Books that shaped your outlook on adventure or manhood.

[spalind]

I'm going to go off the board Alex.

I could repeat Hemingway and Ruark and McCarthy...or I could go more highbrow and cite Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" or Gilgamesh or Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" or Ayn Rand or Thoreau....I won't.

A handful in no particular order, works that inspire my personal sense of wonder and adventure:

Lovecraft "At The Mountains of Madness"
Heinlein "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"
Crisp "Zen and the Art of Donkey Maintenance"
Abbey "Desert Solitaire"
Finnegan "Barbarian Days"
Davis "Into the Silence"
Peart "Ghost Rider"

 

[Sean Molina]

My issue with Faulkner is that the teacher singing his praises for being such an incredible writer was the same teacher busting my chops via a red pen all over my papers for using "run-on sentences," the staple of William Faulkner's writing. Lame.

László Keasznahorkai's "An Angel Passed Above Us" is the best example of a run-on sentence. John Batki wrote the translation.

I found the mechanism made the story feel claustrophobic. I mean, he even found away to turn questions into run-ons! It worked for the story.

If you read it, let me know what you think.

 

[cksheppard1833]

Hatcher, Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return and Brian’s Hunt by Gary Paulsen. I remember reading that series with my dad and brother when I was a little kid.

One Man’s Wilderness by Richard Proenneke and Sam Keith. Awesome story about living off the land in Alaska and being self reliant.

The Lord of The Rings Series. So many life principles by JRR Tolkien.

That series by Gary Paulsen made me feel like I could conquer anything that had to do with the outdoors. I didn’t read much as a child, and still don’t, but those books I could not put down.

 

[cksheppard1833]

The Word of God. And to clarify, I mean the Bible. All of life’s questions can be answered here.

As mentioned by others, the series involving Brian written by Gary Paulsen. Gave me the mindset that I could probably survive a moose attack as well as a burning desire to own an AR-7 survival rifle. I still don’t understand why there isn’t one in my safe.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Read this one at an early age. Life is difficult. Family are the ones closest to you. Treat women with respect. Save the children. Smoke the cigarette, but most importantly of all, chocolate cake is a breakfast food.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. As cliché as it sounds, don’t judge a person by outward appearances. My main goal when meeting people and establishing connections is to view people the way Scout eventually sees Boo. You never know when you may need a “Boo Radley” to have your back in a time of need.

 

[jgrahamwilson]

I'm going to go off the board Alex.

I could repeat Hemingway and Ruark and McCarthy...or I could go more highbrow and cite Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" or Gilgamesh or Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" or Ayn Rand or Thoreau....I won't.

A handful in no particular order, works that inspire my personal sense of wonder and adventure:

Lovecraft "At The Mountains of Madness"
Heinlein "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"
Crisp "Zen and the Art of Donkey Maintenance"
Abbey "Desert Solitaire"
Finnegan "Barbarian Days"
Davis "Into the Silence"
Peart "Ghost Rider"

Edward Abbey is a great choice. Started reading his work after I went to Arches and canoed part of the Green River for a week when I was in high school—made the writing take me right back there!

 

[coreymolinelli]

Lord of the Flies - Golding
The Old Man and the Sea & In Our Time - Hemingway
The Sound and the Fury - Faulkner
Macbeth - Shakespeare
1984 - Orwell

All of thses works, with the exception of In Our Time, were assigned reading in junior high and high school. The only male teacher at my little country school was my English teacher, Mr. Smith, and he would be our English teacher from 8th to 12th grade.

The first novel he assigned to our class in junior high was Lord of the Flies. That allegory change the way I read and thought about books and stories. From that point on, we trusted Mr. Smith whenever he assign a short story or novel for us to read.

SAME! Everything up to Lord of the Flies for me was just something I had to read, and I hated it, most of it for us was more centered around the girls anyhow. Lord of the flies was the first book where I read anything raw, danger, murder, death, adventure, action. It captured boys doing men stuff. It really showed me what books could be! it changed me and my outlook on books, and writing. I read that book at least twice before we were supposed to be done with it. I remember I was so far a head and asking questions and giving answers that the teacher asked me to stay behind. He thought I was cheating, because typically I had done so bad in his class. after we talked and I proved I actually know the book, he slacked off and gave me some other stuff to read and do. He also told me to wait until we read Macbeth, I read it on my own before we had too. from that class on I almost always had book with me.

