The idea was to present a "what-if" story to give us a possible explanation for where you'd get a kid who could fly, who never grows old, travels with a little personal assistant, is pursued by pirates, and can detach from his shadow!
- Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson Peter and the Shadow Thieves
Human males are an endangered species. And that is not a metaphor. Oxford geneticist Brian Sykes argues in this book that the Y chromosome -- the genetic material that makes a male a male -- is deteriorating, and rapidly.
The idea was to present a "what-if" story to give us a possible explanation for where you'd get a kid who could fly, who never grows old, travels with a little personal assistant, is pursued by pirates, and can detach from his shadow! 
