# I want this book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419 "2007-04-24T04:50:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/1 "2007-04-24T04:50:24Z")
[Woot!](http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Book-Boys-Conn-Iggulden/dp/0061243582/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-4823111-4270520?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177379910&sr=1-1) ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/2 "2007-04-24T14:35:45Z")
[QUOTE=Oslo Ostragoth] [Woot!](http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Book-Boys-Conn-Iggulden/dp/0061243582/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-4823111-4270520?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177379910&sr=1-1) [/QUOTE] Any chance of providing a basic description, or even title, that doesn’t require clicking on a link? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/3 "2007-04-24T14:39:05Z")
“The Dangerous Book For Boys” - \*The bestselling book for every boy from eight to eighty, covering essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses, learning how to fish, finding true north, and even answering the age old question of what the big deal with girls is. \* ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/4 "2007-04-24T14:43:09Z")
The short description makes it sound almost like a Boy Scout Handbook but from the longer description\* it seems like a good well rounded book for a kid to read though. \*The completely revised American Edition includes: The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World The Five Knots Every Boy Should Know Stickball Slingshots Fossils Building a Treehouse Making a Bow and Arrow Fishing (revised with US Fish) Timers and Tripwires Baseball’s “Most Valuable Players” Famous Battles-Including Lexington and Concord, The Alamo, and Gettysburg Spies-Codes and Ciphers Making a Go-Cart Navajo Code Talkers’ Dictionary Girls Cloud Formations The States of the U.S. Mountains of the U.S. Navigation The Declaration of Independence Skimming Stones Making a Periscope The Ten Commandments Common US Trees Timeline of American History ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/5 "2007-04-25T04:09:49Z")
I am well-past my “boyage”, but I only know how to make a few knots, never learned how to play marbles, don’t know anything about fossils, etc. I sure wish I’d had this book growing up. Plus I still don’t know what the deal is with girls. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/6 "2007-04-25T06:01:05Z")
I’ve never been a boy, but I already know most of the stuff **Joey P** listed. I even know thw answer to **silenus** ’s age old question. I’d tell you but, I’d risk having my membership in the Secret Society of [Incredible] Women pulled. Oops, I’ve already said too much. ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/7 "2007-04-25T06:09:08Z")
Huh, I’m surprised you haven’t seen it before. We’ve been selling it since Oct/Nov. It’s fun, but the Boys’ Own-ness gets a bit grating, and the retro feel means that the layout is pretty uninspired and attractive. I however, while never being a particularly girly girl, would not (and thus am still not) have been particularly interested in much of the contents, so YMMV, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/8 "2007-04-25T17:31:34Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] Secret Society of [Incredible] Women pulled. Oops, I’ve already said too much. [/QUOTE] Did you put “incredible” in so the initials wouldn’t be s_SOW_? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/9 "2007-04-25T22:49:46Z")
“How Not To Shoot Your Eye Out” by R. Parker 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/10 "2007-04-26T01:29:04Z")
> [@](#): > > The short description makes it sound almost like a Boy Scout Handbook but from the longer description\* it seems like a good well rounded book for a kid to read though. Hey, the Boy Scout Handbook is a well-rounded book for a kid to read through, too. But this sounds like a lot of fun, too. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/11 "2007-04-26T02:06:02Z")
I _highly_ recommend the \*[Boy Mechanic\*](http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-BOY-MECHANIC-COMPLETE-SET-VOLUMES-1-4_W0QQitemZ300105198677QQihZ020QQcategoryZ29223QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) series, which has about 900 projects in each volume that cover pretty much everything you can posibly imagine. There’s also [_The Boys Book of Engine Building_](http://lindsaybks.com/bks10/bbeb/index.html) > [@](#): > > How to make steam, hot air, and gas engines and how they work, told in simple language and by clear pictures. > > You open the book and the first thing you see is a photo of a very fine live steam model of an American locomotive. Then Collins tells you it was built by a 17-year-old. Now if that doesn’t make the average American look like a lazy bum, I don’t know what does. I would be proud to say I built that at any age. > > But Collins was trying to say any boy can build simple engines and have fun running them. That means you can, too. And here’s a slow paced - remember this is for boys - and easy to read text that will show you the fundamentals. [_War Toys for Boys_](http://lindsaybks.com/bks4/wartoy/index.html) > [@](#): > > Just what every boy needs! Violent toys! > > Here, reprinted from “Carpentry & Mechanics for Boys,” published during the First World War are plans to show boys how to build toys so they could imagine they were part of the Great War. > > I’m told you’re going through your second (or is it your third?) childhood. So this inexpensive booklet should appeal to you. > > You can get in on the action by building a fleet of battleships and staging sea battles. Remember these are the old battleships - the dreadnoughts with very high observation towers. > > Build working toy artillery pieces from wood and tubing that hurl half inch diameter shells into enemy lines. [_The Boy Electrician_](http://lindsaybks.com/bks/boyelec/index.html) > [@](#): > > If there could be only one book chosen as the boy’s book of electricity, it would have to be this one. The first edition appeared in 1913 and there were many to follow. This is the 1940 edition, and I know there were later editions. > > Here, you get chapters entitled magnets and magnetism; static electricity; static electric machines; voltaic cells and batteries; electromagnetism and magnetic inductions; electrical units; wires and accessories; electrical measuring instruments; bells, burglar alarms and annunciators; telegraphy; microphones and telephones; inductions coils; transformers; wireless telegraphy; radio receiving sets; an experimental “wireless” telephone; electric motors; dynamos; an electric railway; miniature lighting; miscellaneous electrical apparatus. [_How to Build Midget Racers_](http://lindsaybks.com/bks7/midrace/index.html) > [@](#): > > Apparently Johnson Smith contracted a printer to reprint articles from earlier magazines on building midget racers, powered bicycles, midget mobiles, and pushmobiles with plans for a small plane thrown in for good measure. But the printer obviously didn’t know what he was doing or didn’t care. The plates he made were poor quality. Then he did a sloppy job of putting ink on the cheapest paper money could buy (what money that was available back then). The result was awful. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-this-book/401419/12 "2007-04-26T10:39:34Z")
Wait, why does that link have my exSO name onne it? Is it just me? He did set up this computer. But I’ve never seen that before. Admittedly he’s the one who throws himself into empty swimming pools and made a living jumping over 6 trash cans all on on small piece of wood with wheels, so it sounds like his kind of book.