Book review: The Maxims of Manhood

We have all seen those "Man Law" Miller Lite advertisements, you know, the ones where men sit at a round table and discuss things that men should and should not do. Violating a man law, by for instance wearing a dress, could result in having your manhood revoked.

In Jeff Wilser's The Maxims of Manhood: 100 Rules Every Man Must Live By, Wilser writes 100 of these man laws, or maxims, that no man should ever violate. These maxims range in categories from sports, to women, to style, to entertainment, and more.

This book is written in a tongue-and-cheek humorous way, meaning that while he believes what he is writing, he is not so adamant that there can't be exceptions. A lot of times, these "guide for life" books can be rather harsh and sarcastic, and are written by people who care a little too much about what they are writing. The Maxims of Manhood falls in between that and straight out top-100 books.

The book is very symmetrical, in that each category has ten examples, and each example lasts two pages. The book also looks very nice, although don't be fooled into letting your little kid read it -- it is intended for college-age guys after all.

Overall, the Maxims of Manhood isn't a bad book at all, and there were certain rules, such as Maxim #11: Never Switch Your Favorite Team, that I agreed with completely. But keep in mind that this is a single man's book. If you are a man and you're married, or are madly in love with some girl, or if you don't like to look at things that may challenge your masculinity, you may be irked or annoyed while you're reading this. But for every other guy, the Maxims of Manhood is a harmless book that is well-written and pretty funny. Any writer with an obvious knowledge of Seinfeld and the NBA is a winner in my book.

Amazon.com: The Maxims of Manhood