Crafts & Hobbies

The Dangerous Book for Boys

Equal parts droll and gorgeous nostalgia book and heartfelt plea for a renewed sense of adventure in the lives of boys and men, Conn and Hal Iggulden's The Dangerous Book for Boys became a mammoth bestseller in the United Kingdom in 2006. Adapted, in moderation, for American customs in this edition (cricket is gone, rugby remains; conkers are out, Navajo Code Talkers in), The Dangerous Book is a guide book for dads as well as their sons, as a reminder of lore and technique that have not yet been completely lost to the digital age. Recall the adventures of Scott of the Antarctic and the Battle of the Somme, relearn how to palm a coin, tan a skin, and, most charmingly, wrap a package in brown paper and string. The book's ambitions are both modest and winningly optimistic: you get the sense that by learning how to place a splint or write in invisible ink, a boy might be prepared for anything, even girls (which warrant a small but wise chapter of their own).

Inside The Dangerous Book for Boys

Figure 8 Knot

Sheet Bend Knot

The Battle of Waterloo

Questions for Conn Iggulden

Conn and Hal Iggulden are two brothers who have not forgotten what it was like to be boys. Conn taught for many years before becoming one of the most admired and popular young historical novelists with his Emperor series, based on the life of Julius Caesar, and his newly embarked series on Genghis Khan, while Hal is a theater director. We asked Conn about their collaboration.

Amazon.com: It's difficult to describe what a phenomenon The Dangerous Book for Boys was in the UK last year. When I would check the bestseller list on our sister site, Amazon.co.uk, there would be, along with your book, which spent much of the year at the top of the list, a half-dozen apparent knockoff books of similar boy knowledge. Clearly, you tapped into something big. What do you think it was?

Iggulden: In a word, fathers. I am one myself and I think we've become aware that the whole "health and safety" overprotective culture isn't doing our sons any favors. Boys need to learn about risk. They need to fall off things occasionally, or--and this is the important bit--they'll take worse risks on their own. If we do away with challenging playgrounds and cancel school trips for fear of being sued, we don't end up with safer boys--we end up with them walking on train tracks. In the long run, it's not safe at all to keep our boys in the house with a Playstation. It's not good for their health or their safety.

You only have to push a boy on a swing to see how much enjoys the thrill of danger. It's hard-wired. Remove any opportunity to test his courage and they'll find ways to test themselves that will be seriously dangerous for everyone around them. I think of it like playing the lottery--someone has to say "Look, you won't win--and your children won't be hurt. Relax. It won't be you."

I think that's the core of the book's success. It isn't just a collection of things to do. The heroic stories alone are something we haven't had for too long. It isn't about climbing Everest, but it is an attitude, a philosophy for fathers and sons. Our institutions are too wrapped up in terror over being sued--so we have to do things with them ourselves. This book isn't a bad place to start.

As for knockoff books--great. They'll give my son something to read that doesn't involve him learning a dull moral lesson of some kind--just enjoying an adventure or learning skills and crafts so that he has a feeling of competence and confidence--just as we have.

Amazon.com: You made some changes for the U.S. edition, and I for one am sorry that you have removed the section on conkers, if only because it's such a lovely and mysterious word. What are (or what is) conkers?

Iggulden: Horse chestnuts strung on a shoelace and knocked against one another until they shatter. In the entire history of the world, no one has ever been hurt by a conker, but it's still been banned by some British schools, just in case. Another school banned paper airplanes. Honestly, it's enough to make you weep, if I did that sort of thing, which I try not to. Reading Jane Austen is still allowed, however.

Amazon.com: What knowledge did you decide was important to add for American boys? I notice in both editions you have an excellent and useful section on table football, as played with coins. Is paper football strictly an American pastime? I'm not sure I could have gotten through the fourth grade without it.

Iggulden: I like knowing the details of battles, so Gettysburg and the Alamo had to go in, along with the Gettysburg address, stickball, state capitals, U.S. mountains, American trees, insects, U.S. historical timelines, and a lot of others. Navajo code talkers of WWII is a great chapter. It probably helps that I am a huge fan of America. It was only while rewriting for the U.S. that I realized how many positive references there already are. You have NASA and NASA trumps almost anything.

As for paper football, ever since I thought of putting the book together, people keep saying things like "You have rockets in there, yes? Everyone loves rockets!" Paper football is the first American one, but there will be many others. No book in the world is long enough to put them all in--unless we do a sequel, of course.

