I have a guest post that went up at Patriactionary on the book Willpower.
Category Archives: The Bookshelf
The Bookshelf: The Way of Men
The first book I read on my trip was Jack Donovan’s The Way of Man.
The book is a theoretical discussion about manhood and what defines a masculinity. In terms of writing style, the book is written in an engaging and clear manner. It reads well and communicates effectively without slowing down as theoretical books are often wont to do. It is an enjoyable read.
The first couple chapters introduce the concept that “the way of men is the way of the gang”. Essentially, masculinity is defined through a man’s interactions within a small group of other men gathered together for resource acquisition and mutual security. Essentially, manliness was defined by man’s position in a small war band or hunting party.
From there he describes the four tactical virtues men that defines a man’s worthiness as a man within his gang: Strength, Courage, Mastery and Honour. He makes an excellent case for these virtues being the defining traits of masculinity and I would agree with him on his chosen traits. They represent what I’ve noticed masculinity is generally defined by.
After a discussion of the virtues, he writes of how “being good at being a man” differs from “being a good man”. The four tactical virtues are the virtues that define masculinity, on who demonstrates these virtues is good at being a man. Other virtues (piety, charity, temperance, righteousness, etc.) may make a man good, but do not necessarily make a man good at being a man. (I like the implicit acceptance of virtue ethics by this book).
This distinction is important and brings this book far above most other writings I’ve read on masculinity, which usually conflate being a man with the author’s own personal morality, often to results that don’t quite sit right. Christian writings on masculinity often conflate Christian morality for males with masculinity,excluding obviously masculine men who might not follow Christian morality from being a man. Game advocates often define masculinity through a male’s attractiveness to women making masculinity dependent on female approval and implicitly denying the masculinity of men who aren’t superficially psycho-socially dominant. Society as a whole usually either defines masculinity through anti-social thuggery, reducing masculinity to nothing more than the gratification of base urges and denying the masculinity of men dedicated to higher values, or the approved beta life path, making masculinity dependent on providing for women and denying the masculinity of those who don’t “man up”. It’s good to have someone define masculinity in a neutral way apart from the moral preconceptions of the author.
He then discusses the way of the gang in relation to civilization for a few chapters, with a chapter focusing on Rome in particular. As society becomes more civilized and peaceful the need for gangs decreases, so men redirect their gang activities into simulated (ex. playing sports or games), vicarious (ex. watching sports or war movies), or intellectual masculine (ex. economic or political competition). Men will be content in civilization as long he has sufficient redirection for gang activities, but increasingly our society is limiting men’s opportunities for participation in masculine activities.
He illustrates with a comparison of the Way of Women and the Way of Men through a comparison of Bonobo and Chimpanzee society, respectively. If men become too decadent and their opportunities for gang activities too few, civilization will become a “Bonobo Masturbation Society” where meaning and purpose are replaced by “fun”.
These chapters are excellent at explaining why men are in a crisis of meaning in our modern society despite being more prosperous than ever.
The last few chapters summarize the consequences of the previous discussions. Men have to choose whether to have civilization with access to a meaningless world of pleasure and fun, the Bonobo Masturbation Society, or a more meaningful society of the Way of Men. He discusses how reasserting the Way of Men is impossible in a democratic society and requires the collapse of prosperity, security, and globalism.
These chapters are rather bleak, as the only solution given to the modern malaise besetting men is collapse, but I can’t argue that it’s not true.
He then gives some advice on starting your own gang. This last chapter is the only part that may be practically applicable to your life, the rest of the book being a theoretical and philosophical discussion of masculinity.
Overall, this book is an excellent exploration of masculinity, and I think Donovan gets everything exactly right. This is simply the best book on masculinity I have read.
Recommendation:
If you are at all interested in men’s issues or masculinity (and you are reading a manosphere blog, so you probably are) or if you’ve ever wondered how to be man, read this book. In itself, it won’t really help you become a better man or improve your life, but it will give you the theory necessary to understand what you are missing, so you can begin to find solutions for yourself.
The Bookshelf: Bang
I just finished reading Roosh’s game manual Bang.
