What do you think?
Rate this book
Notes on Being a Man
Bestselling author, NYU professor, and cohost of the Pivot podcast Scott Galloway offers a path forward for men and parents of boys.
Boys and men are in crisis. Rarely has a cohort fallen further and faster than young men living in Western democracies. Boys are less likely to graduate from high school or college than girls. One in seven men reports having no friends, and men account for three of every four deaths of despair in America. Even worse, the lack of attention to these problems has created a vacuum filled by voices espousing misogyny, the demonization of others, and a toxic vision of masculinity. But this is not just a male Women and children can’t flourish if men aren’t doing well. And as we know from spates of violence, there is nothing more dangerous than a lonely, broke young man.
Scott Galloway has been sounding the alarm on this issue for years. In Notes on Being a Man, Galloway explores what it means to be a man in modern America. He promotes the importance of healthy masculinity and mental strength. He shares his own story from boyhood to manhood, exploring his parents’ difficult divorce, his issues with anger and depression, his attempts to earn money, and his life raising two boys. He shares the sometimes funny, often painful lessons he learned along the way, some of which
• Get out of the house. Action absorbs anxiety.
• Take risks and be willing to feel like an imposter. Don’t let rejection stop you.
• Be kind. That’s the secret to success in relationships.
• Find what you’re good at; follow your talent.
• Acknowledge your blessings—and create opportunities for others. Be of surplus value.
• Being a good dad means being good to the mother of your children.
• Life isn’t about what happens to you—it’s about how you respond to it.
With unflinching honesty, Scott Galloway maps out an enriching, inspiring operator’s manual for being a man today.
Boys and men are in crisis. Rarely has a cohort fallen further and faster than young men living in Western democracies. Boys are less likely to graduate from high school or college than girls. One in seven men reports having no friends, and men account for three of every four deaths of despair in America. Even worse, the lack of attention to these problems has created a vacuum filled by voices espousing misogyny, the demonization of others, and a toxic vision of masculinity. But this is not just a male Women and children can’t flourish if men aren’t doing well. And as we know from spates of violence, there is nothing more dangerous than a lonely, broke young man.
Scott Galloway has been sounding the alarm on this issue for years. In Notes on Being a Man, Galloway explores what it means to be a man in modern America. He promotes the importance of healthy masculinity and mental strength. He shares his own story from boyhood to manhood, exploring his parents’ difficult divorce, his issues with anger and depression, his attempts to earn money, and his life raising two boys. He shares the sometimes funny, often painful lessons he learned along the way, some of which
• Get out of the house. Action absorbs anxiety.
• Take risks and be willing to feel like an imposter. Don’t let rejection stop you.
• Be kind. That’s the secret to success in relationships.
• Find what you’re good at; follow your talent.
• Acknowledge your blessings—and create opportunities for others. Be of surplus value.
• Being a good dad means being good to the mother of your children.
• Life isn’t about what happens to you—it’s about how you respond to it.
With unflinching honesty, Scott Galloway maps out an enriching, inspiring operator’s manual for being a man today.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 4, 2025
1567 people are currently reading
6302 people want to read
About the author
Scott Galloway
17 books1,919 followersScott Galloway is a clinical professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business, and a public speaker, author, and entrepreneur. He was named one of the world's 50 best business school professors by Poets and Quants.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 253 reviews
November 11, 2025
I’m a bit torn on this one. He’s kind of a democrat-manosphere type.
Some of this book is filled with acutely understood advice and experiences about living life as a man, while other parts of it are filled with boomer advice hinged only slightly more on reality than the normal platitudes. It’s much more a memoir than a think-piece, and should have been packaged as such.
Galloway advocates for welfare programs, for male mentorship, community, independence, and kindness as a core pillar of masculinity. He also advocates for frats, drinking, injecting testosterone, and for treating your wealth and your fitness as the most important things in your life.
Read the quote and make your own judgement:
“Outside of work, I barely remember my twenties and thirties. Work cost me my hair, probably, my first marriage, and arguably my sanity. But for me, it was worth it. I found it’s what’s required if you expect to be in the top 10 percent economically, much less the top 1 percent….
You may feel differently-tens of millions of people do and they are no doubt, happier and, well, more balanced than me. Your call. If you prioritize things besides money recognize this also means making certain compromises e.g., not living in New York or San Francisco or London, owning a less nice car, traveling only occasionally, waiting in longer lines at Disneyland.”
It may be just me, but who in their right mind would pick a nicer car over their wife and kids? I can live in New York comfortably my guy, and I still do all the things you described without breaking my neck and my identity working. The difference is where we place our sacrifices, you sacrificed your soul for two decades of your life, and I eat home cooked rice and beans, only buy half-off Broadway lottery tickets, plan my Disney days out like a mad scientist of efficiency, and live in a small rent-stabilized apartment miles away from wherever you surely wasted your money renting in midtown or the upper east side. What you’re describing isn’t masculinity, it’s pathology. But maybe that’s just our difference in values.
I appreciate some good old fashion “suck it up” wisdom from time to time. I need to hear it, genuinely. But Galloway’s version of it only works when he and I have the same goal, which clearly, with his central defining identity pillar (work), we do not. In other areas, like showing up for your friends, tapping into your emotions, and giving back what privileges life has given you, we do.
His ideology isn’t consistent, there’s multiple times where he almost verbatim quotes an earlier passage, and other times where he almost directly contradicts himself. But like I said, this is more a memoir than a think-piece, and the amount of thought put into the book’s internal logic reflects that.
2.5 stars. Crisply written, entertaining, occasionally great advice, but I think misleading packaging, a little too gender essentialist, and the perspective of someone who values money just a little too much.
Some of this book is filled with acutely understood advice and experiences about living life as a man, while other parts of it are filled with boomer advice hinged only slightly more on reality than the normal platitudes. It’s much more a memoir than a think-piece, and should have been packaged as such.
Galloway advocates for welfare programs, for male mentorship, community, independence, and kindness as a core pillar of masculinity. He also advocates for frats, drinking, injecting testosterone, and for treating your wealth and your fitness as the most important things in your life.
Read the quote and make your own judgement:
“Outside of work, I barely remember my twenties and thirties. Work cost me my hair, probably, my first marriage, and arguably my sanity. But for me, it was worth it. I found it’s what’s required if you expect to be in the top 10 percent economically, much less the top 1 percent….
You may feel differently-tens of millions of people do and they are no doubt, happier and, well, more balanced than me. Your call. If you prioritize things besides money recognize this also means making certain compromises e.g., not living in New York or San Francisco or London, owning a less nice car, traveling only occasionally, waiting in longer lines at Disneyland.”
It may be just me, but who in their right mind would pick a nicer car over their wife and kids? I can live in New York comfortably my guy, and I still do all the things you described without breaking my neck and my identity working. The difference is where we place our sacrifices, you sacrificed your soul for two decades of your life, and I eat home cooked rice and beans, only buy half-off Broadway lottery tickets, plan my Disney days out like a mad scientist of efficiency, and live in a small rent-stabilized apartment miles away from wherever you surely wasted your money renting in midtown or the upper east side. What you’re describing isn’t masculinity, it’s pathology. But maybe that’s just our difference in values.
I appreciate some good old fashion “suck it up” wisdom from time to time. I need to hear it, genuinely. But Galloway’s version of it only works when he and I have the same goal, which clearly, with his central defining identity pillar (work), we do not. In other areas, like showing up for your friends, tapping into your emotions, and giving back what privileges life has given you, we do.
His ideology isn’t consistent, there’s multiple times where he almost verbatim quotes an earlier passage, and other times where he almost directly contradicts himself. But like I said, this is more a memoir than a think-piece, and the amount of thought put into the book’s internal logic reflects that.
2.5 stars. Crisply written, entertaining, occasionally great advice, but I think misleading packaging, a little too gender essentialist, and the perspective of someone who values money just a little too much.
November 16, 2025
2.5/5
It's far from Andrew Tate bs, but it validates more toxic masculinity than it condemns. Galloway as a successful and I feel introspective guy (not credentialed on socialization of men or anything like that) presents his argument in hegemonic terms of what it means to be a man: “Protect, Provide, and Procreate”. This book has such a mix of advocating for unhealthy and healthy norms for men. It has all the good and bad advice you might expect from a successful man born in the 60s. Galloway’s idea of masculinity is also dangerously tied up in “defending your country”, which normalizes nationalism.
This book has good nuance. The fine points are the strong ones. For example, Galloway says Protect (be strong/athletic) but goes in depth into his struggle with body dysmorphia, a topic I feel often overlooked for men. In Provide (be wealthy) he says true men have a drive to wealth but also talks about how some of the hardest working people he knows are blue collar immigrants and that where you are born, into what identity, and plain luck all play outsized roles in making money. Essentially, he is super into the American economy but isn’t dogmatic about it being fair or a meritocracy.
The book is at its strongest when it stays relationship based. There is a lot to gain from his introspection into his fraught relationship with his divorced father and closeness with his single mother, the openly self-criticizing evaluation of why his first marriage ended, and the love he cultivates with his kids through being more emotional than traditional masculinity would allow.
There are also some one off takes I appreciate. This book is written in a series of shorter essays which lends itself to its style of here there advice well and also just makes for a nice read. He is a big advocate of state school and funding such, always hitting home on how without the government support to help him attend a cheap state school he would not be who he is. He touches on addiction, and he really goes into depth on porn addiction. I think most books on masculinity would be too toxic masculine to touch on this. He doesn’t condemn the porn industry as exploitative or anything like that, but none the less I think touching on a real taboo subject here could certainly help a lot of men.
What I don’t like about this book is that everything is seen through the lens of capital and there is a lot of Incel language.
For capital, a through line of the book is that Galloway believes men need to “create more surplus value than they create”. It’s well intentioned, but rooting this in the concept of surplus value is way overtly capitalistic for something so relationship and human based. Telling men to spread more love than you receive or certainly be more a financial blessing on people then a burden sounds like nice advice, but I think people inherently know they ought to do this. The problem is men will not always able to be a plus. Sometimes people struggle and they need more love, assistance, support, or money than they are able to share with their loved ones at that time. This “surplus value” framing reenforces the shame men feel when they are unable to, not only materially provide, but now expands this to not being able to emotionally provide.
