Notes on Being a Man

by Scott Galloway

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.

Genres: Parenting, Self Help, Nonfiction, Personal Development

Audible Audio

Published November 4, 2025

About the author

Scott 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.

Reviews

[Spiffybumble · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Benjamin Lindeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

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).

[Will Mihalow · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Carrie Rubin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Daniel Hageman · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Mike Dennisuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Dara Pfeiffer · Rating 1 out of 5]

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?

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[James Huskinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five stars for the concepts. Four stars for some of the repetitive writing.

[Mark Danowsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for boys and men, and the parents of boys and men, of all ages.

[Brian Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

He sticks the landing. No notes.

[Patrick Tullis · Rating 1 out of 5]

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

[Grace Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laughed and cried. Condescending at times, but I really did love it. The dating app that continues to be a depressing factor.

[Alexander Hymowitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Tom Wiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Susanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Hannah Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Kendall Kaut · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not for everyone and the whole corpus is not for anyone.

But there are lessons in it for all. Galloway is best challenging notions of masculinity that have become the guiding light for a generation of men left behind and falling victim to the siren call of hucksters and grifters.

A quick and good read on tradeoffs, good and bad decisions and the lessons from them.

[Taylor Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed. I cried truly a phenomenal book and great insight into what it means to be a man. It’s helpful to realize that this is just one person‘s point of view, but it can be a helpful point of you. Highly recommend.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A memoir with key learnings and advice for men, especially young men. I don’t agree with everything he said, much of the advice is based on things that worked for him but I found most of it to be sound advice.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s good stuff in here, but there are a lot of know-it-all platitudes too. Not a huge fan of the paramount role he gives to career and wealth. While he’s admirably candid about his own mistakes, and there’s a lot of good advice, there’s a real undertone of arrogance too. And I’m not a fan of his advocacy of drinking, sexual promiscuity, testosterone injections, porn, and pot.

[Lindsey Zolot · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a memoir than a psych book. Content applies to both genders, not limited to men.

[Rebecca Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. More memoir than advice. Comes across somewhat arrogant and definitely not written with a Christian perspective.

[Arnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Scott on talk shows and in his podcasts. Being of the same generation and a father of two young men I can relate to a lot here. I don’t agree with all but do appreciate Scott’s take. This was an enjoyable read but I have to admit I started to get a little tired of it all by the end.

[Akshay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Notes on Being a Man by Scott Galloway

A well-intentioned but deeply contradictory memoir-advice hybrid that oscillates between genuinely useful counsel on male mentorship and dangerously outdated capitalist masculinity—revealing more about the author's privilege and narcissism than about sustainable paths for modern men.

Structural Identity Crisis: Notes on Being a Man suffers from fundamental genre confusion. Marketed as a guide to healthy masculinity for young men struggling in contemporary society, it functions primarily as self-aggrandizing memoir with occasional actionable advice. This packaging deception matters—readers seeking research-based guidance receive instead one privileged man's anecdotal musings elevated to universal prescription.

The structure employs short essay format organized around life stages (boyhood, adolescence, work, fatherhood), which provides readability but encourages repetition. Galloway recycles stories and maxims throughout, occasionally repeating passages and ideas. This repetition suggests either editorial failure or insufficient material to sustain book length—the work likely originated as blog posts and podcast content repurposed for commercial publication.

Central Thesis and Ideological Framework: Galloway defines masculinity through three pillars: Protect, Provide, Procreate. This hegemonic framework immediately reveals the work's limitations—reducing male identity to biological determinism and economic productivity while marginalizing alternative expressions of manhood. The framework carries implicit nationalism and remains largely heteronormative despite brief acknowledgments of broader gender expressions.

The protect-provide-procreate model resurrects mid-20th century gender essentialism without interrogating whether these roles serve men's actual wellbeing or merely reproduce patriarchal capitalism. Galloway never asks: Why must men be protectors? Whom does this framework serve? What happens to men who cannot or choose not to fulfill these roles?

The Capitalism Problem: The book's most troubling aspect involves conflating masculinity with wealth accumulation. Galloway's personal philosophy centers on "creating surplus value"—a phrase he repeats obsessively throughout the text.

Galloway’s own admissions about sacrificing health, relationships, and sanity for career advancement illustrate the extremes of his worldview. He advises readers that reaching the top 10% economically requires similar sacrifice, and suggests that prioritizing anything besides money will require accepting compromises such as living outside major global cities, driving a less expensive car, or cutting back on travel and leisure.

The text is permeated with unconscious class privilege. Galloway references country clubs, international trips, and affluent lifestyle markers as if they are universal experiences. He consistently frames financial success as both attainable through effort and essential to male identity, with little recognition of systemic inequities.

