A Beginner’s Guide to The Art of Manliness: A Guided Tour

by Brett & Kate McKay on November 9, 2009 · 11 comments

in Blog

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While many of you have been following The Art of Manliness since we started back in 2008, some of you are fairly new readers. To help you new arrivals get the most out of AoM and navigate around our extensive archives and community section, we’ve compiled this beginner’s guide.

First a note: There’s a TON of stuff here. We don’t recommend that you go through it all in one sitting. It will probably take you days to go through everything on AoM. Bookmark this page and come back to it from time to time to do some more exploring.

Why The Art of Manliness?

We’re often asked why we started a site called The Art of Manliness. We explain that on our About page and also go into a little bit about the philosophy of the site. Check it out.

Also, make sure to check out our FAQ. It might answer some of the questions you may have about the site.

The Archives

We’ve written over 500 articles here at AoM about a variety of topics. I highly recommend surfing through our archives to see what we have to offer. There are lots of gems.

If you don’t want to waste your time going through every single post in our archives, each month we compile a list of the most popular posts of the month. Here are all the lists since Jan. 2008:

Movie and Books Lists

Over the past two years we’ve compiled lists of books and movies that we think men would enjoy. Check them out!

Popular Series on AoM

Every now and then we’ll have a series of articles that focus on a particular theme. Here are our three most popular series.

  • Benjamin Franklin Virtue Series- In this series we analyzed one of Benjamin Franklin’s 13 virtues each week and offered suggestions on how men can live those virtues on a daily basis.
  • 30 Days to a Better Man- In June 2009, we ran a series called “30 Days to a Better Man.” Each day we created a task for Art of Manliness readers to complete that would help them improve in different facets of their lives such as relationships, fitness and health, career, and personal finances. Check out the series online or download our popular 30 Days to a Better Man eBook.
  • So You Want My Job- Ever wanted to know what’s it’s like to be a movie director? How about a farmer? In the So You Want My Job series we interview a different man each week who has the sort of job that lots of men covet. If you’re trying to figure out what you want to be when you “grow up,” check out this series. You might just get inspired.

Comment Policy

One of the great things about blogs is that it allows readers to comment on articles. It’s our goal to create a community of readers who are actively engaged with the site. We pride ourselves on the level of maturity and civility that the comments on AoM have. To ensure that the discussion stays civil and on point, we have established a comment policy. Please read it.

The Community

The blog isn’t the only part of the Art of Manliness site. If you’d like to connect with other men who are interested in rediscovering the lost art of manliness, make sure to join the Community. We have over 5,000 registered members from all over the world. In the Community, you can

The Book

In October 2009, we published a book based on The Art of Manliness website. It includes some of our most popular posts, which have been edited and improved, along with brand new material that has never appeared on the website (about 30% of the book is brand new). It also includes lots of great illustrations.

If you enjoy the Art of Manliness website, you can now have some of our best advice all in one place, in one comprehensive, nicely formatted, handsomely illustrated whole. The Art of Manliness book is also fantastic for the husband, brother, boyfriend, or son that you’ve been trying to turn on to the website. The book is perfect for both boys and men who want to better themselves.

Pick up a copy at your local bookstore, Amazon.com, or buy a signed copy directly from us.

eBooks

We’ve written a few eBooks that are available for download. Some are free and some cost money. Give them a look through.

The Podcast

In September 2009, we started a weekly podcast at the Art of Manliness. In just two months, the podcast has attracted over 40,000 iTunes subscribers. In the AoM podcast, Brett interviews authors and experts about topics of interest to men. Every other week the podcast dedicates itself to the series called “Man Stories” in which Brett asks a different AoM reader what it means to be a man.

Check out the episodes from the beginning here.

Also, make sure to subscribe to the Art of Manliness Podcast via iTunes

Or through the subscription service of your choice.

YouTube Videos

We’ve also created a few how-to videos on manly skills. Give them a watch. They’re short, but you’ll definitely walk away learning something new.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss out on our video updates. We plan on doing more videos in the future.

T-shirts

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Show off your manly pride with one of our 6 Art of Manliness t-shirts designed by the gents at TankFarm Clothing.

Never Miss an Art of Manliness Post by Subscribing

Did you know that you can get The Art of Manliness articles delivered directly to your email inbox? Make the AoM experience easier for you by signing up for our email updates. Over 26,000 people get AoM articles emailed to them. Simply sign-up here. And just to let you know, we hate spam just as much as you do. We’ll never give out your email address to third-parties. You can also easily unsubscribe yourself any time you’d like.

If email updates aren’t your thing, we also provide RSS subscription. Click here to add Art of Manliness to your feed reader.

