In addition to being the EIC here at Midlife Male and writing The Manologue column, for our new readers, I’m also an author of a dozen books that have been endorsed by everyone from John Cena and Spike Lee to Mark Cuban and Midlife Male cover guy Chef Robert Irvine.
I’ve written the definitive biography of the Macho Man Randy Savage (Macho Man), the biography of Charlie Ward (The Athlete), as well as a dozen other books including 1996: A Biography, Hoops Heist, “Mean” Joe Greene, Jocks in Chief and more.
When I first became an author, I wanted a way to collect emails from my readers, so I started a weekly newsletter called Books & Biceps, where I’d recommend whatever book I was reading that week (I average about 3-4 books per month). If you want to read more in 2026, here’s our column on How to Read a Book Every 10 Days without a single hack or trick.
But back to the reading rec newsletter. I think I sent the first one to 17 people back in 2017 or so… Since then, that personal email has grown to over 28,000 readers and we were even profiled in The New Yorker with the feature titled, “The Meathead Trying to Get Other Meatheads to Read.” Ha. True!
All of this is to say that I’ve recommended over 300 books in the last eight years or so and I give my recommendations a ton of thought.
As EIC of Midlife Male, I get to see collectively the things you all click on: the columns, topics, recommendations in each of our Fs and so on.
And while I can’t reach out and give each of you a recommendation personally, I put together a list of 6 fiction and 5 non-fiction books that you will love (no self help, that’s Greg’s thing, read his list here). In fiction, I read a ton of thrillers, mysteries, adventures, military books, sci-fi and novels that move quickly (I loathe sprawling, slow, get-to-the-point books haha). In non-fiction, as you’ll see, I love big biographies of fascinating people, deep dives on events or time periods, historical non-fiction and more.
There is a good mix in both these lists, and while I can’t promise you’ll want to read all ten, I promise you’ll want to check out one from each for sure.
Take a look and let me if you’ve read any these already and what you grab:
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NON-FICTION MASTERPIECES:
Blood & Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
When Daniel Boone was about 11-years-old, he was charged with tending his family’s livestock every day starting at sunrise, watching his younger sister, hunting white-tailed deer solo in the woods, shooting the deer, packing it out…and then corralling the livestock and his sister home before nightfall.
And I can’t get my 11-year-old to remember to charge his iPad or empty the dishwasher.
This little juxtaposition between the 1700s and today is one of hundreds that came to mind while reading Blood & Treasure, which is enlightening, frightening and seems like it took place a thousand years ago, not a few hundred.
Boone lived a life unrecognizable today. He was an explorer, arguably the best rifle shot in the colonies before the Revolutionary War, and he was a long hunter… This means he’d spend months and months out in the wilderness, often alone, hunting meat for his family and community. He made his own clothes, living quarters and food. He lived outside, alone, for entire seasons. He could take down twenty white-tailed deer in a day. Then he’d have to skin them, dress them, boil the meat, make jerky, make clothes and more. He’d hunt, skin, cook and eat bear, raccoons, squirrels and elk. He’d trek a 700-pound elk carcass a hundred miles. His was not an easy life.
And we haven’t even mentioned the constant bloodshed, battles and bartering with Native Americans. Over the course of his life he befriended them, was nearly scalped by them, was captured by them, had his children murdered by them and went to war with and against them.
I admit to knowing next to nothing about life on the frontier for both Americans and Native Americans. This book was a revelation. Incredibly researched and entertaining. If you’ve ever had any interest or curiosity in Boone or frontier life, I highly recommend this one. Get it here.
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
I love stories of survival that are so absurd, ludicrous and against-the-odds that if they weren’t true you’d think they were total bullshit.
The story of the exploration ship Endurance is exactly that.
How’s this for an inside flap:
In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton boarded the Endurance and set sail for Antarctica, where he planned to cross the last uncharted continent on foot. In January 1915, after battling its way through a thousand miles of pack ice and only a day’s sail short of its destination, the Endurance became locked in an island of ice. Thus began the legendary ordeal of Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men. When their ship was finally crushed between two ice floes, they attempted a near-impossible journey over 850 miles of the South Atlantic’s heaviest seas to the closest outpost of civilization.
Sub zero temperatures. Open frigid oceans. Surviving temps and starvation and eating penguins and seals. And here’s the kicker… somehow nobody died. Nobody!
These men were built from different stuff than we were, there’s no other way to say it. Stuck in darkness for months. Trekking across ice flows. Sailing makeshift boats in sleet and smashing into ice bergs. Being soaked through for weeks straight in burlap and wool. Frostbite. No sleep. No idea where they were.
And yet… Shackleton endured. He got them off the ice. Found a barren island. Then made a daring, no bullshit, we live-or-die trek over mountains on foot to find help. Read this book ASAP.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Chernow
This book is the size of a cinderblock. I think it weighs 400 pounds. Opening to the first page is intimidating…like taking your first step to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. I haven’t climbed Kilimanjaro… But I did manage to read this book and it is really, really, really good. (I figure if a book is about 800 pages one ‘really’ isn’t good enough). I knew very little about Rockefeller other than what I remembered from 8th grade US History class – which was nothing beyond the fact that he was crazy wealthy. When adjusted for inflation, Rockefeller was the richest man of all time. Even more than Elon Musk today.
