The Art of Manliness

A while back I got an email from an AoM reader named Jareem Gunter. He does a lot of mentoring for at-risk youth in Oakland, CA. He's released a book called The Man Book, which I contributed to, and is full of skills for young men to succeed in the world. On this podcast, we talk about that book, as well as the topic of mentoring, and why it's so important not only for young men, but older men too.

For the past year I've been doing a lot of research on the benefits of face-to-face conversation, and looking for more ways to incorporate it into my own life. One of the books that really helped is called The Village Effect by Susan Pinker. She highlights not only psychological, but physiological benefits of face-to-face contact. It makes us healthier, happier, and smarter, and we talk about how to get more of it in your life.

Last year I got an email out of the blue from a guy named Tod Moore inviting me to a weekend of doing various man skills: shooting guns, butchering animals, doing obstacle races. Of course, I was in. The event was called the Vanguard, which was put on by a gym in Austin, Texas called Atomic Athlete. Their goal is overall strength and conditioning, and on today's show, I talk to the two founders of the gym about lifting, conditioning, the psychology of strength, and more.

There's been a transformation in the West about what it means to be a grown up. There used to be scripts to follow, and markers to meet which would mean you're an adult. But those scripts have been thrown out the window, and now it's confusing for young people to know if they've entered adulthood. My guest today takes us on a whirlwind tour of modern adulthood, going back to the 1500s. His name is Steven Mintz, and he's a professor of history at the University of Texas.

Winter is coming. If you like to be in the outdoors, one thing you need to start thinking about is what would happen if you were stuck in the wilderness with nothing but your wits. Would you be able to survive the harshness of the cold? A lot of survival resources gloss over what you do in cold environs. My guest today is Dave Hall, and he's written a book about just that, called Winter In the Wilderness. We talk about shelter, how to get water, building a fire, surviving hypothermia, and more.

If you enjoy shows like The Wire or True Detective, or film noir, there's one guy you can thank for that: Dashiell Hammett. He was a writer in the 1920s-1940s, and he is the guy who created the modern detective. He took the entire genre into the modern era. And Hammett was able to do this because he was in fact a detective for the Pinkerton agency before becoming a writer. My guest today, Nathan Ward, has written a book called The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett. We discuss how Hammett's experience paved the way for the modern American detective in entertainment.

More and more today, we're communicating with the people in our lives through screens. While this has greatly improved efficiency, there are some drawbacks that have come with the decline in face-to-face conversation. My guest today, Sherry Turkle, has written a book (Reclaiming Conversation) about what we're missing when we don't engage with people in face-to-face conversation. In today's show we talk about what we can do to reclaim conversation with the people in our lives, and there are a lot of actionable tips that you can implement right away.

Matt Reynolds, a former power lifter and Strong Man competitor, is the co-owner of a gym in Springfield, MO called Strong Gym. He's been coaching me online, and I've seen significant improvement in my lifting and strength training since I've started with him. I wanted to get him on the podcast to talk about his story, as well as why everyone should be doing strength and barbell training.

In the last few years we've seen an interesting phenomenon, especially on college campuses, where students will take slights or even just awkwardness incredibly sensitively and emotionally. Two sociologists have gotten together -- Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning -- and published a paper and theory about why this "victimhood" culture has arisen on campuses. We talk about this paper, as well as honor, dignity, masculinity, and more.

Lewis Howes had aspirations of being a pro football player, and he was on the path to making it happen for himself. After a career-ending injury, and year spent on his sister's couch, he started an online business which became a big success. Since then, he's started a podcast called The School of Greatness, in which he interviews people about what it means to live a flourishing life. He has a new book by the same name, and on today's show Lewis and I talk about how to live the good life.