The Dangerous Book For Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden
Review by Andrew Fersch
In a day of increasing concern over the formative years of children and how it directly affects them when they mature into adults, it is rare to hear a voice of reason claiming that a little recklessness can go a long way. This voice usually comes from someone you would rather not be around your children, as they are likely trying to convince your child to buy drugs or steal. Brothers Hal and Conn Iggulden are hardly old school pusher-men, their beliefs certainly are old school though.
Hal and Conn grew up, as many of us did, climbing in tree forts, playing war, trying to understand how and why the forest is so mysterious, and being smitten with stories of triumph over extreme odds by heroes of epic proportions. As with many adults they grew up taking all of this for granted, as was just part of their beloved childhood. What Hal and Conn noticed was that instead of the vivid use of imagination they remember ruling their childhood, children these days are much more likely to resort to technology in the form of video games, iPods, and the like. Their response was to write a book which chronicled all the things that they loved so dearly in the hope that they would be able to encourage young boys to return to the days of go-karts, skipping stones by the river, and stickball.
In reality though this book reads more like a paper written by their parents about what they loved as children than a bible for young boys to follow in order to live a truly rich childhood. Hal and Conn’s writing is at the level of the average middle schooler, which in reality, should be their target audience, alas, they are aiming the book straight at the young parents who feel as if the hobbies their children have chosen don’t live up to the hobbies that they remember loving as children.
Greatness comes in many forms yet glorification of one’s own experiences in comparison to another’s is far from greatness. There is no doubt that children could use more time in the great outdoors, more time using their own imaginations instead of video game programmers’, yet it seems a trite to believe that just because one person grew up one way that everyone else should have.
This book does have greatness interspersed and for that reason alone it can not be condemned. The stories shared are timeless and yet so relevant (even if only to movies that are now being made about them). The activities may be relics of a time past, there is still a lure to them that any child or adult with a sense of adventure can not avoid. Taken with a grain of salt (and in all honesty, with a little more danger), this book makes a great point and carries with it a strong commentary to how the world has changed for children in the past twenty years due to technology. Pick the book up in the bookstore, remember your own childhood, put it back down, and then just take your child on a hike and pretend you are searching for a secret treasure that a famous pirate left near where you are. In that way you will connect with your own childhood and with the only reason you would be picking this book up in the first place, your own children.