What did I learn in this book as an adult?
Everything I would ever want to know about Rockefeller; but also about early capitalism and monopolies and economics and self-talk and persistence and systems over goals and partnerships and ruthlessness and greed and charity and family and legacy and on and on.
There is a vivid section early in this book featuring a young Rockefeller, unable to get a job, going door-to-door dressed in a suit, day after day, applying for work. Each day he fails. The next day he tries again. Over and over. His faith in himself never waivers. He believes he’s destined for something and he keeps at it until someone hires him. In no time he takes over that business. And another. Then he finds all the businesses that supply that business and he takes them over. Or puts them out of business and starts his own. And he runs this playbook mercilessly and relentlessly until ten years later he’s the most powerful man in the Midwest. Ten years after that he’s arguably the most powerful man in America. Ten more years and he’s the richest man in the world. You’ll probably learn more about business from this biography than any ten business books combined. Find it here.
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson
There are a handful of authors out there who I like to say that I’d buy an automatic lifetime pass for their work. Meaning, I don’t even need to know the topic of their next book (or several books) because if they’re putting out a new project I’ll buy it. That’s how great of a writer they are and how much I trust their ability to pick compelling stories and to execute.
Erik Larson is on this list and his new book, The Demon of Unrest, is a historical masterpiece that takes us on a trip down the tragic road that led the United States to Civil War in the 1860s.
Using Fort Sumter as the focal point of the story, we’re introduced to an array of important historical figures via their surviving letters and journals, giving the story an accuracy and realness that is one of Larson’s calling cards. It also drops you directly into the tumultuous moments between Abraham Lincoln’s election and his taking office that proved to be disastrous for our country.
And you have to keep in mind that the Lincoln of 1859 and 1860 was an unproven, unheralded figure who many politicians and then-media members thought would be a colossal failure of a president. Add to that James Buchanan’s total incompetence and cowardice and you’ve got a nation teetering on the brink of war, with states seceding left and right, while in limbo between an inept leader and an uncertain one.
Also, this book is very much about slavery and how it was the dominant issue in every part of southern life at the time. I have to warn you that some of what you’ll read, from the horrific slavery markets to the “holding pens” to the screeds given by the southern leaders in defense of what many believed to be their God-given right to own other humans, is hard to take. But it’s necessary to understanding how the Civil War unfolded and how Lincoln went from campaigning on the idea that he’d let slave-holding states keep slavery once in office (if it would head off war) to doing a complete 180 and committing himself and the North to abolishing the practice for good.
This is an intense, tremendous read that I can’t recommend enough. Grab your copy here.
River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
Of all the stories about Teddy Roosevelt that I love after reading maybe half-dozen of his biographies, this is my favorite. Yes, I loved that he got a black eye boxing in the White House and I love that he brought in wrestling champs to challenge him in the governor’s mansion in New York. And just about everything involving the Rough Riders is action-packed stuff.
But, this story is remarkable.
It takes place after Roosevelt was president, when, as one of the most famous men in the world, he cut himself off from civilization to lead an expedition to chart an unknown river of the Amazon for over a year. Forget about doing that now, for a variety of reasons, but imagine it’s almost 100 years ago and you don’t have any modern technology to help you navigate, communicate or eat.
You have a few guides, boats, supplies, maps, rumors, and grit. What you don’t have is Under Armour cold gear or Goretex or elite sleeping bags or even bug spray. You have nothing. Teddy Roosevelt took on this challenge and it is one of the most incredible true stories of exploration and survival I have ever read…and it’s about an ex-President of the United States!
If this was an Indiana Jones movie, you’d love it. But it’s not. It’s about Teddy. And it all happened. And it nearly killed him and his son. You’ll never look at old TR the same way again. Start the journey here.
NOVELS:
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
All the Sinners Bleed is brilliant and Cosby is one of my favorite writers. He has such a gift for character depth and dialogue and inner monologue thoughts and the little nuances that get you to really know his characters. His main character in this book, Titus Crown, is the first black sheriff in the history of his southern county. He was a high school football star and academic whiz who became an FBI agent before heading back to his hometown to serve. But there are layers upon layers to Titus. Physically imposing, yet can quote Yeats and the Bible. Measured and self-aware but simmering with fury. He’s a man trying to convince himself he can settle in his hometown and make a positive change but his ambition won’t let go.
And into this backdrop, we get a local serial killer that must be caught in a town that’s fooling itself about its southern charm, its handling of race, its entire way of life. It’s phenomenal. A master class in thriller writing, pacing, Southern noir and more. Get it here.
Savage Son by Jack Carr
Jack Carr is a literary juggernaut, a modern-day Tom Clancy, with an iconic title character in James Reece and every book becoming an instant #1 bestseller. He’s also a terrific follow on Instagram because he’s a true student of the craft of writing, regularly sharing behind-the-scenes stories and info about your favorite thriller, military and action writers. He was also a member of the Navy SEALs for 20 years, so he knows his stuff when it comes to these subjects.
