Seek Suggestions for 17 Year Old Grandson's Chirstmas Present:

[Vinylly]

I have a 16 year old grandson that spends too much time on the computer and playing X games. He doesn't read books. So, I am thinking of giving him a couple of books for his christmas present. Two books I am thinking of is; 'The Richest Man In Babylon' by George Clasan and 'Anthem' by Ayn Rand. I would like suggestions from other writers that counter act the teaching he is getting in his school, and still be interesting for a 16 year old.

[Grams A]

Lionshead, Keystone or Beaver is much less expensive. There is also the Snow Bowl in Flagstaff where you can also go to the Grand Canyon and take a burro ride from the top of the rim to the floor of the Canyon or rent some four wheelers and take the tour through Box Canyon. Tons of fun things to do with grandchildren.

[Fiji Hill]

Not sure this will be of much help, but these are some of the books I read when I was 16:

• Way of a Fighter: The Memoirs of Clair Lee Chennault (New York: Putnam, 1949). The autobiography of the combat aviator who organized the American Volunteer Group of US fliers who fought in China and Burma in WWII and later became the Fourteenth Air Force

• Bywater, Hector C., The Great Pacific War: A History of the American-Japanese Campaign of 1931-1933 (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1925)--A fictional account of a Japanese-American war.

• Macintyre, Donald G. T. W., Jutland (New York: Norton, 1958). An account of a 1916 naval battle.

• Kalme, Albert, Total Terror: An Expose of Genocide in the Baltics (New York: Appleton, 1951)--An account of the Soviet Union's occupation of the Baltic states.

• Rosendahl, Charles E., Up Ship! (New York: Dodd Mead, 1931)--The history of the US Navy's airship program that also pleads a case for maintaining and expanding it.

• Stewart, George R., Storm (New York: Random House, 1941)--a fictional account of a winter storm and its impact on Northern California. Walt Disney put out a film entitled "Storm Called Maria" (1957) that was based on the book. I also read Stewart's 1948 book Fire, a fictional account of a forest fire in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

[P.O.E.]

Get him some lessons - guitar, skiing, golf, flying, etc. or some range time - golf, bow, shooting, etc.

[Fiji Hill]

Try Earth Abides by George Stewart.

I'm glad to see that George Stewart is still being read.

[Sparticus]

How about a girlfriend? ...just kidding!

I think I’d run the gun thing by Mom or Dad first.

[piasa]

There was a series of books called Casca published a while back that was a blend of history and fiction. They have a little bit of man chases woman stuff in them but it’s not over the top. The central figure is a Roman soldier, Casca, the one who stuck the spear in Christ, and in the book he is cursed to never die until the world ends. He wanders through all manner of civilizations - Persians, Mongols, Aztecs, etc, and across continents and the sea through the centuries as a mercenary, sometimes getting captured and sold into slavery, and other times triumphant, even gaining promotions and power along the way which he can never keep too long. You can get a taste of history and archaeology, ancient tools and weapons and terminology thrown in that may spark your kid into looking at history not as a dull class in school but a source just as gripping as a video game. Casca can receive mortal wounds, and endure all the sorrows of a normal man but he must always return, and because he does not age he cannot remain forever in one spot. I liked the books and my brother liked them when he was a few years older than your son, so check them out.

[Blackirish]

A guitar and some tattoos. He’ll have a better chance at making a good living then trying to get a decent job in Osama’s economy.

[buffaloguy]

Moisin-nagant rifle with 400 rounds of ammo usually a package deal. And a PAST shoulder pad. He will treasure it for the rest of his life.

[Nifster]

I read Atlas Shrugged at 14.....at 16 I was reading Buckley and Von Mises.

[Nifster]

SInce you live in Washington why not something local? Dixie Lee Ray’s “Environmental Overkill” would be a most excellent book for a young techno geek to read

[Gene Eric]

Best recommendation thus far.

[Disambiguator]

Get him one of these and some reloading equipment.

:^)

[Brad’s Gramma]

1. Bible, WITH SOMETHING PERSONAL, from you to him, written in the inside cover.

2. Gun IF his parents will allow it.

3. He's NOT going to grow up and be 35 years old playing his xbox...so, maybe relax a tad. Just a tad. You mentioned he's on the computer? AND he likes his Xbox?

See if he'll read something like this!

Or...This perhaps?

Just don't nag him about reading, whatever you do. Find something he'll be interested in. He'll do the typical teen thing and act UNinterested, yet in his room with the door closed, he may just peek inside that book. If he's on the computer...he's already reading. Now, let's hope and pray the sites he's visiting are OK.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Oh, the devil with you.

[HiTech RedNeck]

too much time on the computer doing WHAT?

[chuckles]

I disagree with most of this. It's hard to know what to give without meeting him, but IMO, if he doesn't read by now, he won't start if you give him books now. Another thing I would be wary of getting him his first gun at 16. Waiting that long to start is sometimes dangerous, especially if he plays video games all day. They tend to "Rambo" out when they see a real gun. I started at 8 with my father and later joined a rifle club. I would have been beaten if I touched a gun without supervision before I was about 9-10. I had to get the seal of approval from Dad to earn that trust. We went target shooting and hunting till he was satisfied I wasn't crazy. I won many patches and medals shooting in the local NRA club. Starting at 17, you just can't be sure what he thinks about safety. I just think you have to be raised around guns with stiff rules to get that engrained in your genes. Just ask him what he's interested in and go from there. Chances are you will end up buying him another video game just like 90% of the other families. If you do decide on a gun, make SURE you set aside many hours to teach him the proper safety rules. YOU can't hit this a lick and a promise and then disappear. It will end badly. Another thing is to take him hunting with his rifle. He should see what real life is when you pull the trigger, including skinning and gutting. How many kids shoot birds, dogs, cats, and other animals and then don't eat them? They have to respect life, or they don't deserve a gun. Judge yourself and his family to see what their feelings are about a gun. Mom may not want a gun in the house. What does that do? Makes him sneak around to get his own gun out to "play " with it. Not good.

As for me, when I was 17 I had my girlfriend in the back seat of my '67 Camero I bought with my own money while working. I was already over guns and books and moving on to other things. Course, I got the gun back when I went into the Army the next year. Now, I had 33 guns until that unfortunate boating accident. I still reload though just in case I find them again when a Republican is president.

[married21]

Does he have the computer game Civilization?

If not, you should get the latest version. You are a famous ruler from history and and your own civilization starts in the Stone Age and progresses through each stage of development in agriculture, technology, culture, religion, trade, government. You meet other important historical leaders along the way, from all different continents and periods of history.

You can win by conquest, diplomacy, cultural or scientific dominance or just outlasting the other rulers.

There is plenty of reading in it, as there is background info on things like architecture and inventions, and quotes by famous figures are included. The music is also historical.

I think it is a great way to teach the achievements of Western Culture, and it is conservative-friendly. Representative government and economic freedom are valued, and faith is part of life.

Everybody in my family plays it occasionally, except me. For some reason it stresses me out to be in charge of a civilization. I worry about my citizens too much. But we have all learned something from it.

[iowamark]

Good old Rat Patrol: