Would you have guessed that a book that tells boys how to skip stones, understand Latin phrases like "Carpe diem" and how to catch and cook a rabbit would be a big seller these days?
Me neither.
We would both have been wrong, of course, because "The Dangerous Book for Boys" has been a huge hit in both the UK and now the US. Written by English brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden, the book has a retro look and feel, as well as content, that make it seem like you could have plucked it from a dusty shelf of a shop specializing in Victorian volumes. Fathers (perhaps nostalgic for a childhood they never had--let's face it, how many of us really did go hunting with Dad?) are buying the book, but by all reports modern boys love it, too. That's why there are now more than 400,000 copies in print.
Screenwriter William Goldman is famous for saying, "Nobody knows anything" (about which movies will be successful)--maybe that applies to the publishing world, too. For writers with an offbeat topic, it can only be heartening when books like this break out.
