A Guide for Men in a World That Hates Them

Four of my last four book proposals have been rejected. Consequently, I’ve decided to post some of them on Substack—while I work on my fifth!

This proposal, titled, “A Guide for Men in a World That Hates Them,” is just that. It’s a guide to help young men succeed. Divided into five categories, it has most of what young men need to successfully navigate the world: Flesh, Wealth, Talent, Virtue, Death. The beginning of each chapter provides a blueprint for success.

It is a really, really difficult time to be a young man. If you know someone who may benefit from this, please don’t hesitate to give it to them. It is my sincere hope that they will benefit from it.

Peter

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A Guide for Men in a World That Hates Them

Peter Boghossian

OVERVIEW

This book is a how-to guide for men to operate in society. Its 16 chapters lay the foundation of virtuous male citizenship (from the body) and explicate what men should become (talented, virtuous) with clear principles to get them there.

Modern culture, especially in elite circles, chooses to see men only as either demons or infants. Generally, we become what we are expected to be, and thus we have raised men whose primary traits are incompetence and sadism. This is toxic to society, and to those men.

While this demonization has been noted by the left and center, thus far attempts to address it have come from only from the right, reactionaries who encourage men to lean into their demonization: becoming proud sadists, pimps, and criminals. For instance, influencers like Andrew Tate (his $7,979 program, “The War Room,” teaches men how to turn vulnerable women into prostitutes) or Roosh V, another popular online influencer, who advocates for the legalization of rape on private property.

I’ve made a career designing and implementing cognitive, epistemological, and moral interventions. In my doctoral dissertation, I intervened in prison inmates' cognitions to help them make better moral decisions and thus desist from crime. In the New Atheist movement, I designed interventions to help hardcore religious devotees doubt their faith-based beliefs. That work spawned Street Epistemology, a movement where thousands of people around the world use these methods and techniques to engage in civil discussions about a wide variety of topics and help people challenge their beliefs. Most recently, I further developed these interventions and film my interactions with people around the world. A Guide for Men in a World that Hates Them uses the same targeted intervention strategies to tap into men’s internal motivations and direct that toward healthy changes.

The book’s target audience is men, especially young struggling men, and the parents and loved ones who want them to succeed. A secondary audience is new parents, especially young fathers.

A Guide for Men in a World that Hates Them is similar to the following books but improves upon them.

1. Iron John: A Book about Men

   1. Author: Robert Bly, Publisher: Addison-Wesley, Year of Publication: 1990

My book will take many of Bly’s prescriptions (the importance of managing aggression, rites of passage, etc.) and update them for our current cultural moment. It will remove the fable of Iron John as an elaborate lesson for behavior and instead distill short, clear principles for behavior. The type of men who need this book are not reading fables or disambiguating metaphors—they need simple, clear instruction.

1. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

   1. Author: Jordan Peterson, Publisher: Random House Canada, Year of Publication: 2018

A Guide for Men in a World that Hates Them greatly expands upon Peterson’s rules while buttressing those rules with principles drawn from timeless classics. While Peterson’s book is aimed at a general audience, my book focuses upon men and notes specific strategies that help men. A Guide for Men in a World that Hates Them is also grounded more in ancient philosophy than current psychology, giving readers a more enduring and amaranthine feeling.

1. Meditations

   1. Author: Marcus Aurelius, Publisher: [Varies by edition], Year of Publication: Approximately 161-180 AD

My book draws from Auerelius’ lessons, many of which are so timeless they have become inextricable from Western culture and virtues at large (self-control, action, leading by example), but updates the lessons for this current cultural moment (self-control online and on social media, working rather than lying in bed and relying on welfare).

1. How to Win Friends and Influence People

   1. Author: Dale Carnegie, Publisher: Simon and Schuster, Year of Publication: 1936

Carnegie’s book is excellent, but its prescriptions require skills beyond what the target audience of my book possess. A Guide for Men in a World That Hates Them takes the more complicated ideas set forth by Carnegie (e.g., frame mistakes as easily fixable) and breaks them into much lower-order, simpler, and shorter principles (admit when you’re wrong).

1. Atomic Habits

   1. Author: James Clear, Publisher: Avery, Year of Publication: 2018

Rather than explaining the theory of how to change habits, my book applies the skills outlined in Atomic Habits to explain, step-by-step, how to master the responsibilities set forth in A Guide for Men in a World That Hates Them.

1. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

   1. Author: Stephen Covey, Publisher: Simon and Schuster, Year of Publication: 1989

My book borrows the structure Covey uses, of principles parallel to implementation strategies, but changes the topic to focus on men specifically. Certain ideas are borrowed (e.g., take time to renew and improve yourself) but are made more specific to men (e.g., workout strategies and exercises for young men).

ANNOTATED TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART ONE: FLESH

Chapter 1: Fuel

• Do: Protein; veggies; limited carbs; limited fruit; whole foods; intermittent fast; water first thing in the am; occasional cheats if needed

• Don’t: Sugar; breads; pasta; seed oils; eat when you’re full; processed foods (the more processed the worse)

Your first priority is to get the right fuel into your machine—the body. You must, however, be smart about it as there’s so much bad information. This chapter lays out diets that are a combination of ancient practices that have stood the test of time, like Blue Zone diets, and cutting-edge research, like the Huberman Protocols. The rules and principles here don’t make it easy, but it does make it simple.

Chapter 2: Rest

• Do: Get blackout curtains; have a regular wake time; get out of bed soon after waking

• Don’t: Deprive yourself of sleep; use screens in bed; caffeine 8 hours before bed or 90 minutes after waking

Your second order of business is to get your sleep in order. Doing the right thing is often difficult, and it’s almost impossible without sleep—you won’t have the willpower. In most cases poor sleep is simple to fix; this chapter will teach you how.

Chapter 3: Exercise

• Do: Consistency; strength & cardio training 6x week; 5 minutes of post-workout stretching; compound exercises; calves; progressive resistance; stay active throughout the day; posture; time under tension

• Don’t: Make excuses; undertrain legs; push more than you pull; stare at your phone in the gym; overly depend on a partner; overtrain

Basic fitness is easier than you think and so is being in good shape. You’ll be guided through a detailed, customizable exercise plan and learn how and why to make it an enjoyable habit. There’s no instantaneous way to get in shape, but you’ll learn fast, evidence-based routes.

Chapter 4: Poison

• Do: Purge the poisons you ingest: floss, brush; limit screen time; be careful on social media

• Don’t: Drink or use substances daily; rationalize use; make excuses; use to deal with uncomfortable feelings; stick a needle in your arm unless absolutely necessary; smoke

If you choose to drink and/or do drugs, this chapter will keep you safe. It covers various drugs (pot, ketamine, cocaine, LSD, heroin, MDMA, 2C-B, etc.) and honestly explains the best available evidence and your options. For example, not all psychedelics are the same, from psilocybin to LSD to DMT, and while psychedelics are not addictive, 2-8% of people have bad trips on LSD and 7% have flashbacks. Those numbers are higher in people who suffer from mental illness. This chapter breaks down the data, and the pros and cons, of drug and alcohol use.

PART TWO: WEALTH