Seven books recommended by Matthew for guys asking themselves what kind of man they want to be.
From the author:
For many men, I’ve offered resources like books to help them navigate various stages of life.
In this guide, I’m drawing from both my direct experience with each book as well as conversations I’ve had with men about the books.
For each one, I’ll share…
- How I heard about the book;
- Who the book might resonate with and why;
- Something I love about the book;
- My favorite insight from the book about being a male.
Ebook comes as a PDF to read on your phone, tablet, etc
From the introduction…
What do we mean when we say, “Mature Male”?
The concept of a mature male is not a description of an ideal person that one must become. It’s an idea offered for any man to reflect upon, in seeking to understand who he wishes to become.
In other words, who a man wishes to become is each individual man’s choice—he must decide what is his to grow into and what is not.
Before we proceed, let me clarify this very important point: all human development is personal to the individual. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to growth that resonates with every man. Just as there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to growth that resonates with every woman, for that matter.
The reason for this, I believe, is that we are foremost a soul on a journey and secondarily, a body with distinct anatomy.
Embodying as a man or woman comes with some physiological differences. However, cultural influences are powerful and often shape our sense of “who we should be” as a result of our anatomy (i.e. men exist to dominate and women exist to please men). With that in mind, I tend to prefer resources that offer the lens of being curious about who we each are as distinct souls rather than offering prescriptive steps about, for example, “how to be a man”.
Therefore, my intention with this guide is to address the soul who wishes to mature and also finds itself embodied as a male.
And I’m including the specificity of “male” not because all males are (or should be) the same as one another, but because of the cultural influences at play that I believe males can both identify with as limiting and then rise above, should they desire.
So, my fellow voyagers who showed up as fellas this time around—let me tell you about some books you might like…