These are books I’ve been reading in the last year that are relevant to sacred masculinity and the men’s work.
Book Review: Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday (Affiliate link)
In this book, the author explores the virtue of discipline and shares historical examples of when discipline has been exercised and when it has not. I found this book to be really relevant to my journey. I can be impulsive in my decision making and choices and reading this book helped me recognize where I need to rein in my emotions and impulses and approach a given situation from a more systematic awareness and perspective. I highly recommend this book to anyone as it provides some ideas on how to be more disciplined in your life.
Book Review: The Path of the Warrior-Mystic by Angel Millar (Afilliate link)
The author explores what sacred masculinity looks like in an age of chaos, advocated for men to simultaneously be in touch with their warrior and mystic aspects. It’s more of a philosophy book than anything else, but the author brings up some interesting points ty too consider about what it means to be a man and how to transform one’s relationship with masculinity.
Book Review: Choose Yourself by James Altucher (Affiliate link)
This is an amazing experience…not just a book, a way of thinking about and approach the world where you truly choose yourself and empower yourself in the process. Reading this book has helped me take some big risks and make some decisions that I might have made differently or with more hesitation . I am choosing myself and I’m much happier as a result.
Book Review: Saturn by Liz Greene (Affiliate Link)
This was a very interesting book to read about the astrological aspects of Saturn. The author did an excellent job of presenting a different take on Saturn which is not rooted in treating Saturn as a malefic force, but rather explores the function and purpose of Saturn and shows readers how they can work with Saturnine energies instead of resisting them. It helped me get a better perspective on how to work with Saturn in my life.
Book Review: The Appearance of Power by Tanner Guzy (Affiliate link)
The Appearance of Power is an intriguing book which explores style and fashion for men from the perspective of power and how men dress to display power. Reading it made me consider some of my fashion choices and why I dress certain ways as well as how I can make different choices with my appearance, both in terms of clothes and in terms of other aesthetics.
Book Review: Living an Examined Life by James Hollis (Affiliate link)
Living an examined life presents 21 lessons that you can apply to your life to change it in meaningful ways. This is an excellent book to read regardless of what stage you are at in your life, but I found it to be very helpful as I navigate my mid forties. It helped me start living a much more intentional and focused life as I considered how best to apply the lessons contained within.
Book Review: Phallos by Eugene Monick (affiliate link)
Phallos explores the sacred mythology around the genitalia of men. The author draws on a variety of myths and archetypes to explore and venerate the masculine genitalia and provides a different perspective on how we can have a better relationship with ourselves and the sacred masculine.
Book Review: Fire in the Belly by Sam Keen (Affiliate Link)
This is a dynamic book that explores why its necessary for men to go through initiatory experiences and explores what it means to be a man in today’s world. The author deconstructs the toxic myths around masculinity and shares why it is essential for men to do the work they need to do together in order to heal themselves and their relationships with women. This book proved to be very helpful in my own work.
Book Review: Soulshaping by Jeff Brown (Affiliate link)
A fascinating memoir and instructional guide on how to listen to your soul and be shaped by your purpose and meaning. Reading this book helped me get comfortable with my confusion, fears, and questions and make better sense of the path I was on. We don’t always know where we’re going but if we learn to trust our inner guidance we can find the path.
Book Review: The Way of Men by Jack Donovan (affiliate link)
This is an interesting book that argues for an approach to masculinity that is focused around the concept of men being in a gang. I didn’t agree with all of the author’s perspectives, but my main take away was the recognition that men do need to bond with each other and men have been taught not to do that as much in the modern era. It’s a thought provoking read about what masculinity is and what it could be.
Book Review: No More Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover (Affiliate link)
This is a must read book for both men and women. While the book addresses behaviors of so-called nice guys, a lot of the behaviors cross over and show up with anyone who has co-dependency issues. What this book helps a recovering nice guy do is recognize their own value and needs and actually learn how to advocate for them, instead of continuing to give away their sense of power and identity. This is an excellent, must read book that can help anyone who needs to learn how to stop being a nice guy, so they can actually become a person who loves themselves and others in the best possible way.
Book Review: Hearticulations by Jeff Brown (affiliate link)
This is a must read book that provides some deep insights into the nature of the heart, relationships, healing from trauma and so much more. Reading this book helped me on my path to self love and provided me with insights to help me heal and work through some of my deeper baggage. This is a book that anyone would benefit from.
Book Review: Awareness by Anthony De Mello (affiliate link)
This is an eye-opening book that can help you understand how to cultivate genuine awareness in your life and show you how your attachments are getting in the way of that awareness. Reading this book and applying its practices along with my self-love practice has made a significant impact in my life and changed the way I approach and think about situations, love, people, and most importantly myself.
Book Review: Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on it by Kamal Ravikant (Affiliate link)
This book has been a life changer for me. It’s helped me find a way to self-validate through self-love and also release a lot attachments to outcomes and expectations. The practice is simple to apply, but sticking with it is key. It has changed my life in a month for the better and is something I’ll stick with for the rest of my life.
Book Review: The Way to Love by Anthony De Mello (Affiliate link)
Another fascinating book by De Mello which explores the nature of love and attachment and how each is different from the other. This was thought-provoking and challenging but gave me a lot to consider. I highly recommend it as a book to read that can change your relationship with love.
Book Review: King, Magician, Warrior, Lover By Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette (affiliate link)
This is a fascinating book that looks at the archetypes of masculinity, both in terms of the immature and mature masculine using the roles of the King, Warrior, Magician, and Lover as the archetypes. Reading this book helped me reflect on these roles in my own life and how I have sometimes embodied the immature masculine as well as the mature masculine. It’s given me ideas on how I can ground into the mature masculine more using the appropriate roles, while also being aware of the shadow aspects and how to work with them better.
