When I think of “dangerous boys” I think of the thugs who stole Husband’s cell phone yesterday. But of course, "The Dangerous Book for Boys” that I received free-for-review from the Parent Bloggers Network is exactly the opposite: an opportunity to jump back into a time when the boys played stickball outside homes with stoops, or constructed batteries and go-carts with their own hands.

The skills from those days would be considered “dangerous” today. Dare we build a treehouse in the backyard or take the time away from the busy pace of life to go fishing? Do we encourage our kids to sit outside to stare up at the stars, or do we steer them towards “safer” things inside (away from “harm”) like computer games and television programs? Do schools teach “practical” things like how to read a compass or solve a Caesar cipher? (Caesar too easy? Try memorizing the Navajo Code Talkers’ Dictionary!)

If you want to learn to play poker, rugby, or table football, this is the book for you. Or do you need to brush up on grammar, the Seven Wonders of the World, or the state capitals?

This book is what every boy (or girl) needs to know. It is marketed “from eight to eighty” but I have a six year old who has enjoyed learning star charts, battleship, and seeing photos of different types of clouds, mountains, and fish.

I handed the book over to Husband to see what he would think. After all, he is a boy. And I am not. He immediately started reading one of the history sections (hello? why didn't he start with an adventure section?) and declared it to be British. Indeed, "The Dangerous Book for Boys” was a hit in the UK last year.

However, there are plenty of sections on U.S. history, and most of the information has been “Americanized.” For example, the section on creating a battery had a photograph of a pound, but the U.S. quarter was in another illustration for the same section. Table football had all U.S. quarters. Soccer was called “soccer” rather than “football,” so they got that right! Plus, they called baseball “America’s pastime.”

Essentially, this beautifully illustrated book is a reference to all kinds of knowledge and activities. It isn’t really just for boys, but in the “olden days” it would have been because surely the girls couldn’t have gotten dirty or needed to know some of the cool things covered.

I certainly enjoyed learning things I didn’t know. For example, I didn’t really know what oil is, and I didn’t realize the word “decipher” came from the obvious de-cipher. I called everything in cryptography “codes.” I didn’t know there was such a thing as a “cipher.” (Certainly I thought it was cool that computer guys could have nicknames like “Cypher,” but I didn’t get the connection.) And did you know that “game fishing” is only fishing for those in the salmon family, not all fish?

This book has plenty of fun activities to try with your child. Or, if you don’t have a child, read it yourself to learn how things really work. In this day and age, we take a lot of the technology for granted without realizing its origins. This book allows a step back from all that: simple exercises that are fun but also educational. Remember, your kids are being taught to “STAR” tests and what-not in their schools, rather than learning how to make an excellent flying paper airplane. (And the teachers surely wouldn’t teach how to make a water bomb!)

Are you up for an adventure? Watch the hilarious YouTube video about this book. Grab this book.. And head to the Parent Bloggers Network to read the campaign launch (up now) or mid-campaign review (up 5/9). Leave a comment on one of those two posts about your own childhood adventure, and you’ll be entered to win a Vector 22 two-man tent from The North Face! Winner to be announced in our round-up review on May 22.

Seriously, watch the video and buy the book!