NOTE: I was lucky enough to be invited to read a pre-publication copy of this book. As a result of that early reading, and my subsequent positive impression, I am honored to tell you that you’ll find a brief quote from me – along with the thoughts of dozens of other authors, coaches and medical experts – at the front of the book and on the front and back covers.

Now, given that disclaimer, here’s my totally honest opinion of this book in a single sentence: If there’s a man in your life that you care about, you owe it to yourself and to him to buy this book.

Heck, while you’re at it, buy a dozen copies this holiday season and gift them to everyone you care about. (Conveniently, here’s the link to buy “12 Rules.”)

Granted, your recipients may initially be puzzled by your choice of a universal gift, but once they actually read it, the knowledge they gain just might help make this a better world. We all need – and the entire world could benefit from – that!

To be less effusive, (and especially so you don’t think I’m being flippant), lets look at what a few others have said:

• John Gray, author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus wrote:  “I’ve known and appreciated Jed’s work for more than 40 years and he has been doing men’s work for 50 years now. 12 Rules for Good Men is a wonderfully helpful guide for both men and women. Jed gives you the tools you need to succeed in love and in life.  Some of the rules will surprise you. All will challenge you to be a better person.”
• Another author I equally admire, Brent Green, author of Generation Reinvention and Questions of the Spirit, said:  “In the face of radical feminism, gender neutrality, and cultural diminishment of the traditional male archetype, Jed Diamond makes a compelling assertion: ‘Men can’t be fully alive to themselves, to the women they love, to their families and friends, unless they understand and embrace their maleness.‘ This book is a gift for all men who care about their impact on the world and want to become the most effective human beings for their spouses, families, communities, countries, and the planet as a whole.”
• And finally, here’s a quote from Warren Farrell, author of The Boy Crisis and The Myth of Male Power: “Twelve Rules is more than twelve rules. It is a brilliant integration of Jed Diamond’s distinctive gifts of speaking personally even as he takes us on a journey to why manhood is the way it is, what needs to be preserved, and how we can release ourselves from the Man Box. It is an essential book for anyone who wishes to become a better man, or bring out the best in a man.”

The reviewers were unanimous and seemingly of one mind that the book is a “must read.” But I’m happy to share more of why I think this is such a critically important book:

As background, I first “met” Jed Diamond more than ten years ago, when I bought the National Association for Baby Boomer Women (NABBW.com). He had the distinction of being our only male member.

An NABBW Associate, Jed provided our members with a very insightful monthly column focused on helping women understand and cope with the concepts he’d dubbed Male Menopause and Irritable Male Syndrome. Topics about which he has written books that have been translated into more than 18 languages. Jed is also a founding member of the American Society of Men’s Health, and the vision behind the website MenAlive.com.

With “12 Rules for Good Men,” Jed continues to examine the concept of maleness, beginning by tracking back millions of years ago, to discuss theories of the evolution of male and female. The premise of being male is even more critical to understand in today’s divisive, antagonistic world which sadly and unfortunately overflows with fear, angst, confusion and uncertainty.

Each of Diamond’s rules build on the next, beginning with ‘Rule #1: Join a Men’s Group,’ and concluding with ‘Rule #12: Find Your Mission in Life and Do Your Part to Save Humanity.’

I particularly enjoyed his ‘Rule #4: Embrace Your 1 Billion Year History of Maleness.’ In that chapter, Diamond manages to make the kernel of everything that we have come to view as ‘male’ totally clear, when he tells readers his story of Earl, a hypothetical 313 million year old representative of our male reptilian ancestors. Boiling maleness down to its essence, he tells us Earl cares only about the “3 S’s:” safety, sustenance and sex.

But while that nugget of humor contains a germ of truth, over the millennia, we humans have become much more highly evolved than reptiles. At the same time, today’s world is a much more scary and endangered space.

Which is why we are so blessed that Diamond has written his most recent – and highly recommended – book. Frankly, in today’s world, I don’t know how we humans can expect to continue if we don’t stop all the finger-pointing and recognize the need to take action to save humanity and the earth. 

Originally Published on NABBW.com

Anne Holmes Boomer-in-Chief of NABBW