I don’t think Galloway is an Incel. Seems a nice dude. The language choices are kind of crazy sometimes though. Starts with what his description of an ideal men being as a “mensch”. He uses a translation of this as “a man of integrity”, which I think is a real nothing burger of meaning compared to the historical context in which mensch has been used. Through out the book he has this men are from Mars, women are from Venus view, that men and women are inherently very different and suited to different tasks. This plus the use of specific wordage I’ll elaborate on here I think is dangerous:
-You can’t write a book on masculinity and use the word “Alpha Male” in it. He only uses it a couple times, but using it seriously even once is a red flag.
-Weaponized the gender pay gap to say men need to pay for everything, “everything but a woman’s car payment”. Using a form of discrimination to justify the continuation of a manifestation of patriarchy is ass backwards.
-“studies show the number one reason women like men is their resources”. He expands this beyond money and into a concept of responsibility and emotional availability too, but the gold-digger sentiment this obviously reads as is a non-starter.
-“the objects signaled in all caps my value as a mate so I could attract an evolutionary superior mate”. He goes on to say how these fancy watches and cars were not rewarding and relationships and family are, but still what a gross sentence to read, I feel like I need a shower after that one.
It's far from Andrew Tate bs, but it validates more toxic masculinity than it condemns. Galloway as a successful and I feel introspective guy (not credentialed on socialization of men or anything like that) presents his argument in hegemonic terms of what it means to be a man: “Protect, Provide, and Procreate”. This book has such a mix of advocating for unhealthy and healthy norms for men. It has all the good and bad advice you might expect from a successful man born in the 60s. Galloway’s idea of masculinity is also dangerously tied up in “defending your country”, which normalizes nationalism.
This book has good nuance. The fine points are the strong ones. For example, Galloway says Protect (be strong/athletic) but goes in depth into his struggle with body dysmorphia, a topic I feel often overlooked for men. In Provide (be wealthy) he says true men have a drive to wealth but also talks about how some of the hardest working people he knows are blue collar immigrants and that where you are born, into what identity, and plain luck all play outsized roles in making money. Essentially, he is super into the American economy but isn’t dogmatic about it being fair or a meritocracy.
The book is at its strongest when it stays relationship based. There is a lot to gain from his introspection into his fraught relationship with his divorced father and closeness with his single mother, the openly self-criticizing evaluation of why his first marriage ended, and the love he cultivates with his kids through being more emotional than traditional masculinity would allow.
There are also some one off takes I appreciate. This book is written in a series of shorter essays which lends itself to its style of here there advice well and also just makes for a nice read. He is a big advocate of state school and funding such, always hitting home on how without the government support to help him attend a cheap state school he would not be who he is. He touches on addiction, and he really goes into depth on porn addiction. I think most books on masculinity would be too toxic masculine to touch on this. He doesn’t condemn the porn industry as exploitative or anything like that, but none the less I think touching on a real taboo subject here could certainly help a lot of men.
What I don’t like about this book is that everything is seen through the lens of capital and there is a lot of Incel language.
For capital, a through line of the book is that Galloway believes men need to “create more surplus value than they create”. It’s well intentioned, but rooting this in the concept of surplus value is way overtly capitalistic for something so relationship and human based. Telling men to spread more love than you receive or certainly be more a financial blessing on people then a burden sounds like nice advice, but I think people inherently know they ought to do this. The problem is men will not always able to be a plus. Sometimes people struggle and they need more love, assistance, support, or money than they are able to share with their loved ones at that time. This “surplus value” framing reenforces the shame men feel when they are unable to, not only materially provide, but now expands this to not being able to emotionally provide.
I don’t think Galloway is an Incel. Seems a nice dude. The language choices are kind of crazy sometimes though. Starts with what his description of an ideal men being as a “mensch”. He uses a translation of this as “a man of integrity”, which I think is a real nothing burger of meaning compared to the historical context in which mensch has been used. Through out the book he has this men are from Mars, women are from Venus view, that men and women are inherently very different and suited to different tasks. This plus the use of specific wordage I’ll elaborate on here I think is dangerous:
-You can’t write a book on masculinity and use the word “Alpha Male” in it. He only uses it a couple times, but using it seriously even once is a red flag.
-Weaponized the gender pay gap to say men need to pay for everything, “everything but a woman’s car payment”. Using a form of discrimination to justify the continuation of a manifestation of patriarchy is ass backwards.
-“studies show the number one reason women like men is their resources”. He expands this beyond money and into a concept of responsibility and emotional availability too, but the gold-digger sentiment this obviously reads as is a non-starter.
-“the objects signaled in all caps my value as a mate so I could attract an evolutionary superior mate”. He goes on to say how these fancy watches and cars were not rewarding and relationships and family are, but still what a gross sentence to read, I feel like I need a shower after that one.
December 16, 2025
Title says about advising men, but more a memoir. Young males are facing crisis, living with their parents, playing video games, unable to approach women IRL His answer: ("protect, provide, procreate"), strange combination of macho(testosterone injections, working out), and making money. He has a podcast, started companies, is a marketing prof.-his writing a hodgepodge. Evidently he's popular, I don't know why, its simplistic. Self made man philosophy (with a lot of luck), everyone can with hard work.
