Smart Boys

Explores the relationship of special intellectual ability to the role of males in American society and describes the impact of giftedness on boys' academic and social adjustment.

This highly unusual book is a sequence of actual letters exchanged by two young men coming of age in the late 1950s and '60s. They are well-educated, intellectually eager, self-absorbed but also self-aware, and both go on to distinguished careers in the world of letters and scholarship. It is a candid and spirited relationship focused on their shared interest in reading, writing, ideas, and young women. In some ways, the creators of this joint memoir can be seen as members of a distinct cultural group, but their subjects transcend background and class, as does the honesty of their exchange through crisscrossing viewpoints and eras. Their letters trace two arcs of development–sometimes congruent, sometimes divergent–intersecting as each writer acts to intervene in and shape the other's life. Their exchanges are crammed with descriptions, wordplays, wisecracks, opinions, judgments, jokes, commiserations, exultations–whatever can be spewed forth from two loose and lively minds. And interspersed with the record of what they said "then" is the leavening of "now," as both writers look back in reflective comment on their half-forgotten selves–modern testimony to the lasting friendship of two people most unlike each other and yet similar in ways at their deepest core.

The fourth book of a loosely linked, funny, and heartwarming series about four teenage friends who are learning how to deal with first dates, first kisses, and first loves. A cross-country runner is buddies with all the guys, but what happens when she wants to be more than that? Original.

An outdoor activity guide for boys outlines nature-themed craft projects while explaining how to develop proficient skills in areas ranging from reading topographic maps and identifying birds to using a compass and providing first-aid for injuries.

The bestselling book—more than 1.5 million copies sold—for every boy from eight to eighty, covering essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses, learning how to fish, finding true north, and even answering the age old question of what the big deal with girls is—now a Prime Original Series created by Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Greg Mottola (Superbad). In this digital age, there is still a place for knots, skimming stones and stories of incredible courage. This book recaptures Sunday afternoons, stimulates curiosity, and makes for great father-son activities. The brothers Conn and Hal have put together a wonderful collection of all things that make being young or young at heart fun—building go-carts and electromagnets, identifying insects and spiders, and flying the world's best paper airplanes. Skills covered include: The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World The Five Knots Every Boy Should Know Stickball Slingshots Fossils Building a Treehouse* Making a Bow and Arrow Fishing (revised with US Fish) Timers and Tripwires Baseball's "Most Valuable Players" Famous Battles-Including Lexington and Concord, The Alamo, and Gettysburg Spies-Codes and Ciphers Making a Go-Cart Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary Girls Cloud Formations The States of the U.S. Mountains of the U.S. Navigation The Declaration of Independence Skimming Stones Making a Periscope The Ten Commandments Common US Trees Timeline of American History