Problematic Language and Incel-Adjacent Rhetoric: Despite good intentions, the text employs terminology that echoes manosphere ideology:

Use of terms like "Alpha Male" that legitimize hierarchical social structures
Claims that women are primarily attracted to men for their resources, reducing relationships to evolutionary transactions
Descriptions of luxury objects as mating signals, treating partnership as competitive reproduction
Use of the gender pay gap to justify men paying for most dating expenses, reinforcing patriarchal norms

The cumulative effect of this language conveys ideological assumptions Galloway may not consciously endorse, yet nonetheless normalizes through repetition.

Gender Essentialism and Relationship Advice: The book adopts a framework that positions gender differences as biological inevitabilities rather than social and cultural constructs. This essentialism undercuts Galloway’s occasional gestures toward emotional openness and progressive relational behavior.

His romantic advice centers on men “making women feel safe” and being “kind to your spouse and mate, if you have children,” framing partnership in instrumental terms tied to male self-worth, stability, and child-rearing rather than as a mutual relationship between equals.

Legitimate Strengths and Valid Insights: Despite substantial flaws, the book contributes genuine value in several areas.

Vulnerability and Emotional Honesty: Galloway’s discussion of body dysmorphia, depression, and the emotional toll of his parents’ divorce reflects notable vulnerability. His reflections on his failed first marriage and the emotional costs of overwork are among the strongest and most self-aware sections.

Maternal Recognition: Some of the book’s most meaningful moments center on Galloway’s mother, whose support helped him overcome early hardship. His childhood anecdotes—such as receiving her older car as a teenager—highlight authentic emotional grounding that shapes his worldview.

Practical Life Skills: The text offers scattered but useful advice: learn to dance, dress well, be punctual, practice kindness, invest in friendships, acknowledge privilege, and create opportunities for others. A chapter on porn addiction addresses a genuine issue affecting many young men and is presented with appropriate seriousness.

Structural Economic Critique: Galloway acknowledges systemic barriers facing young men and advocates for public investment in education, vocational training, and community institutions. He recognizes that affordable state education played a key role in his own success and argues for strengthening similar systems today.

The Missing Analysis: Despite identifying symptoms—loneliness, unemployment, lack of romantic prospects, deaths of despair—the book does not provide a deep analysis of why young men struggle. Social media and pornography are presented as major culprits, but broader structural factors remain underexamined.

The book does not seriously address:

How economic precarity limits men’s ability to fulfill traditional provider roles
Whether the protect-provide-procreate model creates impossible expectations
How toxic masculinity intersects with class, race, and sexuality
Why women’s advancement is perceived as threatening to men
What alternative, non-patriarchal masculinities might look like

Comparative Context: Other contemporary works—such as Richard Reeves' Of Boys and Men—provide more thorough analysis and empirical grounding. Compared to such research-driven books, Galloway’s text relies heavily on personal anecdote and a narrow ideological lens.

Target Audience Confusion: The book never clarifies its intended reader. It presents itself as guidance for young men, yet frequently centers the author’s own wealth and status. It positions itself as a parenting resource while relying on gender-essentialist assumptions and excluding LGBTQ+ perspectives. It resembles memoir, yet repeatedly shifts into prescriptive advice.

Notes on Being a Man illustrates both the possibilities and pitfalls of celebrity-driven self-help. Galloway’s platform gives him reach, but his analysis rarely extends beyond personal experience and inherited frameworks. The book succeeds when he acknowledges vulnerability, privilege, and emotional complexity. It fails when it conflates masculinity with wealth, treats women as instruments of male self-worth, or reproduces gender essentialism without critical engagement.

At its core, the book diagnoses real problems—male loneliness, economic instability, loss of community—yet prescribes solutions rooted in the very systems contributing to those problems. His own admission that career obsession cost him his marriage and mental health should serve as critique, but is instead framed as aspirational.

Readers seeking substantive exploration of masculinity will find more nuanced alternatives in works such as bell hooks’ The Will to Change, Michael Kimmel’s analyses of male identity, or Terry Real’s writing on emotional health. Even within mainstream discussions of modern manhood, research-driven texts offer far greater clarity and depth.

Notes on Being a Man ultimately functions most effectively as a cautionary tale—revealing how privilege without reflection and success without systemic understanding can lead to advice that reinforces rather than challenges the structures shaping men’s struggles.

Rating: ⭐⭐✩✩✩ out of 5 stars — Occasionally insightful memoir masquerading as masculinity guide; reproduces more problems than it solves.