Amazon.com: Do you think The Dangerous Book for Boys is being read by actual boys, or only by nostalgic adults? Have you seen boys getting up from their Xboxes to go outside and perform first aid or tan animal skins or build go-carts?

Iggulden: I've had a lot of emails and letters from boys who loved the book--as well as fathers. I've had responses from kids as young as ten and an old man of 87, who pointed out a problem with the shadow stick that we've since changed. The thing to remember is that we may be older and more cynical every year, but boys simply aren't. If they are given the chance to make a go-cart with their dad, they jump at it. Mine did. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to know the book is being used with fathers and sons together, trying things out. Nothing is more valuable to a boy than time with his dad, learning something fun--or something difficult. That's part of the attitude too. If it's hard, you don't make it easy, you grab it by the throat and hang on for as long as it takes.

The book is often bought by fathers, of course. Their sons don't know Scott of the Antarctic is a great adventure story. How could they if it isn't taught any more? Good, heroic stories don't appear much in modern school curriculums--and then we wonder why boys don't seem interested.

Amazon.com: And finally, on to the important questions: Should Pluto still be a planet? And what was the best dinosaur?

Iggulden: Pluto is a planet. I know there are scientists who say it isn't, but it's big enough to be round and it has a moon, for crying out loud. Of course it's a planet. Give it ten years and they'll be agreeing with me again.

As for the best dinosaur, it depends what you mean by best. For sheer perfection, it probably has to be the shark and the crocodile. Modern ones are smaller but their record for sheer survival is pretty impressive. I only hope humanity can do as well. The only thing that will stop us is worrying too much.

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.

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

1,000 Artist Journal Pages: Personal Pages and Inspirations (1000 Series)

Simply Sublime Bags: 30 No-Sew, Low-Sew Projects

You’ll tire of hearing “Where did you get that bag?”

Simply Sublime Bags offers the secrets to creating four-figure-price-tag-worthy bags. And most of them only take an afternoon! Whether it’s a casual carryall or a ritzy, patent leather clutch, the envy of your friends is only a few hours away.

Why break the bank for a designer bag when you can easily make your own unique fashion statement? In Simply Sublime Bags, you’ll find 30 do-it-yourself, clever and affordable handbag projects—all of which require little to no sewing. With inventive methods of construction (like duct-taped reinforced interiors and iron fusing), these hip handbags, totes, and clutches have all the looks that bag-lovers want—the shine of patent leather, Chanel-style chain straps, or even funky logos—and each can be personalized to your own taste. The materials are easy to find in hardware, home, office supply, and fabric stores—sometimes even in your own closet!

Bags include:
• Charmed, I’m Sure—brightly colored vinyl makeup bags with vintage plastic charm zipper pulls
• Keyhole Clutch—pink-and-white houndstooth fabric lined with duct tape, with keyhole cutouts for handles
• Shower Curtain Tote—you guessed it, a funky fabric tote made from a shower curtain
• Nights in Black Satin—an elegant evening clutch made from satin ribbon stapled together and adorned with a rhinestone earring clasp

Day to evening, totes to clutches, and everything in between, Simply Sublime Bags has something for every occasion. The results? Simply sublime!

Build Your Own Electric Vehicle

Electric vehicles have many advantages over their gas-powered counterparts. They're ecologically sound, much cheaper to operate, and require almost no routine maintenance. Drivers can enjoy the clean-running convenience and economy of an electric vehicle for as much as it costs to buy a new car. This illustrated guide explains step by step how to build an inexpensive EV from a kit or convert an existing internal combustion engine. Build Your Own Electric Car begins with an informative history of electric vehicles, current international advances in EV technology, and a look ahead at the future of EV development. Then, author Bob Brant gives a building-block description of each EV component-motor, drive train, controllers, power supplies, chargers, and chassis-and how to put them all together to make a working vehicle. He also gives valuable advice on where to find affordable EV components and systems, how to get the most out of EV driving and ownership, and how to make the best buy, build, and conversion tradeoffs.

500 Handmade Books: Inspiring Interpretations of a Timeless Form (500 Series)

Acrylic Revolution: New Tricks and Techniques for Working with the World's Most Versatile Medium

Liberate Your Creativity With Acrylic Paints!

