READ FIRST, THINK LATER: MEMOIRS OF A NAUGHTY SOUTH AFRICAN KID

Some kids had role models. I had bad ideas.Growing up in South Africa, Doug Pieterse rarely went looking for trouble. Unfortunately, trouble seemed perfectly happy to meet him halfway.From exploding school projects and BMX getaways to boarding-school schemes, brotherly warfare, wildlife encounters and experiments that should probably have required adult supervision, Read First, Think Later is a collection of true childhood stories about curiosity, confidence and the remarkable durability of children.At the centre of it all are Joel-brother, occasional victim and frequent co-conspirator-Mum, whose patience was tested with impressive regularity, and a childhood where consequences usually arrived shortly after the idea.Funny, nostalgic and occasionally difficult to believe, these are the stories as Doug remembers them: growing up, getting into trouble and somehow surviving long enough to laugh about it.This is not a guide to bad behaviour.Although, to be fair, most of it didn't work particularly well anyway.