Dads who grew up on Clutch Cargo and its ilk may want to pass along the thrill of adventure with The Dangerous Book for Boys.

A manual of skills, facts, and things to do that boys will (in the opinion of the authors, Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden) enjoy mastering, the book includes instructions on how to tie knots, make a go-cart, skim stones, build a treehouse, paper airplanes, cloud formation, common U.S. trees -- you get the drift.

We'll leave it to others to parse the sociology here -- it strikes us as a tad reactionary (girls don't want to know how to find true north?) -- but this surprise hit has certainly touched a chord in the U.K., where it was published last year, and in the U.S. where the book was released (minus some British particulars) earlier this month.