If you like Backyard Ballistics and the Dangerous series of books, you may love The Young Man's Book of Amusement.
I personally was very disappointed with Backyard Ballistics and The Dangerous Book for Boys. Simply put: they are not dangerous. They are marketed as, and perhaps sincerely trying to be, something that they are not. For example, start at the first activity (and one of the most dangerous-sounding ones at that): making a battery. Here's the instructions:
1. Mix vinegar and a little salt together in the bowl. Vinegar is an acetic acid, and all acids can be used as an electrolyte [bad grammar there BTW, Iggulden].
Sulfuric acid is found in car batteries, but don't fool around with something that powerful. It eats clothing and can burn skin, unlike vinegar, which goes on your salad.
While I am sure some (very few, nowadays) enterprising boys appreciated that in this case he at least directed them to exactly where to find what they really want in the course of saying "don't do it," this is a rare exception. This book is totally tame. And thus totally lame. There are exactly three activities in the book that could be considered at all intrepid or off the beaten path: making a battery (if they take his hidden tip and find an old car battery), hunting and cooking a rabbit, and tanning a skin. The other good activities are building a treehouse, building a gokart, making a bow and arrow, building a workbench, and making an electromagnet (although the instructions for this last are horrible, and likely to just end in frustration for the boy. For example it doesn't mention at all that the copper wire should (must!) be insulated or it won't work.). Everything else is stuff like "Understanding Grammar," "Ten Poems Every Boy Should Know," "US Naval Flag Codes," "Skipping Stones," and "The Game of Chess". Fine if a boy likes that sort of thing. A long way from thrilling, though.
So what to do if you seek an actual dangerous book of fun projects and instructions for boys, one that
is thrilling? Enter: The Young Man's Book of Amusement. Written a long time ago, in a land far, far away from liability lawyers, this book is the real deal. Let me give you a sample project:
Now there's the genuine article. No pulled punches here! Safety disclaimers in the YMBOA consist of "don't get
too close to your deadly, fire-spewing volcano, at least not after it's been heating up for ten hours." No girly "be sure to wear safety goggles so you don't get vinegar in your eye," here!
It is, however, very old-fashiony and thus recondite in much of its terminology. Often, it refers to things that though they were commonplace once, a normal modern boy would probably have no idea what it's talking about. It also it decidedly unhelpful on such issues as: OK, now where do I find 28 pounds of sulfur?
The old Boy Scout Handbooks, which people have mentioned, may have some good projects.
The "Boy's Book of..." series fits the bill somewhat. They also are old-timey and so share the shortcomings of the YMBOA. Now Lindsay's Books is gone, but you can still find a few of them here:
http://www.youroldtimebookstore.com/category-s/2050.htm
YMBOA you can read the whole thing here:
http://lateralscience.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/young-mans-book-of-amusement-pages-0-9.html
Or buy it here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Young-Mans-Book-Amusement/dp/1236627571
The true, thrilling, outstanding project book for boys has yet to be written, is my unfortunate conclusion. To make such an heir to the throne would consist of reading through all the old-time ones, choosing the best and most interesting projects from them, updating the language, probably coming up with a bunch of your own as well, and most importantly field-testing them and making the instructions simple and bulletproof, with lots of pictures! There's nothing so frustrating as carefully following the instructions for something, only to have it not work, and have no idea what you did wrong, all because some step or anoter was ambiguous and you interpreted it wrongly.
Someone should write such a book someday. Soon! In the meantime, those intersted in such things might enjoy doing some of the projects here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20081212194116/http://www.geocities.com/johnwiltbank/crazykid.html
