Review
From the book jacket: 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.
In this digital age there is still a place for knots, skimming stones and
stories of incredible courage. This book recaptures Sunday afternoons,
stimulates curiosity, and makes for great father-son activities. The brothers
Conn and Hal have put together a wonderful collection of all things that make
being young or young at heart fun—building go-carts and electromagnets,
identifying insects and spiders, and flying the world's best paper airplanes.
Comment: Last summer, when Conn and Hal Iggulden published their
unapologetically nostalgic
The Dangerous Book for Boys in the...
Beyond the Book
Conn Iggulden was born in 1971. He read English at London
University and then taught for seven years at a high school in London. His
mother is Irish and from an early age told her children history as an exciting
series of stories - with dates, and his great-grandfather was a Seannachie
(Irish storyteller). His father flew in Bomber
Command in WWII, then taught maths and science. Iggulden says, "Though it seems a dated idea now, I began
teaching when boys were told only girls were good at English, despite the great
names that must spring to mind after that statement. My father loved working
with wood and equations, but he also recited
Vitai Lampada* with a gleam in his
eye and that matters, frankly."
*A poem by Henry...