As a bonus to our subscribers, they get a FREE ebook called “The Guide to Being a Gentleman.” It’s crammed with useful tips that will turn any man into a smooth and debonair gentleman.

Connect with Art of Manliness on Facebook and Twiter

If you use Facebook, join the Art of Manliness Page. Every day we post links to interesting stuff from around the web that would be of interest to AoM readers. We also occasionally have special contests for Facebook Fans.

The same goes with Twitter. Follow us on Twitter to get the latest AoM updates and links to interesting stuff around the web. We’ve also included a twitter list of people and sites that we recommend you follow. Follow the AoM Recommends list to get the best in men’s interest material.

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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Jonathan Frei | ordinary time November 10, 2009 at 12:13 pm

I started here about a month ago. This is a great reference. I think there’s a lot of great material already here so I don’t have to wait on new stuff to come through my rss reader.

2 Jonny | thelifething.com November 10, 2009 at 10:09 pm

You have created an excellent community and resource site here. I have followed since the early days and commend your achievements.

Well done sirs.

3 Nik November 15, 2009 at 12:06 am

There are so many fabulous articles on this site, it’s nice to have a bit of a starter’s guide to them. I already have several hundred bookmarked for future reading, but this is still nice. :)

It does remind me of what I feel is missing, though, which is an article that more comprehensively captures this site’s conception of masculinity. I realize that you have likely made a deliberate decision not to write such an article for fear of being too proscriptive about manliness–which is clearly something that means very different things to many people. However, you are very successful in writing articles about the value of many masculine principles, characteristics, etc. So, I think you would certainly be capable of delineating those aspects of masculinity that you find most foundational. I would just be interested to see a bit more solid, unequivocal opinion of what, at the least, a man is. I think it would be a great article to introduce people to your site, and it could certainly contain a section for the absolutes and another section for the optionals/variables. I just feel like it would be beneficial for us to all have a more comprehensive understanding of what you are envisioning when you write about “manliness.”

I’ve been considering trying to start group formulation of a true credo of manliness somewhere in the community site (hell, I’m sure it’s already happened), but I would also like to see it from the horse’s mouth. I think full disclosure of where you’re both coming from is of much value to your loyal readers.

Just something I’ve been thinking about. Thanks for all the great articles.

4 Brett McKay November 15, 2009 at 12:23 am

@Nik-

We have not made a deliberate decision not to clearly delineate what true manliness is. I think our recent post entitled “Manliness: The Baby and the Bathwater” sets out very clearly exactly what I believe true manliness/masculinity involves, especially the section on the 9 manly virtues:

* Loyalty
* Industry
* Resiliency
* Resolution
* Personal Responsibility
* Self-Reliance
* Courage
* Integrity
* Sacrifice

http://artofmanliness.com/2009/11/08/manliness-the-baby-and-the-bathwater/

I’m actually a bit confused by your comment because I know you read and commented on that article just today. What specifically are you looking for beyond the very specific, foundational aspects we laid out about manliness in that post?

5 Nik November 15, 2009 at 12:13 pm

You know, you’re probably right. That article is definitely the clearest description that I have read so far on the site of what you believe manliness is and isn’t. I probably just didn’t recognize it as a complete exposition because 1) the end of the post with the 9 virtues seemed a little rushed; it might be nice to see an article that ties those 9 together with summaries of each and how they interrelate, rather than pointing to longer expositions of each of them that do not tie directly to each other and 2) maybe the title threw me. I probably went into the post not expecting it to be as thorough as it actually was, and then left the post still wishing for a little more instead of reflecting thoroughly on what I’d gotten. :)

6 adam December 17, 2009 at 8:36 am

I was directed to this site by a friend and I am enjoying your views. Our group is based in fly fishing and the talk about “being a man” has referenced your site and I think it will help promote good choices to some very lost souls and reinforce others who are men in a group who think they are “men”

:D

Anyway, just a note to say thank you very much, already the very first article I will use to help improve my own life and the choices I make that affect my family and more importantly, my three boys who I only want them to grow up to be gentlemen.

All the best to you.

7 Michael Carangi December 23, 2009 at 2:04 pm

Hello, I love your blog. I am a certified personal trainer and nutritionist. I would really love to contribute. I am sure you receive a million of these emails a week and rightfully so. If you do decide in the postive and add me to your weekly line up, i will not let you down.

Best in Health

Michael

8 Erika Awakening January 22, 2010 at 2:35 pm

Very cool blog.

How is it I never knew about this before?

Hope you and Zan are doing awesome :)

Love,
Erika

9 Zac January 25, 2010 at 9:54 pm

Sick website, I find it very helpful in all aspects of becoming a better person and more importantly a better man.

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