The writing style for the book is straightforward and explanatory. It’s competently written, clear, and easy to understand. The book is fairly short (155 pages) and filled with information on running game. Roosh doesn’t waste your reading time by padding the book with fluff. In other words, this is written in the exact way you are looking for a manual to be written.
Roosh doesn’t pull punches in the book. He’s very clear on how much work, disappointment, and rejection is necessary to learn game. He does not promise miracles and does not promise an easy time. It’s good to know he’s no overselling his methods; that kind of honesty builds trust. If you plan to learn game, knowing the costs and benefits accurately beforehand.
****
The book is divided into 5 main sections (and an introduction and appendix).
The first section is internal game. It’s short (10 pages), and is focused on the necessity of building confidence and what kind of attitude an alpha needs to maintain. This section and the first part of the second section (which talks of attitudes to approach) are probably the most fundamental parts of the book; without the attitude the techniques, routines, and advice in the rest of the book likely won’t matter much.
The second section, and the large bulk of the book, is early game. He explains “the vibe”, how to approach, discusses venue selection, gives some routines, advises on conversations, discusses touch and escalation, and generally goes through all the basic game stuff for meeting and approaching girls to get either a venue change (ie. go back to her place) or a phone number.
The third section is middle game. In this, Roosh explains how to turn the phone number into a date with phone game and how to run a first (and possibly second) date with the purpose of getting into the girl’s bedroom.
The fourth section is late game. It’s describes how get sex from the position of being inside her house, with a small section on post-sex dating and relationships.
The fifth section, end game, is very short (4 pages). It’s a combination of encouragement not to give up, some advice on finding your niche to improve your odds, and some of the benefits of having game.
The appendix gives some nuggets of advice on a number of various situations such as “She Lives With Her Parents” and “You Forget Her Name”. There’s also a little cheat sheet of the six most important principles.
****
If you want to learn game this is the book to buy. It is clear introductory guide on game and how to learn it.
But because it is an introductory guide to game, if you’re already proficient at game you’ll probably know most of this already. Even if you aren’t proficient with game, but you’ve been around the game portion of the manosphere for a while, you’re probably familiar with most of the information in Bang. While you might learn some things here or there, the value of this book will likely be limited for you.
On the other hand, to get most game information requires sifting through hundreds of posts on a number of blogs. Bang, due to its systematic nature, could function very well as a reference guide for the experienced player who needs to quickly brush up on a particular aspect of game.
Now the question you ask is, does the advice work? I can’t really tell you from personal experience, as I am not an alpha and I don’t really have game, but it’s commonly accepted in the manosphere that game does work and that Roosh is one of the masters so, take that as you may.
****
The book is primarily aimed at Night/Club game. I’ve already explained my issues with club game (it just doesn’t seem fun), so I won’t go into them further. There’s some information for day game, but it’s definitely secondary.
I am more interested in Roosh’s Day Bang, but decided to read this first based on a different review. I plan to read Day Bang in the future in will review it here when I do. I’m sure I’ll get more out of that.
****
Conclusion: If you are looking to learn game or read an introduction to game, you should get Bang. If you are already proficient at game or have already boned up on game theory (pun intended), this book may not be necessary; you probably know most of it already, although the systematic nature of it can make it a good reference. If you are not interested in game, you probably already know that this book isn’t for you.
If you are looking for day game advice, look elsewhere. If you are looking for marriage game advice, look elsewhere.
Related: I have previously reviewed Roosh’s 30 Bangs.
The Bookshelf: Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids
I previously mentioned that I was reading Bryan Caplan’s Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids. Having now completed reading the book, here’s the review.
The book is a pro-natalist book arguing that your self-interest should lead you to have more children, that having kids should be easier than you think, and that you’re parenting style is not really going to affect your children’s long-term outcomes.
The book is written in a typical popular economics manner: a light-hearted tone, but keen on being technically accurate and precise. It’s very readable and simplifies the issues and studies to be understandable to all. The arguments are well-supported by scientific studies, common-sense, and coherent logical arguments. THe Overall, it’s a well-written book.
