Customer Reviews

The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: Things to Know

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is ideal as a "thinking of you" gift for that boy on your list. But for an actual birthday or holiday, you may want to buy the more comprehensive The Dangerous Book for Boys or the equally amazing The Big Book of Boy Stuff.

This pocket book is composed mostly of the facts included in its source book, with perhaps 25% new material. Like the original, it is attractively designed, and more importantly, it's well-bound, so it can stand up to the wear and tear of kids involved in heavy thinking. :)

I have three sons between the ages of 11 and 16. I bought a copy of this book for each of them. If you are looking for a way to get the kids away from the computer and video games, this book is a great start. A great collection of Must Have boy knowledge from Morse code to tree forts. There are also great sections on classic literature (I never thought I would be discussing Kipling with my 16 year old, but he brought it up after reading this book!) Great ideas for dad time, but also a great window in the souls of boys (and men) for moms trying to raise boys alone.

That's a fair question if you already have or plan to get The Dangerous Book for Boys because 27 of the items in this book are also found in the big red book.

The 9 following items are the only ones unique to this book:

Page 1, the stories of and lyrics to several Anthems, including "The Star-Spangled Banner" (1st verse only), "O Canada", "America (My Country 'tis of Thee)", "America, the Beautiful", "This Land Is Your Land", and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".
Page 19, The Twelve Tables of Roman Law.
Page 58, Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States.
Page 78, famously fiendish Riddles, including the Riddle of the Sphinx.
Page 93, several Optical Illusions.
Page 206, Extraordinary Stories--Part Three: Neil Armstrong.
Page 214, Extraordinary Stories--Part Four: Aron Ralston.
Page 229, The Single Greatest Race of All Time: the Mille Miglia, 1955.
Page 214, Extraordinary Stories--Part Five: Martin Luther King, Jr.

In addition many of the items have different illustrations.

You expect an author to defend his own work, but I've never seen it done better than Conn Iggulden does in Amazon's own official editorial review and interview posted right on the big red book's page:

"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."

That's it in a nutshell. As some reviewers have had the (there's no other word for it) stupidity to complain about, there's NOTHING in this book that's REALLY dangerous unless you go about it stupidly or carelessly.

Those interested in further books in this series or in the companion series for girls are directed here: The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: Things to Do, The Dangerous Book for Boys Yearbook, The Dangerous Book of Heroes, The Daring Book for Girls, The Pocket Daring Book for Girls: Things to Do, The Pocket Daring Book for Girls: Wisdom & Wonder, and The Double-Daring Book for Girls.

My wife and I purchased this book for our 9 year old Grandson hoping it will help him develop into a well rounded young man when he grows up.

This book came recommended as summertime library reading for our son...decided to buy it for Christmas (dangerous boys need their own books as they also tend to destroy). Content is informative but not in the least boring! Excellent Father-son stuff, too!

As a mother, I loved reading this book to my son. The poems, stories, lessons on grammar, Martin Luther King Jr. speech, word origins, and many of the other topics were a great read!

This pocket book is perfect for my boys ages 8 and 10. They have enjoyed reading and learning little tricks and ideas.

This book is just a re-hash of what is in the main "dangerous" book, and is very disappointing. As far as being "dangerous", it is, in reality, as
politically correct as can be. For instance, it features a very long section on Martin Luther King Jr., hardly the kind of thing that boys have trouble finding in their school textbooks. It also has alot of weenie stuff- How to grind a nib, for instance. The advice on girls reads like advice on old ladies, frankly.

Save your money

This is a good book with much that boys will love - however, the author lists Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" - I only know the Golden Compass where the subtle message is to kill God...there is truly much that is dark about Pullman's material so i don't know why this was recommended. Parents beware.