Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115307 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Scotland on Sunday
'This spiffing, biffing book will reload the memory banks'

Observer
'He writes hilariously ... fascinating'

Christopher Matthew, Daily Mail
'He has a very good line in comedy'

Customer Reviews

The truth about being male, and not being "cool"
A very enjoyable voyage round everyman's psyche. This brought back many forgotten memories and almost prompted a nostalgic tear. I never kept a diary when I was a kid, but Harry Pearson has kept one for me. His book takes us through comics, Action Man, cap-guns, airfix modelling, an obsession with historical military uniforms, and much, much more. These are things that most men have long left behind, but they remain in the memory. And once "grown out of", they are things that cannot even be referred to without seeming uncool, unmanly or unhinged. This is because men have to be seen to be men, and cannot show that they are still boys at heart.
Pearson is excruciatingly embarrassed about his hobby (wargaming with miniature metal soldiers), but he bravely refuses to disown it. He delves into it, telling a history of "boys' toys" which shows that the love of all things military has long been a big part of boys' lives in Europe. Seen from this perspective, it is amazing that the hobby has been pushed into such a corner now, and it seems only freaks and geeks are doing it. If you feel you have these kinds of skeletons in the closet, Pearson will make you feel like a man again.

Out of the wargaming closet
This book is a combination of selective autobiography, brief introduction to wargaming as a hobby, sociological analysis of gender stereotypes in the post war period, and a condensed history of toy soldiers; except of course that, as the author is at pains to point out, they're not toys. It's also funny.

Worth reading for both wargamers (although some of his stories may prove to be a little close to home) and to non-wargamers (to whom a whole subculture will be revealed). It's best avoided if you're a re-enactor or an orc-fancier.

Anyway, I'm off for a game of Airfix Charades; the rules of which are in the book.

Frighteningly Accurate
First of all, Pearson's reminiscing is hilarious. From the point his uncle whacked him round the backside with a toy rifle (for bayonet charging him in the nads) right through to meeting a 'LARPer' on a train. This all took me right back to my own youth - fiddling around with an Airfix Spitfire and bodging at it with a cocktail stick covered in glue.

As well as a few chapters outlining Pearson's early years as a plastic-toy-tinkerer and Commando comic aficionado, we get a thorough tour of all the social aspects of wargaming and role-playing - and the personal rivalries between role-players, war-gamers, re-enactors and so on. But there is a more important lesson, which 'non war-gamers' who read this book will probably miss - as they scoff at Pearson and his allies. The shocking truth (from my own experience) - is that the social mileu which exists in wargame circles exists everywere else! The type of characters described by Pearson appear in every activity I'm involved in: from the classic bike fraternity and social research conference circuit, right through to the workplace and the local book club. As Pearson finds in his own book - so I find that it is these characters who make life worth living - with their bizarre ideas and personal foibles.

There are also warnings about the pitfalls of turning hobbies into jobs - as Pearson describes the proprietors of some war-game shops as some of the most miserable individuals imaginable. Was this because they'd enjoyed their gaming so much they wrongly thought that putting the word 'work' in front of it wouldn't ruin it?

The joke is ultimately on us, but as I slip into my cords and Wallabees (heading for the Newark auto-jumble) I can only wonder at the craziness of Pearson and his ilk.