The Dangerous Book for Boys

The "Dangerous Book for Boys" is my final resort to peel my son from the TV, XBox and other Zombie boxes and get him out of the house. Even if it means he's going to read about how to skin a rabbit.

The authors, Hal and Con Iggulden (brothers) researched the The Dangerous Book over six months in a garden shed, rediscovering the lost childhood arts of secret codes and water bombs and building simple batteries and pinhole projectors.

"Rule No. 1 was we either had to make it or do it — we've both read books where the author clearly hasn't made a raft or whatever, and so the instructions don't work," Iggulden said. "That meant we had to play marbles … and skin a rabbit. A little bit grisly, that one. But then, we did make it into a stew and we did eat it.

"It was not a great stew," he admitted. "It was pretty rubbery."

In today’s age of computer and video games, this book reminds you that there is still a place for knots, go-karts, treehouses, as well as stories of adventure and courage.

The Dangerous Book for Boys is more than just a book -it’s a manual on how to recapture Sunday afternoons and long summer days; it's a book on equipping a boy for camping adventures. Skipping a stone, mastering the 5 knots that every camper should know, making water bombs, navigating a compass - this is one boy who will not be bored at camp.

Other than skinning a rabbit, the other 'dangerous' activity I'm not so hot about my son learning is how to make invisible ink (how? With urine, of course, the authority book says!)