 

[johnbhudgens]

Agree with many of the mentioned books shared by the group. Two I didn’t see mentioned are, “Where The Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls and “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” by Alfred Lansing.

Where The Red Fern Grows was very instrumental in my life as a young boy. Will be reading this one to my son one day. Many lessons to be learned with two redbone coonhounds deep in the Ozarks and nothing but time.

 

[michael.shabareck]

Books where I learned that you can't run from who you are, where you're from, what you want, or the consequences of your actions... and a lot more:

Ninety-two in the Shade - Thomas McGuane
Sex, Lies, & Speedways - Smokey Yunick (don't let your kids read that... or do; they're your kids.)
The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane (good for young men)
The Last Best League - Jim Collins (good baseball book too)


Books where I learned that nobody is coming to save you and the man you need is the one in the mirror:

1776 - David McCullough
Voices of Courage - Ronald J Drez
Five Days at Memorial - Sheri Fink
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir (movie comes out soon for it I think)


Books that shaped me as a man politically, religiously, and how to lead:

The Fountainhead & Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Once an Eagle - Anton Myrer
The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi - St. Francis of Assisi
Skunk Works - Ben Rich & Leo Janos (if you're at a founder led company and the founder has recently left, read that one now)
The Theory of Money and Credit - Ludwig Von Mises


Books that helped me understand why things are the way they are, and what to do about it if I want to make it better:

Where's My Flying Car - J. Storrs Hall (take your Adderall for this one 'cause it's pretty squirrelly)
Targeted: Beirut - Jack Carr & James M. Scott
Visas for Al Qaeda - J. Springman
The Fighting Bunch - Chris DeRose

------------------------------------------------------
Other just good ass books:

Lords of the Fly - Monte Burke
How to Build a Car - Adrian Newey
Controlled Process Shooting - Joel Turner
Terminal List Series - Jack Carr (Cream of the crop for thriller readers from the BUDS Literary School of Coronado)

Books I plan to read in 2026:

John Adams - David McCullough
The Guns of John Moses Browning - Nathan Gorenstein
Heat 2 - Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner (yes THAT "Heat")
Tunnel 29 - Helena Merriman
The Hyphenated Heresy - Joel Webbon
MeatEater's American History (1806-1840) Book 2 & (1865-1883) is Book 3 - Steven Rinella

 

[Cagney]

I've read about 30,000 pages this year and there isn't a single book I'm willing to admit I read, at least not on this forum.

I did read the Bible this year in chronological order (not included in my count), and I recommend every man/woman do that. I suggest reading it with a guide of some sort though.

 

[avalonbikes]

Horn of the Hunter - Robert Ruark
The Best of Zane Grey Outdoorsman: Hunting and Fishing Stories - This has epic stories, and I've gifted this book to several friends.
The Longest Silence: A Life in Fishing - Tom McGuane

Thanks for this future reading list, guys!

​

 

[JRQ]

Horn of the Hunter - Robert Ruark
The Best of Zane Grey Outdoorsman: Hunting and Fishing Stories - This has epic stories, and I've gifted this book to several friends.
The Longest Silence: A Life in Fishing - Tom McGuane

Thanks for this future reading list, guys!

​

Longest Silence is a jam

 

[jadamwesley]

Edmund Morris’s Theodore Roosevelt biographies
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Rex
Colonel Roosevelt

Truly captured TR’s energy through all three books. You felt the way TR felt through his writing. Phenomenal read. Shaped me in many ways as a man including my love and desire for the outdoors.

 

[courtney.rabalais]

Man, what a great group of books to add to my 2026 list!

Love Hemingway and Steinbeck...and I concur about the Lord of the flies totally reframing reading for me at a young age... books don't have to be boring!

One that hasn't been mentioned but is my all-time favorite is Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Full of adventure, danger, love, and the writing is just incredible. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...tpbk_0&storeType=ebooks&qid=1767897918&sr=1-1

 

[mikeal1917]

The lack of Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane is unfortunate. I’ll stack of Harrison poetry up with anything that makes you feel life the way it should be lived.

On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Anything Hunter S Thompson
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy

My outlier here, that will earn me a few laps but I don’t give a fuck, McConaughey’s memoir, Greenlights, it’s legitimately a great look at coming to terms with your masculinity and the life you choose to live. Listen to the audible and it’s told by a helluva storyteller.