It’s a runaway best seller in the UK, especially to baby boomer men, who are also buying it for their sons.

It’s Conn and Hal Iggulden’s The Dangerous Book for Boys. DBB, as we’ll call it, summarizes all those activities and crafts that boys used to do before TV, computers and video games came on the market. Many of them are now effectively banned by the Health and Safety “police” who dog our lives and make them unnecessarily miserable — especially for boys.

For North Americans, I should tell you the book is very Britain-oriented, in that it contains bits from Shakespeare and poetry from Kipling and other patriotic poets and authors.

Nevertheless, it contains a lot of Boys Crafts, which is why I like it. For instance, how to make “the greatest paper plane in the world”. Now there’s something to know about.

How to construct a battery, build a treehouse (oh, the danger!), make a bow and arrow (is this a terrorist’s manual?), make water bombs (it is a terrorist’s manual), and invisible inks, marbling paper, understanding girls (very coyly done), tricks with dogs and skimming stones on lakes.

In short, my sort of book. If you want to know about “The Golden Age of Piracy”, it’s all here. From making a pinhole projector and a crystal radio to grinding an italic nib, it’s a veritable treasure trove.

So, if you’re interested in boys’ crafts, or crafts for Real Men, you know where to go.