Customer Reviews

Boyhood and Beyond: Practical Wisdom for Becoming a Man

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Author Bob Schultz, coming from the background of an outdoor man of the Pacific Northwest, who works with his hands, both for a living and as part of his own service toward God, has managed to craft in BOYHOOD AND BEYOND, a highly useful and relevant work to guide boys into becoming men as God intends, one who protects and provides for his family, yet has enough humility to stoop to help a weaker one in need of a helping hand.

I have been using this book for almost a year now with my eleven-year-old homeschooled grandson, who loves these lessons and the time we spend together discussing them. He has recently begun covering the chapters on his own, with me close by as a sounding board for scriptural truths he wishes to discuss further.

My grandson was particularly looking forward to the chapter, "Preparing for a Wife," but was a little surprised and disappointed at the author's idea of how to do that. On the first page of that chapter, Schultz says, "God designed perfect classrooms for marriage training. They are called little sisters. Hopefully, you have one or more of these little girls around your home." My grandson has two, but even though I have been telling him essentially the same thing as Schultz, it seemed to sink in better for him, coming from Schultz.

The book is organized in thirty-one chapters, so used as a daily devotional, can be covered in about a month. The author has put forth topics relevant for Christian boys, and I have not detected any denominational bias in his writing, yet it is in no manner without backbone. He simply sticks with the essentials.

Schultz does not equivocate on important matters. One of the latter chapters is, "A Time to Kill," which he opens with these words, "One challenge of growing into a man is learning when it is time to kill and when it is not. Sometimes people get mixed up and kill when they shouldn't and refuse to kill when they should. How can a boy know when it is right?" He closes that chapter with, "We live in a day when people will kill their own babies yet won't kill a diseased mouse in their pantry. We are in need of men who have eyes to see the value of animals. We need men who have the courage to kill when it is time to kill."

Parents concerned about how the insidious subtlety of ungody agendas may be creeping in and and negatively influencing their sons will appreciate such uncompromising words as the foregoing. In writing this book, the author has self-apparently drawn wisdom from God Himself, through His written word, and not from the world, the flesh and the devil, all of which are at enmity with God.

We own another book by the author, CREATED FOR WORK, and I plan to start using that one soon with all three of my homeschooled grandchildren, currently 11, 8 and 6, having high hopes that chore time will go more smoothly thereafter! I plan to let you know through another review of that book!

All I can say is "WOW!" This book is fantastic. Today, manhood is something that seems to have been devalued by much of society. As a result, it's become more and more difficult to convey to our sons what being a man means. This book contains several very short stories, each containing a timeless moral, to help you teach your son what it means to be a man. And each story is followed by a few questions that get right to the point. What a valuable resource to help your son become the man that he was created to be!!!

Practical Wisdom is so good! I've read many of the Best-Selling books in the "manhood" genre - but I found the author's insights to be much more down-to-earth, moral and useful for me. This is Real Stuff for regular guys who are just trying to do their best every day. Not only for young men, but for grown men who maybe did not have a 'mentor' to explain the practical side of growing up and making wise choices along the way.

I bought this book on a whim, not something I usually do. I have read a chapter at a time to my three younger boys, ages 6, 9 and 13. But the funny thing is that after I read the chapters, I end up sharing them with my older sons, ages 19 and 17. They are just that good!

Each chapter has exhortation or insight about becoming a man that is applicable, challenging, and memorable. I have even caught myself sharing some of these with my own friends at parties, they are that challenging and meaningful. This author has earned my respect over and over.

Some of the highlights are the chapter on dirty diaper collecting, Mr. Sloth vs. Mr. Industry, Integrity, Justice, being Shy....and wait, we're only about 2/3 done with the book! I HIGHLY recommend this book. I will say it's best to read for age 9 and above...but little ones can read it again some day. The older the reader, the more applicable it will be.

P.S. I'm a mom reading this to her sons...ideally, dad would be doing the reading but I have to say it works with me doing it. I'm the one who is homeschooling during the day and it just fits along with our Bible reading time. Sometimes, my husband will have me read them again at devotionals with all 5 of our sons.

This book should be read by EVERY young man and every young man's father! Any young man who understands the principles in this book and lives them will truly be worth his salt :)

I would highly recommend this book for parents and young boys (ages from 8yrs). Very good source to help grow a boy with Godly purpose in his life. Good discussion questions after each chapter to go deeper.
Easy to read for this age. Has very practical and enjoyable stories.

This has been a great book to go through with my son. There are great stories that provide examples of what a man is and how boys need to look up to their dads. I highly recommend reading this with your son each evening at bed time and spending time talking through each chapter.

This is a GREAT resource for teenage boys. It shows the positive side to maturing and stresses the reward of it not only in the physical relm but the spiritual relm. We read it as a devotional and each one has a real life attention grabbing situation that appeals to boys and examples of how to (and sometimes how NOT to) handle the situation. It's a very appealing dose of wisdom that our boys ENJOY!

I have read all three books by Mr. Schultz and highly recommend them to anyone who is serious about what God intended a man to become. His writing style, real life examples and biblical perspective helped me truely focus on the attributes God wants to be practiced by men (young and mature). Society today has given such an incorrect view of what manhood is really designed by God to be but these books give timeless insight to what God expects men to be. They tell how we can truly fulfill, in this earthly life, God's best for what men need to possess in character and responsibility to Him and our families. I recently read that Mr. Schultz died while at a speaking engagement. I was very saddened by this news. I know he will be missed by family and friends but his books will be a source of encouragment to many men in the future.

"Boyhood & Beyond" is comprised of thirty-one short (4-6 page) chapters, each of which covers a positive value to learn, such as hard work, respecting the wisdom of older people, fighting temptation and jealousy, and so on. Each chapter is introduced by a short quotation from a famous person about his life as a Christian, and then proceeds with the author's text which gives real-life examples from a boy's first-person perspective. Sometimes these reference Bible chapter & verse, and feature attractive pencil drawings of boys engaged in work, help or reading. These engaging stories conclude with a Biblical quotation in bold, and five or six bullet-point questions to discuss with your child. These test the child's understanding of the content, and invite them to incorporate the chapter's "best practices" in their own lives.
Readers must desire a Christian-based approach, or they will not be comfortable here. In addition, some of the content sounds slightly sexist, from a "modern" perspective. But this, as well as the main points of the book, will provide a platform for discussion with your child. All in all, this is a worthwhile aid to character formation for all children.