The Dangerous Book for Boys, by Conn and Hal Iggulden, is a guidebook published by HarperCollins, aimed at boys "from eight to eighty." It covers around eighty topics, including how to build a treehouse, grow a crystal, or tell direction with a watch. Also included are famous quotes, stories, battles, and phrases that "every boy should know." It was published in the UK on 5 June 2006, and reached number one in the UK non-fiction charts several times, selling over half a million copies.
Conn Iggulden also published a book, Wolf of the Plains, about Genghis Khan, which, along with The Dangerous Book for Boys, allowed Iggulden to be the first author to reach the number one spot in both the fiction and non-fiction charts.
Within the first week of its US publication on May 1, 2007, it reached number two on the Amazon.com bestselling book lists, being outsold only by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Other people who contributed to the success of the book include the editorial team at the time, which consisted of Katie Espiner and Clare Hey, and Helen Johnstone, who won the 2007 British Book Industry Award for best publicity campaign. Linde Hardaker did the typesetting, Richard Horne most of the illustrations (although only as black and white; the color was added later), and Lee Motley was involved with the cover. Matthew Benjamin was the editor of the subsequent U.S. edition, of which about a third of the content was altered from the original UK edition.
The Sharpe Company, Inc. of Manhattan Beach, CA is the licensing/promotions agent for The Dangerous Book for Boys in North America and Rocket Licensing handles licensing in the UK and Europe. Products soon available include a Dangerous Book for Boys board game from Hasbro as well as calendars, science and chemistry kits, magic and illusion games and much more. The Times produced a series of free fold-up posters displaying extracts of the book which it ran for a week. There are some publicity materials floating around, which include badges used for the UK version of the website and samplers which were produced to give a taste of the book before publication. The Dangerous Pocket Book had its own publicity material which included three different postcards which featured individual face cards from the poker card section of the Pocket Book.
Read more about The Dangerous Book For Boys: Reception, Awards and Nominations, Editions, Similar Books, Film
Famous quotes containing the words dangerous, book and/or boys:
“The most dangerous aspect of present-day life is the dissolution of the feeling of individual responsibility. Mass solitude has done away with any difference between the internal and the external, between the intellectual and the physical.”
—Eugenio Montale (1896–1981)
“When a man wants to write a book full of unassailable facts, he always goes to the British Museum.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“[In early adolescence] she becomes acutely aware of herself as a being perceived by others, judged by others, though she herself is the harshest judge, quick to list her physical flaws, quick to undervalue and under-rate herself not only in terms of physical appearance but across a wide range of talents, capacities and even social status, whereas boys of the same age will cite their abilities, their talents and their social status pretty accurately.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)