Book Review: The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other by James Hollis (Affiliate link)
This book explores the myth of the magical other, the person that will supposedly complete you and heal all your wounds. The author debunks this myth and shows how we project onto other people what we are looking for, when the healing work we need to be doing is the work within ourselves. By doing this work we can free ourselves of the need for the magical other and have healthier relationships with the people in our lives. This book took the scales off my eyes about my relationships and my role in them and showed me why its essential to let go of the attachment to the magical other.
Book Review: What women want in a man by Bruce Bryans (Affiliate link)
This is an interesting book. There’s some points I agree with and other points I disagree with, but reading it made me think about the relationships I had in the past and consider how I showed up in the relationships and how the women in my life responded to how I showed up. It’s worth reading if you want to take a different look at yourself and how you show up in relationships.
Book Review: What women want when they test men by Bruce Bryans (Affiliate link)
Reading this book was hard, because I initially had some knee jerk reactions but when I really began to consider what the author was sharing I was able to identify the behaviors he spoke of. It helped me understand my past relationships from a different angle and see some of the ways that a man can get tested and not even realize it. It gave me some deep food for thought on how I can be better grounded and aware of myself, and be less of a so-called nice guy.
Book Review: Live Your Truth by Kamal Ravikant (Affiliate link)
Another excellent book which explores why it’s important to live your truth, whatever that is, from a place of genuine honesty and connection. The various insights have helped me with my self-love journey and with bring my life to a different place where I am being honest with myself and what I really want, while also being less attached to all the things that otherwise get in the way.
Book Review: Can I be Honest with you? by Amy Palatnick (affiliate link)
This is an edgy, empowering and deep read. As I read this book I reflected on the lessons that it brought up for me, both in regards to when I have been too pushy with what I've wanted, but also not honest enough with myself or other people. Reading this book pushed me to make some changes in my communication and work harder at both letting myself in and other people in while also being true to myself. It wasn't easy to read. There were times I really squirmed and felt called out, but it also gave me the courage to examine where I have fallen short in my communication with other people and start making some changes. I definitely will re-read this book again because I think there is a lot here for anyone to explore and work through.
Book Review: The Epic of Gilgamesh translated by Andrew George (Affiliate link)
I enjoyed this edition of the epic of Gilgamesh a lot. I particularly appreciated the translator notes as well as the historical notes, both in terms of the archaeology and the actual history. I found this book to be really helpful for some ongoing research I’m doing.
Book Review: The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (Affiliate link)
This is a tour de force that explores the laws of power through historical lessons that reveal when people have either successfully applied or broken those laws. It provides a profound perspective on how to apply those laws to your life, as well as how to recognize how others are applying them or breaking them. The historical stories are also fascinating and illustrative.
Book Review: Bittersweet by Helen Cain (Affiliate link)
This was an interesting book to read which explores the nature of longing and sorrow and how they show up in our lives and how they can lead us to creativity, closure, as well as self-awareness. It helps you appreciate the value of emotions that many people spend a lot of time trying to ignore, when perhaps we ought to discover what those emotions have to offer us. Reading this book helped me appreciate my own melancholia in a different light and recognize it can be a natural state of being.
Book Review: Why We Argue and How to Stop by Jerry Manney (Affiliate link)
If you find yourself in a lot of arguments, this book can be a useful guide to help you recognize why you are arguing and explore techniques you can apply to help you have better conversations with the people you are arguing with. Reading this book helped me understand some of my patterns of behavior when I get into arguments and has given me some ways I can change those patterns and have more constructive conversations as a result.
Book Review: The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink (Affiliate link)
In this book the author explores the emotion of regret and shares how this emotion can be beneficial and help us make positive changes in our lives. While we can’t undo the mistakes we’ve made, regret helps us recognize what we could do differently in the future and shows us a way to learn from our failures so that we live a better life, wise for the mistakes we’ve made.
Book Review: Iron John by Robert Bly (Affiliate link)
This was a fascinating book to read, which explores the mythology of Iron John and relates it to the struggles the men face in their identity. Reading this book helped me recognize some of the ways I don’t healthily connect with my own masculinity and helped me get started on making that journey in my life. It helped me see the important of connecting with each aspect of my masculinity so I could work with those aspects to find balance.
Book Review: Under Saturn’s Shadow by James Hollis (affiliate link)
A friend recommended this book to me and I’m really glad he did. Reading it helped me understand and work through some deep pain I’ve been feeling for much of my life. It put that pain and the experiences around that pain into context and helped me do some work I’ve long needed to do, but never understood how to do. Reading this book gave me a sense of hope and direction and enabled some pivotal breakthroughs that I’m carrying forward into my continual internal work. I would recommend it for any person to read if you want to better understand the experiences a man faces in the world, both internally and externally.
Book Review: The way of the superior man by David Deida (Affiliate link)
While I found some aspects of this book thought provoking and helpful in terms of exploring masculinity, I found other aspects to be outdated, providing a perspective on polarity that doesn’t seem to be as relevant anymore. It helped me recognize the importance of purpose and staying true to purpose, but it also made a lot of arguments that I’m not sure are as relevant now. Either way it still made me think and I appreciated reading the book.
Book Review: Circle of Men by Bill Kauth (Affiliate link)
This is a really helpful book that explores how to form a men’s group and provides exercises, guidelines and ideas to consider in terms of how to make that group a safe container. If you want to create a men’s group of your own or join one this book provides some definitive rules that can help that process as well as a fascinating history of the mankind project.