It’s graduation season, which means you may be looking for a good gift for a young man heading into a new stage of life.
Books are usually a safe bet for a graduation gift, especially the kind a young man will actually find useful. Over the years, Kate and I have written four Art of Manliness books that would make especially good gifts for a recent high school or college grad.
The Illustrated Art of Manliness
This is the most recent of our books and the most fun to flip through. It’s a collection of the famous illustrations we’ve done with Ted Slampyak over the years, covering everything from how to throw a punch to how to run an office meeting.
It’s a great toilet book. You skim a few pages while you’re taking care of business, bone up on how to escape a bear or shake hands properly, and then get on with your day.
The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man
This is the book that started it all. It was published back in 2009, which makes it 17 years old. There might be a high schooler who was born when this book came out to whom you could now gift it. Some of the stuff in there is admittedly dated, like there’s a mention of Facebook pokes, which I don’t think have existed since the Obama administration.
But most of the content is still relevant because most of what a young man needs to know remains evergreen. How to change a tire. How to tie a tie. How to give a speech. The classics never go out of style!
Heading Out on Your Own: 31 Basic Life Skills in 31 Days
We self-published this book back in 2014, so it’s a little over a decade old. A few details have shifted (rental markets, for one, look pretty different now than they did then), but I’d say 95% of it is still solid. The book covers 31 skills a young adult needs to know when they’re heading out on their own: doing laundry without ruining your clothes, cooking a few basic meals, managing your finances, making small talk, shopping for groceries on a budget, living with roommates, maintaining your car, acing a job interview, and much more!
If you know a recent grad who’s about to be on their own for the first time, give them this one.
The Art of Manliness: Manvotionals
If you want to gift a young man a book that’s less focused on practical skills and more centered on the character of mature manliness, this is it. Manvotionals is an anthology of speeches, poems, and passages from books that speak to the classic manly virtues. You’ll find edifying excerpts from famous figures like Theodore Roosevelt and Marcus Aurelius, as well as lesser-known authors from the past who offered potent wisdom on how to be a man of strength and integrity. The reader can read a reflection-prompting passage a day, sort of like a daily devotional.
For a graduate stepping into a world that doesn’t always reinforce timeless virtues, having a book like this around can be a steady source of grounding.
Any of these books make a great gift for a young man graduating. You can find all of them — as well as other books we’ve written — on Amazon.