November 13, 2025
Blech. If I could give it zero stars I would. Why in the world should a single woman be concerned when our safety, financial freedom, bodily autonomy, the list goes on is all in danger at the hands of men. How did this even get published?
November 10, 2025
In the introduction of this book, Scott identifies a problem with young men in the current age. He then proceeds to talk about his own life for 90% of the remainder, throwing in a statistic or two every now and then to reinforce his initial hypothesis.
The author recounts a somewhat interesting life; however, you will have to dig deep to find a slither of common-sense advice for the average young man who lives in the 2020s.
In many parts he is overly self-congratulatory; in others, he drones on about irrelevant details of his personal life. A lot of this book is padding - probably for the purpose of reaching a respectable page count.
If anything, this is an autobiography of a moderately successful business man.
The author recounts a somewhat interesting life; however, you will have to dig deep to find a slither of common-sense advice for the average young man who lives in the 2020s.
In many parts he is overly self-congratulatory; in others, he drones on about irrelevant details of his personal life. A lot of this book is padding - probably for the purpose of reaching a respectable page count.
If anything, this is an autobiography of a moderately successful business man.
November 26, 2025
I’m not sure if annunciation of my problems will help…. But I often think if I had the language form of strength….
I’m listening to a book.
I think one problem that is more of a regret is my associations that were students when we were in a hotel room gave me a pot of coffee, but they boiled the coffee with a grams and grams of shrooms
I was never the same for several years after that and then got a concussion after that
I often don’t know what to think about those years
Poor people are the working class don’t have the money to maneuver which problems of high school dropouts dosing people with shrooms
You hear about Mark Messier saying his shrooms I was beneficial
I argued it in my book review with that sort of bug me
Ever thought of having a peace child….
I got fixin life for a moment and thought yeah
Wouldn’t that make a person smile 😃
I heard of cannibals giving peace child
And stopping cannibalism
A preacher did that once
Wouldn’t that be nice if people could stop doing drugs?
That would be a happy thought 💭
Then I think if my grandpa my late grandpa
He saved a world of hurt for me from being sober and drug-free
I contribute a lot to my life resolve to just ending generation trauma from a good man
Who welcomed a lot of foster children to become adopted there’s only one more adopted child. The rest were foster children in my family for aunts and uncles.
To make foster children are homeless I figure the stats are ridiculous. If you’re good at math, the more functional you are the more worse it is.
Or by grace of God, we can hope that someone ends generation trauma and make it their life goal
Sometimes virtues are the ones we don’t see in the best virtue is that someone is pleased with us often we don’t know who it is
I could be a poet but port I broke
Star board home if your posh
Have you had any coffee or tea this morning? You’ve been my coffee and Cathy this morning
I don’t know any better way to line up your problems or order your problems in a line
Than a legitimate or illegitimate surrogacy…..
There’s no words in English for surrogacy. And tribes and nationalism or nomads as in couples of nouns. There’s too many couples of verbs.
Heath have no fury as a woman’s scorn
But I’ve often learned babbling and telling people my problems. People can’t relate to me.
I often burden people and solve my burdens
Is everybody has different meaning and different contexts and that life is sort of a life in chimera
Picking textual lines out of context for tracking time and time wasted, searching for time or wasted time searching.
I often wondered in my writing when I got bullied
When my mom said Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones
I’d argue with my teacher in writing that quote saying what good would that do when I was getting bullied?
As a man with a lot of testosterone I’ve come to the conclusion that sentence can also have lots strength….
Some notes on being a man….
Enjoyed the book Scott Galloway.
My book list is getting long of books I’ve purchased and haven’t quite finished yours but I got through a decent chunk of it and said I finished it. I recommended the book to half a dozen men.
I find your writing probably one of the better figures For Men better than Jordan Peterson even.
Since you’re a critic of both left and right, the political spectrum
Which is a madhouse
Of open mouths
Thanks ☺️ for your notes on being a man.
Would be a good Christmas - new years gift for any young adult, or a good high school graduation gift book indirectly or directly as books quality goes.
Awesome read
Cheers
Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.
I’m listening to a book.
I think one problem that is more of a regret is my associations that were students when we were in a hotel room gave me a pot of coffee, but they boiled the coffee with a grams and grams of shrooms
I was never the same for several years after that and then got a concussion after that
I often don’t know what to think about those years
Poor people are the working class don’t have the money to maneuver which problems of high school dropouts dosing people with shrooms
You hear about Mark Messier saying his shrooms I was beneficial
I argued it in my book review with that sort of bug me
Ever thought of having a peace child….
I got fixin life for a moment and thought yeah
Wouldn’t that make a person smile 😃
I heard of cannibals giving peace child
And stopping cannibalism
A preacher did that once
Wouldn’t that be nice if people could stop doing drugs?
That would be a happy thought 💭
Then I think if my grandpa my late grandpa
He saved a world of hurt for me from being sober and drug-free
I contribute a lot to my life resolve to just ending generation trauma from a good man
Who welcomed a lot of foster children to become adopted there’s only one more adopted child. The rest were foster children in my family for aunts and uncles.
To make foster children are homeless I figure the stats are ridiculous. If you’re good at math, the more functional you are the more worse it is.
