Posted by alan truelove on September 07, 2006 at 20:52:13 from 12.191.193.70 user atruelove.
In Reply to: Dangerous Book for Boys - Iggulden posted by Ed Kiser on September 07, 2006 at 19:48:13:
While on my recent UK trip, I purchased Dangerous Book..
(This became the #1 best seller in the UK, curiously some bookshops never heard of it ..)
Actually, it would mostly interest UK boys, being a 'cod' version of turn of the (20th) century boy's books with Laws of cricket etc--
I haven't discovered anything remotely dangerous in it..
Or anything particularly enterprising & up-to-date and doable, for that matter .. too bad. The Internet has largely replaced such publications.
Construction-wise, I think modern boys (and some girls) would enjoy much more -- Erector sets (or meccano) - which are generally passed on thru generations (having become incredibly expensive) --
various developer kits (hobbyist, robots etc) involving snap-together (or erector type) parts, with motors, relays, remotes, computer peripherals .. etc etc - there are several diff. brands available in the US, figure in the range of $100-200 and well worth it. The cost is reasonable because of course they are all assembled elsewhere ..
(In fact I bought one about 10 years ago ostensibly for the kids, mostly played with it myself, and have passed it all on ..)
In short, one can experiment with all kinds of things (right into adulthood) on an entirely different scale of sophistication from 20
-30 years ago). Kind of knocks Dick's pigeon trigger into cocked hat.
Adventure and expedition wise, I note that eg Boy Scouts of America (at least at Junior levels) - along with their charming insistence on religion, and hetero orientation- have backed off almost all aspects of do-it-yourself camping. Possibly the UK has gone the same way.