As for content, the book is divided into eight chapters and is fairly short at less than 200 pages (238 pages if you include references and indices).
The first chapter argues that the parent’s happiness counts too and that a parent should lessen their own parental workload for their own benefit (and their family’s).
The second chapter shows very clearly that, as long as you are a typical first world parent, your method of parenting has no real long-term effect on your children’s futures and you should not feel guilty about lessening your workload.
Having demonstrated that your parenting has no long-term effect on your children’s future, the third chapter lays out how this should practically effect your family life.
The fourth chapter attacks the notion that society is more dangerous for children now than and the past, and shows clearly that kids are safer than they have ever been.
The fifth chapter argues that if you fully look at the long-term consequences of having children, you will have more than you currently have, because you overestimate the work of children in the near future and underestimate the value of children when you are older.
The sixth chapter argues that, contrary to the arguments of the over-population crowd, more children are not bad for the world, rather a larger population and more children are a positive benefit for the world.
The seventh chapter gives some tips for increasing the number of grandchildren you have.
The eighth chapter talks up the benefits of fertility technology.
The ninth chapter and final chapter is Caplan’s clarifications and responses to common hesitations and counter-arguments presented in a dialog format.
Overall, I would recommend reading this book. The subject matter is interesting, the book is well written, the arguments are clear and persuasive, and more information on one of the most important decisions in your life is always a good thing.
Conclusion:
If you’re married, plan to marry, have kids, or are considering having kids, I would fully recommend you read this book so you can make family decisions with accurate knowledge.
If you never plan to get married and/or have children, this book will may not be relevant to you, so you may not want to read it. You may still want to read it if you are interested in natalism or family issues or simply to consider (re)evaluate the long-term impacts of your choices.
The Bookshelf: The Spartan Entrepreneur’s Guide to Making $100 per Day Online
This is a review of The Spartan Entrepreneur’s Guide to Making $100 per Day Online by Victor Pride.
The guide is short (27 pages) and written in the same straightforward, matter-of-fact matter as the author’s blog. It communicates the plan it lays ou t simply and without wasted effort. Other than that, there’s not much to say on the writing style: it’s functional, but you aren’t reading it for entertainment, you’re reading it for the plan, so functional is good.
So onto the guide itself: it is exactly what it is advertised as, a step-by-step plan to making a livable (you won’t get rich off this plan) income through affiliate marketing without SEO manipulation. The entire plan is laid out in easy-to-follow steps that show you exactly what you need to do. The plan is realistic and simple to follow. Although, simply does not necessarily mean easy, this will take a couple hours of work each day.
I haven’t started the plan, but I’m pretty sure if you followed it and put the effort in, you would make a decent income off this. Even if your first attempt doesn’t net as much as you want, it would be fairly simple to simply do the plan again for more income.
So, why haven’t I started the plan if I’m sure it would make money?
Simple, I’m uncomfortable with the plan. While I’m fairly sure the plan would work, I don’t really care for the method as is; it isn’t productive. It would make money, but following the plan you wouldn’t create anything of value to anybody. It’s above spam, but only by a bit.
As the guide itself says:
Remember: This is not a method to save the world, it’s a method to make you some money.
This just kind of rubs me wrong way: I don’t like feeling unproductive. If I go into business for myself, I want to be somewhat productive and create something of value. My largest complaint about my current employment is the lack of feeling productive, and simply switching to something else that leaves me feeling unproductive, would not be much of a gain.
On the other hand, after thinking about it, I figured out a way to do something moderately similar that will produce something of value. It will require more work on my part and will be slower to get off the ground, but I’ll feel like I’m adding value, so I don’t mind. So, as a start-off point with some thinking and rejigging, this problem can be overcome and the guide can be used as a base to work from.
Conclusion:
This guide does exactly what it says it does. If you want to make $100/day (or so) from affiliate marketing within a month or two, this will likely get you there. If this is all you want and you’re willing to put in some work, buy the guide.
I don’t like that the plan doesn’t create anything of value, so if you want to feel productive or suffer from the Protestant Work Ethic, the guide might not be for you. You may want to buy it anyway, as it can provide an intro to affiliate marketing without SEO or be used as a base for something more productive, but it may rub you the wrong way.
