up to the name. There are not many "dangerous" chapters in the book when you sift through it. By age eleven he has already read about many of the battles discussed here, and has seen the movie "Touching the Void" and read the book "Endurance".
I think he was hoping the "danger" hinted at in the introduction would involve more active creations (how to build skateboard ramps would have been perfect for him). Learning how to marble paper sounds like a 2nd grade art class project, and "The Ten Commandments" belongs in Sunday school. Most kids know how to play chess and would hardly think it "dangerous". Same with juggling.
While there are many subjects here that the authors believe kids should know about - grammar, the solar system, navigation, mountains of the US, the Declaration in Independence - to my son it just sounds like more schoolwork. Where's the fun in that?
Ultimately this book is neither dangerous nor inherently for boys only. It simply rehashes some adventure tales better told elsewhere and fills in the space with silly chapters on quotes from Shakespeare (that'll really excite your 3rd grader!!!) and how to wrap a package in brown paper!
BORING!
Book Review: Boys Will Be Boys
Summary: 5 Stars
In an era of over-prescribed Ritalin, "The Dangerous Book for Boys" is a rare treat. One part scouting manual and one part adventure novel, Conn Iggulden has penned a great read for fathers and sons.
Health and safety are all well and good, but as some pundits have accurately noted, life is dangerous to your health. We'll all die. Some simply die before their death by never really living, by refusing any adventure because, well, it just might not be good for your health.
Iggulden reminds us to live, to really live. To get outdoors, to turn off the electronics that seem to be permanently attached like cybernetics to every young boy's body.
In a sense, it's a shame that a book like this even needs to be written. But, we do seem to need to be reminded to courageously confront a world of challenge and chaos.
Yes, boys will be boys, and they should be boys--playful, adventurous, daring, fun-loving, hyper (that's not a four-letter word), energized, confident, and, well, boyish and manly.
Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D. is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, and Soul Physicians.
Book Review: A Time Forgotten - Until Now:
Summary: 5 Stars
When I found this book I just had to get it for my grandsons. It reminds me of an earlier time, a time when things were much simpler, when the greatest adventures of discovery were only limited by a boy's imagination. This book will encourage them to use their imagination, and to learn new skills. There are things to make, things to learn, and there are stories of great men who made history. All these things are a guide to the body, mind, and soul - but most of all, this book will take them through the journey to becoming a man, a journey that develops character and honor.
It was once said that honor is a gift that a man gives to himself. It grows inside him, and no one can ever take it away. Part of that gift to yourself is to be humble in your accomplishments, and to respect those who have helped you along the way. Some of the stories in the book will help in the understanding of the meaning of this.
We live in a time of video games, computers, and the kinds of "self entertainment" that isolate children from interactive learning with their peers. It may sound cliche' but growing up in the 50's WAS better. This book stimulates the imagination that once took the place of todays electronic toys, in a wholesome and positive way; allowing a young boy to mature with confidence while nurturing self-esteem. This is a wonderful gift for any boy...