Last night was payday and the boys get to pick up a new book. Older Monkey is twelve; he was dithering over two books – a new addition to a young-adult series he’s been reading or this: Dangerous Book For Boys. He opted for the latter and I am quite pleased by his purchase.

Topics in DBFB? Famous Battles. Invisible ink. Latin phrases every boy should know. How to make a trip wire. How to make an electro-magnet. The Declaration of Independence. How to play poker. Girls. Girls?

You may already have noticed that girls are quite different from you. By this, we do not mean the physical differences, more the fact that they remain unimpressed by your mastery of a game involving wizards, or your understanding of Morse code. some will be impressed, of course, but as a general rule, girls do not get quite as excited by the use of urine as a secret ink as boys do.

Which is, sadly, true. I would have avoided a whole lotta marital strife if I’d learned this sooner than I did.

It reads like the Boy Scout Manual would if the editors had gotten their way and included the really good bits as well as the stuff BSA requires. Older Monkey spent an hour this evening making a tripwire using two AA batteries, wire salvaged from two dead fans and a light bulb. Of note is that he started using the directions and then strayed off using his own design. Which doesn’t quite work and led to learning how to troubleshoot electrical circuits and … more fundamentally .. learning troubleshooting techniques and stuff like .. logic.

Highly recommended.

Cross posted to Space For Commerce.