If you are not willing to put in the work necessary or are incapable of self-motivation, this guide will be a waste of money.
The Bookshelf: Married Man Sex Life Primer
I finished Athol Kay’s Married Man Sex Life Primer 2011; at the same time I read his How To Answer “Do These Pants Make My Ass Look Fat?”: and get laid like tile!
MMSL
MMSL is essentially a book on using game in marriage. Athol lays out the biochemical reactions that underlie love and underscores the concept of sex ranks and how they work in the sexual marketplace and in marriage. He gives out all the good red pill information on how to be alpha and keep your wife happy and sexually charged, but, unlike most game guides, he applies this to creating longer-term relationships and marriage rather than just scoring lays. In doing this he emphasizes the importance of displaying beta traits in maintaining a marriage.
His Male Action Plan (MAP) lays out the steps you need to improve your marriage or to secure the best post-marriage deal should your wife be unwilling to help improve the marriage. He lays out what you need to do to get your wife (and other women) to desire you. He also has advice on how to get your wife to try naughty things with you that you may not know how to introduce otherwise.
MMSL is a softer red pill. If you want to introduce the red pill to someone who you don’t think would be receptive to it or is more traditionally inclined, they would probably be much more likely to accept the information from Athol than say Roosh or Roissy. I would highly recommend this book as a gateway to red pill thinking.
What the MMSL is not is a primer for those looking to pick up women. He will occasionally talk about how his advice applies to pick-ups, but this is generally tangential to his main focus: marriages. So, if you’re looking for a game guide, look elsewhere
Similarly, if you’re currently looking for a wife, this guide will not really help you find one. It will help prepare you for improving yourself to maximize your value on the sexual marketplace and has some good advice on choosing a wife, for which it is invaluable and highly recommended, but it will not have much information on the finding a women or going through the whole dating/courtship thing.
As for the writing itself, Athol’s style is both straightforward and fun. He doesn’t mince words or sugarcoat things, but is very frank. The book is also filled with levity, while the topics and writing are serious, you will still enjoy yourself and have the occasional laugh. It’s an informative and engaging book.
I will note, conservative religious folks may have some moral problems with this book. Athol does lay out a defence of divorce if a wife does not meet her husband’s sexual needs. He also seems to advocate some mild flirting with women who aren’t you’re wife and the use of porn in marriage, which may not strike some as entirely moral.
On the other hand, Martin Luther, father of the Protestant Reformation himself, made similar arguments concerning divorce. Luther’s advice of when divorce is appropriate: “Then it is time for the man to say: If you are not willing, another woman is; if the wife is not willing, bring on the maid.” is very much echoed by Athol’s advice. So, I wouldn’t judge Athol’s advice on this too harshly.
The big question you’re probably asking though, is does his MAP work? The answer: I don’t have a wife to practice it on, so I really can’t tell you. I can say that a number of people have claimed Athol has saved their marriage, so take that as you will.
For myself, when I do enter a long-term relationship, I will be applying the MAP. I will also be trying to apply what I can of it in my singleness.
If you’re married or looking to be married, I would highly recommend this book. If someone you care about is having marriage/sex problems, buy them this book.
HTA
HTA is a collection of posts from Athol’s blog. They’re all great posts, and the writing is and information is good. All the praise of MMSL just as easily applies to HTA. The problem though, is that a much, if not most, of the information in HTA is in MMSL, so if you have read the MMSL, a good portion of HTA will be rereading what you’ve already read.
Of the two, the MMSL has more information and is better organized, as it is written as a book, in a logical fashion by rather than as a collection of essays written in chronological order.
There is some information in HTA that is not in MMSL, but usually it is not really the important stuff you’re buying these books for. There are a number of essays in HTA talking about his own personal life and relationships that is not in MMSL; these can be used as illustrations for his larger points, and if you’re interested you may want to pick it up.
But overall, the HTA is unnecessary if you have or will be reading the MMSL (which you should be), so I can’t recommend it. On the other hand, there’s something to be said for supporting Athol in his endeavours to help others’ marriages, so you may want to buy it to support the cause.
