ricksilva's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
Designed with the look of an old-time Boy Scouts Handbook, this collects (the author's ideas of) essential skills and knowledge for boys.
I read this with my son, and we did some of the activities, and talked about possibly doing some of the others in the future. I found the instructions on practical skills to be clear, concise, and easy to follow.
The recommendations for reading and poetry are interesting, and it was fun to look at Latin phrases and word origins. The descriptions of the games of chess and poker gave enough of the basics to get started, although chess could have benefited from a few more examples.
The tone of the the book is essentially conservative, although it generally avoids outright preachiness, even in a chapter on the Ten Commandments. However, there is an awful lot of glorification of colonialism, and the "Extraordinary Stories" feature only white men. The most disappointing bit was a series of bits of low-key homophobia in the story of Robert the Bruce, which were extra disappointing because Edward II, the target of these remarks, was a relatively minor player in the story, so it felt like the author was going out of his way to get his shots in.
Most of the content of this book is not particularly dangerous, but I can understand the use of the term to provide hype. The writing is generally engaging. A few topics, like grammar, are pretty difficult to make exciting (or dangerous), but the book is well-paced and mixes its topics well.
The most surprising section in the book is a short chapter on roleplaying games that gives a rousing endorsement to D&D.
I read this with my son, and we did some of the activities, and talked about possibly doing some of the others in the future. I found the instructions on practical skills to be clear, concise, and easy to follow.
The recommendations for reading and poetry are interesting, and it was fun to look at Latin phrases and word origins. The descriptions of the games of chess and poker gave enough of the basics to get started, although chess could have benefited from a few more examples.
The tone of the the book is essentially conservative, although it generally avoids outright preachiness, even in a chapter on the Ten Commandments. However, there is an awful lot of glorification of colonialism, and the "Extraordinary Stories" feature only white men. The most disappointing bit was a series of bits of low-key homophobia in the story of Robert the Bruce, which were extra disappointing because Edward II, the target of these remarks, was a relatively minor player in the story, so it felt like the author was going out of his way to get his shots in.
Most of the content of this book is not particularly dangerous, but I can understand the use of the term to provide hype. The writing is generally engaging. A few topics, like grammar, are pretty difficult to make exciting (or dangerous), but the book is well-paced and mixes its topics well.
The most surprising section in the book is a short chapter on roleplaying games that gives a rousing endorsement to D&D.
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia
More...