Or by grace of God, we can hope that someone ends generation trauma and make it their life goal
Sometimes virtues are the ones we don’t see in the best virtue is that someone is pleased with us often we don’t know who it is
I could be a poet but port I broke
Star board home if your posh
Have you had any coffee or tea this morning? You’ve been my coffee and Cathy this morning
I don’t know any better way to line up your problems or order your problems in a line
Than a legitimate or illegitimate surrogacy…..
There’s no words in English for surrogacy. And tribes and nationalism or nomads as in couples of nouns. There’s too many couples of verbs.
Heath have no fury as a woman’s scorn
But I’ve often learned babbling and telling people my problems. People can’t relate to me.
I often burden people and solve my burdens
Is everybody has different meaning and different contexts and that life is sort of a life in chimera
Picking textual lines out of context for tracking time and time wasted, searching for time or wasted time searching.
I often wondered in my writing when I got bullied
When my mom said Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones
I’d argue with my teacher in writing that quote saying what good would that do when I was getting bullied?
As a man with a lot of testosterone I’ve come to the conclusion that sentence can also have lots strength….
Some notes on being a man….
Enjoyed the book Scott Galloway.
My book list is getting long of books I’ve purchased and haven’t quite finished yours but I got through a decent chunk of it and said I finished it. I recommended the book to half a dozen men.
I find your writing probably one of the better figures For Men better than Jordan Peterson even.
Since you’re a critic of both left and right, the political spectrum
Which is a madhouse
Of open mouths
Thanks ☺️ for your notes on being a man.
Would be a good Christmas - new years gift for any young adult, or a good high school graduation gift book indirectly or directly as books quality goes.
Awesome read
Cheers
Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.
November 5, 2025
While the title of this book is a bit deceiving, it really should just be his memoir in my opinion. This may be my favorite of his books so far. It feels like a first or last edition in the trilogy combined with his Algebra of blank books, and distinctly different from The Four, Post Corona, and America Adrift, which are far more business than personal narratives. This book details Galloways life story, with frequent asides listing his actions as either something to be replicated or avoided in being a man. Much of the book is fairly basic information, yet, it is refreshing coming from someone in his position with the level of honesty and humility that he has, which almost leaves a taste of “this guy wants to run for office” as was with Andrew Yang and Barack Obama’s similar books. A fantastic read!
November 16, 2025
I think Scott Galloway offers a lot of pretty good advice here. I enjoyed his moments of greater candor but sometimes his humble-bragging got on my nerves a bit. Even when I disagreed with him, I liked his clearly stated positions/beliefs as a starting point for contemplating my own. This book makes a positive contribution to the need for reassessing manhood and masculinity in the modern world. EDIT: After reading Spiffybumble's excellent review of this book, I completely agree with the observation that Scott Galloway's book is primarily autobiographical rather than some abstract meditation about masculinity and manhood. I failed to mention that in my review, but I think it needs to be added (so here it is).
November 20, 2025
Laughed and cried. Condescending at times, but I really did love it. The dating app that continues to be a depressing factor.
November 28, 2025
3.5 - I have always found Scott Galloway interesting. Even when I don’t fully agree with all of his takes (although I like a lot of them), he always makes me think in a new way. This is more of a memoir than an exploration of masculinity, but I enjoyed learning more about him beyond his newsletter & podcast
November 14, 2025
I could spend a lot of time explaining all of my concerns or issues about this book. However, I have wasted enough time by reading it. Do yourself a favor and don’t read this book. There is nothing inside it worth your time
November 19, 2025
While there were a handful sections and matters of emphasis throughout the book that made me think I just couldn't consider it to be of 5-stars caliber (not going to list them here, to avoid any anchoring for those to whom I'm going to personally recommend the book), I think this book will do a fantastic job resonating with a lot of men, regardless of their age. Galloway opens by noting that the books serves in part as a memoir, and not as a repository of scientific studies guiding his advice (though for much of which, such studies do exist). As such, the book lacks nuance in a few places where it perhaps could use some, especially if it wanted to appeal to a broader audience outside men. However, I think that the framing Galloway takes allows the work to resonate with said target audience in a way that otherwise would not be possible, and most importantly has the effect of motivating the reader. A much needed book in a landscape that has up until now been filled with the likes of Jordan Peterson et al, who leave a lot (to say the least..) to be desired.
November 22, 2025
My most recent preoccupation is Scott Galloway. I listen to both the Prof G and Raging Moderate podcasts and find him oxymoronically arrogant and self-deprecating. But what makes him charming is, he knows it.
He backs up his statements with peer reviewed statistics (and gives credit to researchers) -- both in this book and on his podcasts. I like that. Evidence.
In this book, he talks about his experience becoming and being a man. He gives solid guidance including his own mistakes, failures, and longings.
I just like the guy.
And, I loved his book.
He backs up his statements with peer reviewed statistics (and gives credit to researchers) -- both in this book and on his podcasts. I like that. Evidence.
In this book, he talks about his experience becoming and being a man. He gives solid guidance including his own mistakes, failures, and longings.
I just like the guy.
And, I loved his book.