Recommendation:
I would highly recommend buying the Married Man Sex Life Primer 2011. Although, Athol is currently finishing up his 2012 primer, so you may want to wait a month or two, or however long and get that instead.
As for How To Answer “Do These Pants Make My Ass Look Fat?”, buy it if you want to support Athol or if you really liked MMSL, but if you buy the MMSL, you won’t miss very much if you don’t get the HTA.
The Bookshelf: 30 Days of Discipline
Tonight, I was going to read and review Ferdinand’s two essays: The Age of Onanism
On the other hand, I discovered Bold & Determined today (h/t the Captain), and I mostly like what I’ve read. So, I downloaded Victor Pride’s essay/short book 30 Days of Discipline and it just so happens that tomorrow is going to be the start of a new month. So, in my quest for self-improvement, starting tomorrow, I’m going to give his recommended habits a try.
There are 12 habits he recommends (buy the essay if you want to know what they are, I’m not going to steal his income). Of them, I’m going to modify four habits:
- For #1, I will make an exception for snacking when hanging out with friends.
- For #2, I’m going to wake up at 6 am, rather than 5 am, which is acceptable under his plan.
- For #5, I’m going to do 4-point presses rather than push-ups as it meshes better with my martial arts training.
- For #6, I’m going to dress better (business casual, rather than jeans), but I’m not going full-tilt with a three piece suit, for two reasons: 1) That would look really out of place at my work. and 2) I only own two suits which I need to get refitted. I’m also dressing lazy on Saturday as well as Sunday.
Out of all of them, #4 is going to be the hardest and is what I’m most likely going to fail at. Which is why I wanted to read Ferdinand’s books. (I’ll discuss that issue more when I read and review his books, hopefully, Thursday).
For my specific goal, I am going to start work on a project I’ve been meaning to do. This is a large project requiring learning skills I don’t have, so there’s no way I’m going to be able to finish it in a month, but I want to at least get started on it. I will write more on this project and others at a later time, probably in the next week.
I might do the occasional update on here to keep me honest and after the 30 days, I’ll do an after action report (here’s hoping I don’t wash out).
Now a review of his essay:
It’s short (25 pages), to the point, and written in a clear, straightforward style similar to how Victor writes on his blog. The essay is a list of 12 habits you have to follow for 30 days, followed by a couple pages of clarification of the purpose of the habit and support for why you should adopt the habit.
Some of the habits seem like they’re going to be hard (aw… poor baby) and others are not as physically demanding, but are the kinds of things that would be easy to forget about in the moment. It’s not an easy plan to follow, but if it was, it would be 30 Days of Leisure, not 30 Days of Discipline, so at least the book follows through on the title. I’m pretty sure that anyone who could master these habits would be a better person for them.
So, if you’re interested in improving yourself and looking for a challenge, check the essay out; it’s not that expensive. That being said, I’m not actually starting on this until tomorrow, so I can’t say it will improve you yet.
I’ll put out a second part to the review when I have my AAR.
The Bookshelf: Worthless and Freedom 25
Today, I am going to review two books from the manosphere: Worthless
Worthless is more or less a guide to choosing a university degree. It’s a fairly short book, but it goes through a lot of the considerations someone entering university should think about. It outlines which degrees are worthwhile; ie. the STEM fields (or at least most of them) and which you should avoid ie. the liberal arts. The book pulls know punches and presents the harsh reality of the current post-secondary education system. It’s an enjoyably written screed that presents the necessary information without having so much data it overwhelms the narrative.
The one criticism is that a lot fair amount of the data was Minnesota specific. I don’t think national data would have changed the book much, but would have been somewhat more convincing.
If you are thinking about university buy this book; if you have a loved one thinking about university, buy them this book. If neither applies to you, check it out if the subject matter interests you; it’s still a good read, but not essential.
