Things to Know

Dangerous Books for Boys

by Conn Iggulden, Hal Iggulden

From girls to battles, from anthems to pirates to Shakespeare. The perfect pocket book of things to know for every boy from eight to eighty.

Includes Dangerous New Knowledge + Great Things to Know from The Dangerous Book for Boys

Genres: Childrens, Nonfiction, Reference

Paperback

First published October 28, 2008

About the author

Also publishes under author name C.F. Iggulden.

I was born in the normal way in 1971, and vaguely remember half-pennies and sixpences. I have written for as long as I can remember: poetry, short stories and novels. It’s what I always wanted to do and read English at London University with writing in mind. I taught English for seven years and was Head of English at St. Gregory’s RC High School in London by the end of that period. I have enormous respect for those who still labour at the chalk-face. In truth, I can’t find it in me to miss the grind of paperwork and initiatives. I do miss the camaraderie of the smokers’ room, as well as the lessons where their faces lit up as they understood what I was wittering on about.

My mother is Irish and from an early age she told me history as an exciting series of stories – with dates. My great-grandfather was a Seannachie, so I suppose story-telling is in the genes somewhere. My father flew in Bomber Command in WWII, then taught maths and science. Perhaps crucially, he also loved poetry and cracking good tales. 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.

I’ve always loved historical fiction as a genre and cut my teeth on Hornblower and Tai-Pan, Flashman, Sharpe and Jack Aubrey. I still remember the sheer joy of reading my first Patrick O’Brian book and discovering there were nineteen more in the series. I love just about anything by David Gemmell, or Peter F. Hamilton or Wilbur Smith. I suppose the one thing that links all those is the love of a good tale.

That’s about it for the moment. If you’d like to get in touch with me leave a comment in the forum or you can tweet me @Conn_Iggulden. I’ll leave it there for the moment. If you’ve read my books, you know an awful lot about the way I think already. There’s no point overdoing it.

Conn Iggulden

Reviews

[M Mustafa Sv · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too boring in general. Could've added more stuffs about Men of history but chose to make it all about Britain. The 'Girls' section could've been more + lots of useless information too which does not being about any changes in boys. I still have the copy to my small brother and advised him to consume it with a grain of salt.
Totally not what I expected :/ I for some reason expected it to be like the junior version of 'The Brett' Couple's Art of Manliness.

[John Frankham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good pocket selection of the larger bestseller. An interesting read, even for an old man!

The GR blurb:

‘From girls to battles, from anthems to pirates to Shakespeare. The perfect pocket book of things to know for every boy from eight to eighty.

Includes Dangerous New Knowledge + Great Things to Know from The Dangerous Book for Boys’

[H-zhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of great information and is not just for boys.

[Shas · Rating 3 out of 5]

i am not a boy

[Samuel kibret · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite story in the book Dangerous book for boys is the chapter (the laws of football). because it was very detailed and accurate on the length and width of the soccer pitch and the size on a soccer ball and the amount of players on each team.

i would recommend this book to others because it explains a lot of these that people know and need to know for instense kings and queens of England, the British empire, spies-codes and ciphers, the laws of football and optical illusions.

[Deanne Dela Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have the red book as well but since my younger brother loved it so much, I bought this version for my son. It's a pretty neat book that has the same content as the red one. Only it's smaller (pocket-version) and focused more on items such as spies' codes and ciphers, poems and latin phrases every boy must know, famous battles, origin of words, the golden age of piracy, etc.

Enjoyable, insightful and highly informative.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be good for all boys to read. It is one of those books that will stimulate thought and interest in a wide variety of things. If a boy (or a man for that matter) was to read and gain knowledge in the various areas of interest in this book they would truly be well rounded individuals: real renaissance men.

[Wayne Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun little book aimed at boys (and tomboys) filled with traditional boys own adventures, things to make, and important stuff to learn. Rules on Chess, Football, Rugby and Cricket, Grammar, and information on the Kings and Queens of Britain, codes and ciphers, naval flags. There's something in this book for every boy.
The sort of thing every boy used to know and do.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome book! Everything from crafts and games to history to weird facts boys feel the need to know to how to understand girls to building tree houses to grammar rules to history. We have the German edition; there are slight differences between the German, British, and American ones.

[Andreoletti Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the information in this story was very interesting and i will have to keep it if I ever go into the army because it had tons of military references. It had tons of songs sung be people of the war.

[Angela Reeves · Rating 1 out of 5]

utter rubbish