Wild at Heart Expanded Edition: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul

This is a really good book for men. It really helps you dig down into yourself to see what’s important to you and to see what’s important for your life. I think it’s a great read for man struggling with their life.

A must-read for men (and for women who want to better understand the hearts of men in their lives). An older man (in his 40's...) brought me and a few other young men through this book when we were in college. It changed the trajectory of my life and was a rescue for my heart. I've re-read it almost annually for 20 years. The truths John hits on have changed my life and the lives of friends I've shared it with. I HIGHLY recommend all of his content.

I've read it start to finish, and then I've also listened to the audiobook. Rarely do I like a book enough to spend time on it more than once! It's written about men, for men, by a male therapist. But I (as a non-married, hetero-cis-gender female) got So Much out of it! It held my attention for 2 whole rounds, and that's saying a lot for someone (me) who gets distracted & bored with a book easily. The whole premise is disspelling the myth that men these days are taught: above all else, you should strive to "be nice" & shun your wilder nature. Especially in the Christian community, men in general are turned off & dulled to it. He writes why that's not even Biblical, that you can be wild & holy. Having/ pursuing passion doesn't have to necessarily result in becoming a sinful pig. We've had enough of a Christianity that tries to turn men into docile lambs. Nobody really wants that deep down, and it's not actually what their design (by God) is. It's not a book about "blame the women" either. While it does point out (briefly, where relevant) how mothers should stop with the coddling and smothering, he emphasizes that the solution is to not look to your woman to answer your big questions, to "make you" a man, but look to your maker instead, who already Made You-- as a Man. Ha! It's not overly sentimental or squishy. He uses historical and fictional examples of how war heroes were made, what's necessary for victory, and how we truly are all in a battleground for our souls; so don't take it lightly that the world needs strong men!

Good read! Dives into many of the issues at hand with men today and has a good sense of humor throughout

Good read

It's been a decade since I read this book, about being a man and at the time letting myself be wild some. I remember being encouraged by this book, gave a copy to at least one friend...who still hasn't taken in the message I don't think, sad to say.I was such a well tamed fellow at the time, who in one weekend gave himself as a man and a believer permission to say "yes" to his own wildness. I was shamed greatly by my (Evangelical Orthodox) church at the time. My crime was in going with a local expression of the men's movement, the only place then I could get permission to be a guy. In my town we were taught for years by a feminized Protestant Evangelical Christianity culture (google Frederica Mathewes-Green on Men and Church)that any such wildness would be, of course, sin.Hats off to this author for his writings and work with men, attempting to tell another side of the gospel story. I was taken by the heart felt tale of his losing his best friend in an early death and how he came to grips with this wound as a Christian man. And, I am impressed today again to go back and find over 900 Amazon Into The Wild reviews. Nice. People are still reading this book; 80% no doubt women buying the work for their husbands, as is the book trend in his Evangelical market. And good for him. The work is getting done, none the less. Even a decade later.I gave Eldredge and his book four stars here, mainly because of his comments on sexuality and being a man. I found them simplistic, the basic party line and dull. And not helpful. They were perhaps written way too early in his young life I think as a guy with yet small boys. I fear to say he has a small brain approach here to eroticism and the forces behind masturbation and erotica in general. But maybe he's learned a thing or two in the last decade since publication, been exposed perhaps to the likes of In Vitro video we have now of young men masturbating to orgasm in the womb. (See the TED talk by science writer Mary Roach on the ten things you didn't know about orgasm.)I'll have to go back to his book Desire, too, and take a second look. I remember being encouraged by these works of his at the time. I think he was running then a men's "Wild Man" type retreat in Colorado. Good for him...a lot of yet wounded men are out there who love God, need help and are not getting any. Did I just say, "not getting any"? My, my. Hurray for a little wild side. Wild at heart meets desire. Yes, sign me up.

This is a book every man must read. Not just Christian men but all men. If you’re a man who has read this book, find one other man to give a copy and walk through it with them.

My son is old enough to appreciate this. Male classmates raved about it when I was in grad school.