Acrylic Revolution is your essential, all-in-one guide for acrylic painting techniques and more. It features over 101 ways to break through the boundaries of conventional painting and re-define the creative potential of this all-purpose medium.

Every page provides insight on how to use acrylic paint in ways you never thought possible to create stunning visual effects and textures. Ten complete sections detail a range of empowering applications, including how to:

• Prepare and paint on virtually any surface
• Create textures of all kinds
• Work with transfers, collage, resists and mixed media
• Achieve innovative stenciling and line work
• Customize your paint to adjust thickness, transparency and drying time
• Simulate other mediums, such as oil, tempera or watercolor
• Create faux finishes, magical effects, sheens and more

Pick up a brush and start your own acrylic revolution today!

Use the techniques in this book to free your creative spirit and create the paintings you've always dreamed of.

Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt

Make it yours. This inspirational guide with DIY attitude has everything you need to know about the world’s great T-shirt: how to cut it, sew it, deconstruct it, reconstruct it, and best of all, transform it. • Features more than 100 projects (plus 200 variations) for customized tees, tank tops, tube tops, T-skirts—even handbags, a patchwork blanket, iPod cozies, leg warmers, and more. • Not a DIY expert? Not to worry. More than one third of the projects are no sew, meaning anyone who can wield a pair of scissors can put a personal stamp on her wardrobe. But the sewing basics are here too: backstitch and whipstitch, gather and ruche, appliqué and drawstrings. • And the mission statement for Generation T: Ask not what your T-shirt can do for you; ask what you can do for your T-shirt. And then Do-It-Yourself!

The T-shirt is the centerpiece of a girl’s wardrobe. But even better, that same T-shirt is a blank canvas just waiting to express the personality and creativity of its owner. You can cut it, sew it, twist it and turn it. You can deconstruct it, you can reconstruct it. Recycle it, resuscitate it, refashion it, re-invent it. Make it punky, make it funky. In the hands of Megan Nicolay— who knows the DIY pride of accomplishment and the pleasure of making something chic and unique (and cheap)—the T-shirt is like fashion ore, as she shows how to turn any ordinary, preferably well-used T-shirt into a halter, a tank top, a peasant blouse, or, for a total transformation, into a T-skirt. Or a hat. Or leg-warmers, a drawstring purse, an iPod cozy. Even a patchwork T-blanket.

In 108 unexpected, easy-to-follow projects, this pied piper of DIY shows first how to tee off with the basic materials plus add-ons (ribbons, lace, safety pins) and techniques (stitching, hemming, gathering). Then come recipes: 13 projects for customizing a T-shirt (i.e., doing everything to it you possibly can and still be able to call it a T-shirt); 21 projects for tank tops (less shirt, more style); and 14 projects for tube tops and halters (even less shirt and more style).

There’s the Two-Tiered Peasant Skirt, the Bow-Tie Beanie, the Sweet Dreams pillow. Plus gauntlets, pot holders and tablecloths, pillows and braided rugs. Not a DIY expert? No problem. More than one third of the projects are “no sew,” so anyone who can wield a pair of scissors can put a personal stamp on her wardrobe.

Jelly Roll Quilts

Jelly rolls are the new fat quarter bundle! They consist of 2 ½ inch strips of color-coordinated fabric, rolled up to create a solid disk and tied with a ribbon. Jelly Roll Quilts is the first book to show quilters the best ways to use these desirable, laborsaving fabric packs. The author shows how to make 15 quilts; each perfectly suited to the color-coordinated jelly rolls and includes variations in color, style and size for each project. Jelly roll quilts are suitable for quilters of all skill levels, especially those quilters with a passion for a variety of fabrics. With names like Bars of Gold and Blue Lagoon, the quilts demonstrated in Jelly Roll Quilts are on the cutting edge of the craft.

Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-Off Socks and Gloves

Easy to make...easy to love!

Sock and Glove presents thirteen delightful softy projects that are quick to make-and certain to amuse and delight. Full of individuality and mischief, these stuffed creations are all pieced together from ordinary socks, gloves, and mittens. Step-by-step illustrations and instructions make it easy to craft and dress a whole menagerie, including monkeys, elephants, piglets, bunnies, and even an insouciant fish.

Endearing to adults and children alike, these whimsical creatures make perfect gifts and inspiring companions.

Inspired to Knit: Creating Exquisite Handknits