Freedom Twenty-Five is essentially a short guide to red-pill living. If you’ve been around the manosphere for a while, you probably already know most of what is in the book. On the other hand, I’ve never seen anything else that collects and distills red pill thought in such a convenient matter. The information in there, while mostly basic red pill knowledge, covers information that would otherwise require reading hundreds of posts on dozens on blogs to acquire. The book reads well. The only complaint is that he has some braggadocio that can at is at times be tiring. The book spoke to me because as I’ve mentioned I found a fair number of similarities between his life and mine prior to when he started his blog and quit his job. It prompted me to try the primal diet (I had known and read of it beforehand, but never tried to apply it). It was also a driver in me starting this blog to explore things for myself.
I heartily recommend the book, especially for those who are just starting to learn of the red pill. Even if you’re familiar with the manosphere, it’s a handy summary of knowledge.
The Bookshelf: 30 Bangs
I got my copies of Roosh’s books last week, and I read through 30 Bangs
The book is simply a description of 30 different times Roosh had sex and the events and his actions leading up to the act. It is written in a very matter-of-fact, almost clinical, manner.
If you are looking to start learning game, this is not really the book. Game is present and you will probably learn something about it, particularly the game attitude, but this is no manual and the actual game techniques are sometimes glossed over in his stories. There is a small lesson at the end for the basic commonalities his success stories had. If you are already learning game, his experiences might help you identify errors or find areas of improvement.
What I really like about this book is that it is a short, well-written, and interesting look into the life and experiences of a PUA, someone who has fully embraced the red pill. For those of us who (like me) have not tried game to any significant extent and to whom this kind of life is unfamiliar, it is a pair of binoculars allowing us to see through the windows into a player’s bedroom.
After reading this book though, I can say that I’m not very interested in the clubbing lifestyle. The descriptions of his nights out trolling for sex mostly seems joyless and mechanical. The book was obviously written analytically to deconstruct his experiences so they could be learned from, but I still expected some sense of enjoyment to leak through, but there was little. He could just as easily been writing about his experiences filling out TPS reports, for all the fun this book conveyed.
A couple times he mentions how a particular conversation or girl was fun or interesting, but usually it seems like he’s simply tolerating them and the bars for the hope of sex. For example, at one point he writes, “I was becoming skilled at tolerating stupid girls long enough to beat their pussies up in bed. Since she had a nice body with a tomato ass, I decided a little pain now would be worth a lot of pleasure later.” He writes similar things a number of other times.
While I’m sure having sex with lots of beautiful women is extremely pleasurable, the entire process seems unappealing. Reading Roissy and other game blogs, I got the impression that obtaining sex with game was a simple matter; a quick, fun conversation at the club with some gaming, then a trip to the women’s bedroom. Reading Roosh’s stories it seems to be a lot of trolling of clubs (and I personally dislike clubs/bars, as I don’t care for either crowds or noisiness, with the exception of metal concerts), engaging in conversations you don’t really care for with people you don’t care about (something else, I have a very low tolerance for), spending more time maintaining frame than enjoying yourself, then slowly weaseling your way into sex through manipulation and persistence. I was struck by the amount of time/effort he seems to expend working his way from club to cab to apartment to bed to sex while slowly overcoming the resistance his partners put up; from my readings of game blogs, it had always seemed so much more breezy and quick.
Maybe I’m missing something, but it would seem to be a lot less effort just to pay for sex than to engage in all this for a few one night stands (I think I might have just had an idea for a future blog post) and the occasional short-term sexual relationship.
On the other hand, his day bang stories seemed less draining and effort consuming than his club game stories.
So, in sum, if you’re interested in knowing more about the life of a player, or for learning a bit more about game from real-life examples, I’d give this book a read. If you’re wanting to start learning game, try a different book first.
I found this book helpful, this helped me to know that I do not want the clubbing lifestyle. If I do ever end up fully swallowing the red pill, I will not be doing club or night game. It does not seem worth the effort to me. The temporary pleasures of sex, however fantastic, just do not seem to be worth the seeming grinding, joyless monotony of it. I’d either work on day game, pay for sex, or go without; any of those three would seem preferable.
One last note that’s probably totally unnecessary, but if you’re squeamish about sex or are a rabid feminist or whatnot, the book will offend you, but you could probably tell that from the title.
I still plan to read and give my impressions of Bang
