Last modified 28 Mar 2007

Books

Most Essential 50 Books for Men

Below is a collection of classic books for men, most of which are the definitive work in their field. In general the earliest date of publication is listed. Some of the books have remained continuously in print, others have been reissued after a dormant period. Those which are out of print can often be found second-hand on www.abebooks.co.uk or www.bibliofind.com; alternatively, many of those out of copyright can be found free online www.digital.library.upenn.edu/books or www.gutenberg.org.

I have tried to strike a balance between old classics, some of which are no longer printed (but still obtainable second-hand), and more recent publications, where the dust hasn't settled between trendy and trusted. I have no doubt made some major ommissions, and invite suggestions of books to add.

The links below go to amazon.co.uk or amazon.com, depending where the book was first published, or a second-hand source if the book is out of print. Sometimes there is a wikipedia page on the book, in which case I link there.

The List

The Book of the Courtier	Baldassare Castiglione	1528
The Compleat Angler	Izaak Walton	1653
A Hero of Our Time	Mikhail Lermontov	1840
Manners for Men	Mrs Humphry	1897
Scouting for Boys	Robert Baden-Powell	1908
The Stag Cook Book	C. Mac Sheridan	1922
The Pipe Book	Alfred Dunhill	1924
The Gentleman's Companion, vols 1 & 2	Charles Baker, Jr	1939
The Ashley Book of Knots	Clifford Ashley	1944
Brideshead Revisited	Evelyn Waugh	1945
The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks	David A. Embury	1948
Esquire's Handbook for Hosts	Esquire	1949
With or Without Beans	Joe Cooper	1952
A Family Album	The Duke of Windsor	1960
Dandies	James Laver	1968
U.S. Army Survival Manual FM 21-76	Department of Defense	1970
Esquire's Encyclopedia of Men's Fashions	O. Schoeffler & W. Gale	1973
Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder	Arnold Schwarzenegger	1977
Spirits and Liqueurs	Peter Hallgarten	1979
The Gentlemen's Clubs of London	Anthony Lejeune	1979
The James Bond Bedside Companion	Raymond Benson	1984
Elegance	G. Bruce Boyer	1985
Clothes and the Man	Alan Flusser	1985
Scarne on Cards	John Scarne	1986
The Theory of Poker	David Sklansky	1987
The Savile Row Story	Richard Walker	1988
The Tie	Sarah Gibbings	1990
The Elements of Typographic Style	Robert Bringhurst	1992
A History of Men's Fashion	Farid Chenoune	1993
Beer Companion	Michael Jackson	1993
The Englishman's Suit	Hardy Amies	1994
Sex and Suits	Anne Hollander	1995
A James Bond Omnibus	Ian Fleming	1997
Tree Houses You Can Actually Build	D. Stiles & J. Trusty Stiles	1998
Gentleman	Bernhard Roetzel	1999
The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie	Thomas Fink & Yong Mao	1999
Malt Whisky Companion	Peter Jackson	1999
London Man	Francis Chichester	2000
The Boutonniere	Umberto Angeloni	2000
The Faber Book of Smoking	James Walton	2000
The Chap Manifesto	G. Temple & V. Darkwood	2001
The Modern Gentleman	P. Mollod & J. Tesauro	2002
The Man Manual	Ian Banks	2002
Who's a Dandy?	George Walden	2002
Sauce Guide to Cocktails	Simon Difford	2003
The Game	Neil Strauss	2005
Mr Boston Official Bartender's and Party Guide	Chris Morris (ed.)	2005
The Dangerous Book for Boys	Conn & Hal Iggulden	2006
Manliness	Harvey Mansfield	2006
Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book	Hugh Johnson	2006

Selected Notes

The Gentleman's Companion &ndash These two volumes were re-released in 2001 as Jigger, Beaker, and Glass: Drinking Around the World; and Knife, Fork, and Spoon: Eating Around the World.

The Ashley Book of Knots &ndash Universally regarded as the most comprehensive and entertaining book on knots, with details on over 3,900.

With or Without Beans &ndash The subtitle is 'Being a compendium to perpetuate the internationally-famous bowl of chili (Texas style) which occupies such an important place in modern civilization'.

Esquire's Encyclopedia of 20th Century Men's Fashions is the full name of the best overview of the trends in men's dress. Copies are now considered prize possessions, and second-hand copies are expensive.

Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder &ndash The best book on weights, even more for its tale of extraordinary mental discipline than its back-to-basics exercise prescriptions. The first half is autobiographical and the second details exercises and lifting routines.

Clothes and the Man &ndash Widely considered to be one of the best books on men's dress. No longer in print but many second-hand copies can be found. Also worth noting are Flusser's Style and the Man (1996), a guide to good men's clothes shops throughout the world, and Dressing the Man (2002), similar to his first book but glossier.

The Elements of Typographic Style &ndash Not an obvious choice, but a welcome lesson in beautiful design, layout and proportion.

The Englishman's Suit &ndash This slim little volume is, word for word, the best book on men's dress. Hardy Amies, the author, was longtime dressmaker to the Queen and founder of the eponymous Savile Row shop.

A James Bond Omnibus is a single-volume collection of the Ian Fleming novels From Russia With Love, Doctor No and Goldfinger, often considered to be the three best Bond novels. There are 14 Bond books by Ian Fleming in all, a list of which can be found here.

The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie is about the history of the knotted neckcloth, the modern necktie, and how to tie both. The authors prove there are exactly 85 ways of tying a necktie and explain how to tie them, with forays into fashion history, topology, knot theory and men's dress along the way.

The Chap Manifesto is 'a rallying point for the classic bloke beleaguered in postmodern confusion, a cri de coeur from the manly bosom, a hail-well-met to gentlemen of all pinstripes.' Written along the lines of The Chap magazine, it is followed by The Chap Almanac (2002) and The Best of The Chap (2005).

Sauce Guide to Cocktails is the best guide to cocktails currently in print. Also noteworthy is Difford's Sauce Guide to Drink & Drinking (2003).