I’ve read a bunch of his books and even met him in person, so if I had to recommend one to start with (especially if you’ve already watched The Terminal List), then I’d go with Savage Son because it was inspired by one of my favorite short stories, The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell.
If you don’t remember that short story, it’s about crazy General Zaroff who hunts humans on a private island.
Now imagine this in Carr’s hands. You’ve got a Russian military psychopath hunting humans on a remote island near Siberia and through a confluence of plot events, he intentionally lures in our very own badass SEAL James Reece and his equally tough best buddy, Raife on an off-the-books rescue/revenge mission.
Carr, who has studied one of my favorite writers heavily, First Blood’s David Morrell (a legend), has become an elite action writer in his own right, with impeccable details, tight pacing and specifics about strategy, weapons, hand-to-hand combat that he’s pulled from his years in the Teams.
I enjoyed the hell out of this book and you will too. Pumped there’s a bunch more of these to dive into. Grab it here.
First Blood by David Morrell
And since I just mentioned First Blood, far too many guy haven’t read this novel, which is arguably the greatest action book ever written.
Like you, I saw the Rambo movie First Blood and the sequels First Blood: Parts II & III a dozen times each before I learned they were based on a bestselling novel by David Morrell, which came out in 1972, a decade before Sylvester Stallone brought John Rambo to the big screen in 1982.
I admit that for years I wasn’t interested in the book because I loved the movies so much… But I stumbled across a post by the author last year where he talked about all the differences between his book and the films… and there were so many and they were so intriguing that I instantly bought the book.
What differences? I’ll share a few:
1) The novel takes place in rural Kentucky instead of the mountains and forest of Washington, which changes things action-wise.
2) Rambo is WAY more deadly and kills WAY MORE PEOPLE in the novel. I mean, SO many more.
3) No spoilers, but the ending is completely different and far more powerful in the book.
4) The writing is phenomenal, with some of the best, most compelling action scenes I’ve ever seen in print. Period. Some more thrilling than the scenes in the movie.
Makes you want to read the book, right? Do it. I promise you won’t be able to stop and you’ll be surprised at who you root for and why. Find it here.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
This is how the author himself describes the plot of this book in an interview:
A brilliant physicist named Jason Dessen is living in Chicago with his wife, Daniela, and son, Charlie. He is a true genius, and while there was a point in his late twenties when his research could have made him a star in his field, he instead chose a family-focused life. One night, while walking home, he’s abducted by a mysterious masked man and injected with a drug. When he next awakes, his world has completely changed. He’s no longer married, doesn’t have a son, and has achieved professional success beyond his wildest dreams. This sets him on a thrilling, mysterious, and at times terrifying journey to learn what has happened to him, and to find his way home to the people and the life he loves.
Perfect, right? This is exactly the kind of science fiction I love… And let me tell you right now, this book starts fast and doesn’t stop. I read the first 30 pages in what felt like five seconds. Hands down one of the best, most compelling first chapters to a book I’ve ever read. And chapter two doesn’t stop…
The fast-pacing, the “genius”-but-relatable-main character, the dorky-but-understandable science that piques your interest… The stakes. It’s all brilliant and, in true most memorable fashion, you will be thinking long and deep about the plot for months after you read it. Namely, what would you do if you were Jason? Check it out here.
One Second After by William Forstchen
One Second After will stick with you because the fictional events in it seem so possible, so plausible, even, that you can’t ignore them.
Imagine you’re having your normal day. You work, you lift, you read Books & Biceps, you coach, you come home and then the electricity goes out. At first you think it’s just a normal outage, but nothing works: every piece of machinery with any electrical components stop working
Cars stop. Planes fall. Elevators stall. Everything everywhere with electricity is fried. And all communication everywhere is down. For good.
One Second After begins one second after an EMP attack (3 nukes detonated in the atmosphere) on the United States that wipes out our entire power grid and destroys everything with solid state electronics.
Then the book chronicles what one man does to protect his family and community when there is a shortage of… well… everything. The book resonates because it’s so easy to put yourself in the main character’s shoes and think, “What the hell would I do?”
This is a great, thought-provoking read. Get it here.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Ace Atkins
Ace Atkins’ newest book, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, is a ton of fun. It’s a thriller, a coming-of-age-story, a buddy cop-type adventure where neither guy is a cop, an espionage book and a phenomenal pop culture 80s nostalgia story all in one. And Atkins pulls it off brilliantly.
While the story involves Russian and American spies, international mystery and action, Atkins does such a good job of getting into that 80s mindset and “feel”. The book gives off Stranger Things and Goonies vibes all the way through, while dropping a first-rate novel in the middle.
If you ever read the Robert B. Parker Spencer novels, this is a slam dunk for you. The dialogue is just like Parker, with quips, one-liners and several that make you laugh to yourself while you’re reading. Just an overall good time with a book from a master storyteller.
Go buy Everybody Wants to Rule the World
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Jon Finkel
Editor-in-Chief, Midlife Male
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