[Douglass Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

NYU Business professor, podcaster, and general 'man-about-the Internet', Scott Galloway is all over Podcasts, Famous People’s Interviews, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the best-seller lists. Here is my take, chapter-by-chapter, on Scott Galloway’s latest book - 'Notes On Being a Man':
• Introduction: It’s time to get rid of the toxic masculopathy shame and blame, and get down to encouraging and celebrating the good things about becoming and being a man.
• Boyhood: Male role models are necessary to model the complex tasks of growing up male. For me, this resonates with works by Robert Bly ('Iron John' and 'The Sibling Society'), Samuel Osherson ('Finding Our Fathers'), and Sam Keen ('Fire in the Belly') from the last century, even though I’m not yet one hundred years old…
• Adolescence: Mentors and heroes continue to out-influence parents during this phase (Erik Erikson’s identity stage of psychosocial development).
• Higher education: Small, consistent, repetitive efforts lead to big gains over time. Amen, brother, this is the gospel of doggedness as preached by Frank McCourt ('Angela’s Ashes', 'Tis', and 'Teacher Man') and Anne Lamott ('Bird By Bird'). For entrepreneurs and business students, read: 'the miracle of compound interest'.
• Work: It’s not enough to be great at something if you can’t pay the rent or your food bills. Start with Service jobs that help learn how to deal with other people; gain skills over time; then you can follow your bliss or find your passion…
• Health: “Sweat more (what I call exorcism) than watching others sweat” (hopefully this is about sports).
• Friendship: To have a friend, Be a friend. Be kind.
• Sex, Love, Marriage: Be kind to your spouse and mate, if you have children.
• Fatherhood: Be kind to, and protective of, your children and their mother.
• Man…ners: Behavior matters, even in the current American era.
• Life is So Rich: Count your blessings before reciting the litany of your regrets because, ‘this is as good as it gets’…
• Conclusion: Letter to my Sons: I am grateful for you in my life, and proud of all of your efforts. I grade largely based on effort. You are my legacy.

Among my favorite contributions of 'Notes on Being a Man' are:
• “There’s no such thing as toxic masculopathy – that’s the emperor of all oxymorons. There’s cruelty, criminality, bullying, predation, and abuse of power. If you’re guilty of any of these things, or confuse being a male with coarseness or savagery, you’re not masculine; you’re anti-masculine.”
• “… historically and globally, many more females have passed on their DNA to their offspring than males.” How? War (where so many men are all killed off),
o 'more Addiction' (‘Never enough’);
o the American conformism decried by Sinclair Lewis in 'Babbitt', and 'Dodsworth'…
o the antithesis of Henry David Thoreau’s 'Walden', and its message of ‘Simplify’.
• 'Device Addiction' – another term for the impact of social media with phone access in producing: social isolation, boredom, ignorance, and deaths of despair (suicide, drug overdose, alcohol poisoning).
• “I’m not saying what’s in this book is the right way, but it’s my way.”
o Every good book needs this caveat.
o Bad books need it even more!
• The acknowledgement of two important mentors/ collaborators in the ideas put forward in 'Notes on Being a Man':
o Richard Reeves ('Of Boys and Men'…) and
o Kara Swisher, Galloway’s partner on the Podcast, Pivot.
I recommend 'Notes on Being a Man' to the same (mostly male) readers who have found useful counsel in Richard Reeves’ book 'Of Boys and Men'…, but may long for more graphic speech and/ or personal stories to drive the points home.

[Steve Bullington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over 5 years ago, I began following Scott Galloway on his podcasts Prof G and Pivot. I have found him to not only be highly entertaining but incredibly thoughtful on business and life. I have given his book The Alegebra of Wealth out to several of the Associates I work with when they are looking for ways to start to build the foundation of lifetime wealth.

Scott's latest book Notes on Being a Man, shifts his focus to a topic that he has been passionately speaking to for the last year or so and that is the challenge that young men are facing in today's enviroment. Young men today find themselves:

24% less wealthy than their parents were at their age

More likely to NOT be participating in the workforce

Attending college at a lower rate than their female peers

More likely to take their own lives

Scott uses his life journey to introduce concepts for young men to consider following. From fitness to fatherhood, manners to work habits, Scott shares his own journey, the successes he has had, the misstakes he made and the research that supports helping young men find a better path.

My favorite chapter was on Friendship. In it Scott talks about the benefits of creating and maintaining friendships over the course of one's life. As I read this chapter it took me back to a specific evening in my own life. Six years ago my oldest son passed away from medical challenges as a result of his disabilities. He as 31 years old. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with in my life and yet my heart was made full as I looked down a long recieving line to see friends from every phase of my life. From my oldest friends I met in kindergarten, to my dorm mates from college, to my colleagues from work, there were dozens and dozens of friends who went out of their way to be there for me and my family. Not a recommended way to be demonstrated the value of growing and maintaining friendships, but the best example I have.

If you have a young man in your life, I highly recommend you share this book with them. And if you are a teacher or leader of young men, I recommend reading it yourself to offer additional insights that you can share with them.

And as you finish this, reach out to an old friend you haven't talked to in a while. They'll be excited to hear from you.