Summer Reading for Men
- frankminiter
- 5 minutes ago
- 2 min read
In this the Heroic Gent's Library you can find "100 Books Every Man Should Read." The list begins with these 10, though it is fair to say the Bible is not a book, it is a library. Others on this list also contain multitudes, though none like the Holy Bible.
Bible: The Bible is the guide for life. It covers everything including male friendship: “No greater love is this, to lay down one’s life for a friend.”
De Officiis (often titled “On Duties”) by Marcus Tullius Cicero, 44 B.C.: Frederick the Great of Prussia called this the greatest book on morality and ethics ever written. It’s a readable, inspiring outline of the ultimate man’s philosophy.
The Republic by Plato, 380 B.C.: A man needs a curious mind all his life. This foundation of Western philosophy will make you question everything.
Meditations (Ta Eis Heauton) by Marcus Aurelius, around 180 A.D.: This straightforward outline of Stoic philosophy will benefit every man.
The Art Of War by Sun Tzu, thought to be written between 200-400 B.C.: This is an ancient Chinese outline for war. Its humanistic philosophy will surprise and teach things to any man.
The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer, around 700 B.C.: Men, heroism, courage, cleverness, justice … these epics are guides to manhood.
The Book of Five Rings by Miyamota Musashi, 1645: One of the greatest Samurai’s who ever lived wrote this guide to manhood.
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, 1884: This coming-of-age story tackles racism, propriety, and friendship.
Bhagavad Gita, written between the 5th and 2nd centuries B.C.: Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad Gita. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us.” The content of the Gita is the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna before battle. Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and a prince.