November 20, 2025
As a pediatrician and a mother of two sons, I have often worried society is leaving our boys and young men behind, so I very much looked forward to this book. While I didn’t agree with everything, I found a lot of Galloway’s advice and insights to be on the mark. Of course, the author and I are both Gen X-ers with similar childhood backgrounds, so we’re going to look at things differently than Gen Z-ers, but much of it will still be helpful to today’s young men. His comments on the importance of being kind, getting off the couch and getting involved with something, interacting with people in real life rather than online (even though it might be difficult and awkward at first), treating the women in your life well, staying healthy, etc., are good nuggets of advice no matter our age (or gender for that matter).
I also respect Galloway’s relationship with his sons. Many young men don’t have good male role models, so kudos to the author for recognizing that and going out of his way to not only mentor and guide his own sons, but other young men as well.
All and all I really enjoyed the book. I bought a copy for each of my young-adult sons, so we’ll see if they feel the same!
I also respect Galloway’s relationship with his sons. Many young men don’t have good male role models, so kudos to the author for recognizing that and going out of his way to not only mentor and guide his own sons, but other young men as well.
All and all I really enjoyed the book. I bought a copy for each of my young-adult sons, so we’ll see if they feel the same!
December 24, 2025
There were moments when I would think, “who died and made him the idealized version of manhood?“ But then I remembered who our president is.
I picked this up when thinking about my friends who are raising sons, and how that could be me one day, and I have no idea how one does so effectively in the world we live in…
I know my mom appreciates his self-deprecating humor, and I do think he has a lot of good advice. Idk I’m just not convinced he has it all figured out :-)
Also, I feel like I have recently read five books by men who had absent, power-hungry fathers… It can’t be a coincidence that this leads to sons who write books about their own successes…
I picked this up when thinking about my friends who are raising sons, and how that could be me one day, and I have no idea how one does so effectively in the world we live in…
I know my mom appreciates his self-deprecating humor, and I do think he has a lot of good advice. Idk I’m just not convinced he has it all figured out :-)
Also, I feel like I have recently read five books by men who had absent, power-hungry fathers… It can’t be a coincidence that this leads to sons who write books about their own successes…
November 25, 2025
This was a solid listen on Audible read by the author. It is part memoir, part self help. Mr Galloway addresses the issue of being a man in America as he perceives it through the prism of the college students in his classroom, the response to his podcast and speaking engagements, and his own boys. His thinking is insightful and I agree with a lot he had to say.
Want to read
December 20, 2025Maybe there are some good thoughts and thoughtful considerations of how things are. But this is not an advice book. It’s a memoir where the author says ‘i did this and it worked for me so you should do this’ as if a there is a one size fits all to living a successful life. Some of the ideas brought up are problematic or problematic-adjacent
November 30, 2025
This was not what I had hoped. I was looking for something that could help me understand the challenges faced by men, and while this has some of that, it was mostly a memoir mixed with an occasional statistic or data point. Instead of giving broad reasoning, his reasoning focused on his life and his experiences.
November 21, 2025
Five stars for the concepts. Four stars for some of the repetitive writing.
November 19, 2025
3.5⭐️
A longtime admirer of Scott Galloway (specifically his podcast) I found this book to offer genuinely valuable guidance to young men on building a healthy, purposeful life grounded in friendship, personal growth, and self-development. That said, it often only offers familiar clichés about manliness and human nature.
The chapter on making money, for example, felt like a rehash of material he regularly covers on his podcast. I had hoped he would explore beyond his normal talking points and write a more nuanced exploration of the role money plays in a fulfilling life but he didn’t.
The greatest part of the book is his letter to his children at the end… not sure what that means for the rest of the book
A longtime admirer of Scott Galloway (specifically his podcast) I found this book to offer genuinely valuable guidance to young men on building a healthy, purposeful life grounded in friendship, personal growth, and self-development. That said, it often only offers familiar clichés about manliness and human nature.
The chapter on making money, for example, felt like a rehash of material he regularly covers on his podcast. I had hoped he would explore beyond his normal talking points and write a more nuanced exploration of the role money plays in a fulfilling life but he didn’t.
The greatest part of the book is his letter to his children at the end… not sure what that means for the rest of the book
November 12, 2025
probably closer to 3.5 stars but I’m rounding up because it was an overall good memoir - I’m not aligned with him on the solutions for the “masculinity crisis” (just find a good woman, men!) which is honestly a tired conclusion from a flawed set of data … but he is introspective, authentic, and I learned something. He makes me think even when I flat out disagree with him.
November 7, 2025
He sticks the landing. No notes.
November 15, 2025
I love a vulnerable memoir, I love people being honest and owning their shit, and I love to hear some takes people are too scared to acknowledge for fear of getting cancelled, when said respectfully.
Here’s some quotes I folded the page for:
“Having a good person express how wonderful you are hundreds of times changes everything. College, professional success, an impressive mate - these were aspirations, not givens, for a remarkably unremarkable kid living in a household at the high end of the lower middle class. My mom was forty three, single, and making $15,000 a year as a secretary. She was also a good person who made me feel connected and, while waiting for our Opel, (their car) gave me the confidence that I had value, that I was capable and deserving of more. Holding hands and laughing, I was tethered.” (28)
Ppl that find this misogynistic have to admit he gives it all up to the women in his life.
Next one follows him detailing saving up money for years for a car.
“At fifteen, I got my learner’s permit. My mom and I would practice driving in the garage. Home from work, she would honk her horn as she entered the garage below our apartment complex, signaling for me to come down and practice, on inclines in the massive garage, how to drive a stick shift.
When I turned sixteen, she drove up in a four-year-old BMW 320i and gave me the keys to her eight-year-old Opel Manta. She put the keys in my hands, rested her hands (up) on my shoulders, and said, “You’re a handsome young man [I wasn’t] who owns his own car.” I’ve bought, and been given, a lot of nice things. This stands alone as the most joyous moment I’ve registered from an inanimate object.” (43)
Next up we have the section from page 54-55, but I ain’t typing it.
He buys his teacher that is not super well-liked a giant chocolate bar and leaves it anonymously on her desk (highest level of tzedakah: anonymous charity). She finds out, he gets an A in her class, and that A gets him off the waitlist at UCLA, completely altering the trajectory of his life. “The power of kindness.”
“If my rich friends aren’t body slamming one another to be the first to pay (the check), then we’re not friends” (242)
“The goal as always is to give more than you take in - resources, love, kindness, understanding, friendship, or whatever else - while generating more of those things for others.” (256)
“Depression isn’t feeling sad but feeling nothing. Crying - especially in the company of, or thinking about, loved ones- feels healthy and joyous.
I well up thinking about it” (258)
PS I’ve never written such a long review.
Here’s some quotes I folded the page for:
“Having a good person express how wonderful you are hundreds of times changes everything. College, professional success, an impressive mate - these were aspirations, not givens, for a remarkably unremarkable kid living in a household at the high end of the lower middle class. My mom was forty three, single, and making $15,000 a year as a secretary. She was also a good person who made me feel connected and, while waiting for our Opel, (their car) gave me the confidence that I had value, that I was capable and deserving of more. Holding hands and laughing, I was tethered.” (28)
Ppl that find this misogynistic have to admit he gives it all up to the women in his life.
Next one follows him detailing saving up money for years for a car.
“At fifteen, I got my learner’s permit. My mom and I would practice driving in the garage. Home from work, she would honk her horn as she entered the garage below our apartment complex, signaling for me to come down and practice, on inclines in the massive garage, how to drive a stick shift.
When I turned sixteen, she drove up in a four-year-old BMW 320i and gave me the keys to her eight-year-old Opel Manta. She put the keys in my hands, rested her hands (up) on my shoulders, and said, “You’re a handsome young man [I wasn’t] who owns his own car.” I’ve bought, and been given, a lot of nice things. This stands alone as the most joyous moment I’ve registered from an inanimate object.” (43)
Next up we have the section from page 54-55, but I ain’t typing it.
He buys his teacher that is not super well-liked a giant chocolate bar and leaves it anonymously on her desk (highest level of tzedakah: anonymous charity). She finds out, he gets an A in her class, and that A gets him off the waitlist at UCLA, completely altering the trajectory of his life. “The power of kindness.”
“If my rich friends aren’t body slamming one another to be the first to pay (the check), then we’re not friends” (242)
“The goal as always is to give more than you take in - resources, love, kindness, understanding, friendship, or whatever else - while generating more of those things for others.” (256)
“Depression isn’t feeling sad but feeling nothing. Crying - especially in the company of, or thinking about, loved ones- feels healthy and joyous.
I well up thinking about it” (258)
PS I’ve never written such a long review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 10, 2025
This is an awesome book and a must-read. A lot of men are struggling these days, and it’s easy to just write them off and tell them to figure it out. The issue is that there are a ton of negative, toxic male influencers out there right now who are filling a void. Fortunately, guys like Scott Galloway are writing books like this, addressing the issues young men are facing and trying to help in the right way.
This book is partially a memoir; Scott’s personal stories are mainly a jumping-off point to discuss aspects of being a man and what he’s learned over the years. I didn’t realize that Scott grew up low-income and had a tough relationship with his father. It makes him much more relatable. As a whole, the book covers a ton of topics about being a man, teaching young men how to be responsible and kind, and how to put the needs of others first.
I only have a couple of minor criticisms of the book. While it’s an excellent book, Scott does some strange correlations with random stats to make his points, not connecting the dots. For example, he mentions men have fewer friends these days, and the rate of smoking has gone up, not connecting the two at all. The other criticism is that I’m not exactly sure who this book is for. Is it for young men who need a mentor? Men who want to become mentors? Or maybe both?
But overall, it’s a great book, and Scott’s doing great work helping with the awful situation we’re in with young men. Whether we like it or not, young men struggling is affecting all of us.
This book is partially a memoir; Scott’s personal stories are mainly a jumping-off point to discuss aspects of being a man and what he’s learned over the years. I didn’t realize that Scott grew up low-income and had a tough relationship with his father. It makes him much more relatable. As a whole, the book covers a ton of topics about being a man, teaching young men how to be responsible and kind, and how to put the needs of others first.
I only have a couple of minor criticisms of the book. While it’s an excellent book, Scott does some strange correlations with random stats to make his points, not connecting the dots. For example, he mentions men have fewer friends these days, and the rate of smoking has gone up, not connecting the two at all. The other criticism is that I’m not exactly sure who this book is for. Is it for young men who need a mentor? Men who want to become mentors? Or maybe both?
But overall, it’s a great book, and Scott’s doing great work helping with the awful situation we’re in with young men. Whether we like it or not, young men struggling is affecting all of us.
December 5, 2025
I am not a man. However, I was really looking forward to reading this book because I’ve been following Scott Galloway for a few years.
I think this is a very important and thoughtful book. This book is part memoir and part cultural commentary. But all of it is well thought out, vulnerable, and insightful on the changes that we need to make so that everyone can thrive.
Since I was a teenager, I’ve always had trouble with how people talk about “isms”. It always felt like very few people could really talk about ism being about equality, rather than one group being better than another.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about girl power. I have my PhD.
I want equality. I want people to have rights. I want universal healthcare.
But I think like many things, we have swung the pendulum way too far in the opposite direction.
The truth is, we need extreme system changes across the board, so that everyone can flourish; men, women, LGBTQ, POC, etc. we can’t have a world where only one group gets to flourish.
I’ve seen that Scott has gotten a lot of hate. I don’t think most of those people have really listening to him or read his work. Maybe they just saw a brief clip or heard about what he says.
I won’t say this book is best writing I’ve ever read, and I didn’t agree with every single thing that was said, but he is a very important voice in this fight. And, it is clear that he is fighting for a better world..
I think this is a very important and thoughtful book. This book is part memoir and part cultural commentary. But all of it is well thought out, vulnerable, and insightful on the changes that we need to make so that everyone can thrive.
Since I was a teenager, I’ve always had trouble with how people talk about “isms”. It always felt like very few people could really talk about ism being about equality, rather than one group being better than another.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about girl power. I have my PhD.
I want equality. I want people to have rights. I want universal healthcare.
But I think like many things, we have swung the pendulum way too far in the opposite direction.
The truth is, we need extreme system changes across the board, so that everyone can flourish; men, women, LGBTQ, POC, etc. we can’t have a world where only one group gets to flourish.
I’ve seen that Scott has gotten a lot of hate. I don’t think most of those people have really listening to him or read his work. Maybe they just saw a brief clip or heard about what he says.
I won’t say this book is best writing I’ve ever read, and I didn’t agree with every single thing that was said, but he is a very important voice in this fight. And, it is clear that he is fighting for a better world..
December 18, 2025
More of a memoir than it’s marketed as— I wasn’t expecting to cry! All the hate on this and the concept is beyond me. How we got to a point where we actually just refuse to have empathy for a portion of our population— and we dig our heels in and act like that lack of empathy is justified, enlightened and somehow PROGRESSIVE— is unfathomably hypocritical, closed minded and inhumane. At no point does this book ask you to forget misogyny, the pay gap, or oppression of marginalized groups. I’m not sure why raising a population of educated, hard working, engaged men is such an evil threat to society like the discourse and other reviewers here will have you believe.
Is Scott Galloway a flawed spokesperson? Yes, but he really doesn’t act like he’s anything else— this book was navel gazing for sure, but deeply self aware. He copped to more flaws than any memoir author I’ve read.
I really am so disappointed that such a good book is getting lost in the sauce because people find it controversial to root for men to do well. Oh— and audiobook is best for this one, IMO.
Is Scott Galloway a flawed spokesperson? Yes, but he really doesn’t act like he’s anything else— this book was navel gazing for sure, but deeply self aware. He copped to more flaws than any memoir author I’ve read.
I really am so disappointed that such a good book is getting lost in the sauce because people find it controversial to root for men to do well. Oh— and audiobook is best for this one, IMO.
November 26, 2025
In this book, Scott Galloway is trying to speak to some of the same young men being caught in the “manosphere” these days and give them a more positive path than they might otherwise find there. Galloway speaks as a successful businessman and gives advice on being successful professionally, personally and in your relationships. Imagine if Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules of Life was written by a center-left Democrat businessman and you have some sense of what is going on in this book.
I always find Galloway to be a strong communicator. He comes from a different place than I do on some life questions—atheist, multi-millionaire, former frat guy is a different road than I’ve taken. I found a number of his insights and reminders on career and relationship success to be helpful, and he has an entertaining and heartfelt voice.
I always find Galloway to be a strong communicator. He comes from a different place than I do on some life questions—atheist, multi-millionaire, former frat guy is a different road than I’ve taken. I found a number of his insights and reminders on career and relationship success to be helpful, and he has an entertaining and heartfelt voice.
December 25, 2025
Scott always comes off as well-intentioned but also disconnected from the reality of others. He vacillates between nurture and nature, though the latter is quite obviously critical between his mother's IQ and father's looks/height. Growing up at a time when there was more room to land on your feet and less inflation no doubt proved useful in concert with these other factors.
November 22, 2025
A must-read for boys and men, and the parents of boys and men, of all ages.
December 2, 2025
I love his podcasts with Kara Swisher and I saw him on Real Time will Bill Marr. The book repeats some of the same info he shares on the podcast & on Real Time but goes into more detail. As a mom of 3 boys maybe I am prejudiced but I think the book has great value and hope that more resources and interest can be devoted to boys' mental health and mentorship.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 253 reviews