The Dangerous Book for Boys

Imagine my excitement when I moved back into school yesterday and saw that Kyle had a copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys! I’d posted (I think?) the other day about how I’d heard it mentioned enough that I wanted to pick a copy up.

The back of the book calls it “The perfect book for every boy from eight to eighty.” And it’s even better than I’d been lead to believe it was! I’m not necessarily interested in the (unusually long?) sections devoted to historical battles, but several parts seem extraordinarily interesting:

  • Knots. I can tie my shoes, but that’s about it.
  • The rules of soccer. Not being a soccer fan, I never really learned anything other than the extreme basics. Here it is in two pages.
  • Nautical (Naval) flags (semaphores?): not useful to me, but neat
  • How to juggle! They say it takes about an hour of practice until you’re able to do it.
  • Types of clouds. Just the other day I was regretting having forgotten this!
  • Coin tricks. I haven’t yet tried these.
  • Latin phrases! Most of them I’m familiar with, but maybe that’s because I’m 21 and went to Catholic high school. Still a neat read, and really, a good refresher for those who know most of them. (I object to the pronunciation of “Veni, vidi, vici,” despite it being correct.)
  • How to play poker! This is what I need!
  • Chess! Once again, it was just recently that I was lementing having forgotten this skill.

It also just has a lot of neat stuff that anyone (at least in the U.S.) should read, including:

  • The Declaration of Independence. Not the first few lines, but the whole thing.
  • Selections from Shakespeare.
  • Seven poems (Walt Whitman, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Frost, et al*.)
  • The Ten Commandments, taken from the King James Bible.

* Et alia, surprisingly, is not in the book’s list of Latin phrases.

Sadly, I think everyone I know is either too old or too young for me to give this book and have it appreciated for the truly awesome gift it would be, but I think it’s definitely worth picking up a copy for yourself. (Most of this book would be just as enjoyable by girls, although I should note that there’s apparently another book, The Daring Book for Girls.)

4 thoughts on “The Dangerous Book for Boys

  1. Soccer is not an appropriate game for boys over the age of about 6. Sorry – it just isn’t. There are plenty of good games that are much more appropriate.

    Anything in the book on shooting firearms? How about making ones own bow and arrows?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *