Manspace: A Primal Guide to Marking Your Territory

I took the kids to the library the other day, and for some reason they had a table displaying all kinds of manly books, but this is the one that caught my eye…

Now, I don’t know about you but if a book has a large leg lamp from A Christmas Story, I’m going to pick it up. ManSpace: A Primal Guide to Marking Your Territory by Sam Martin, is filled with excellent man caves, bat caves, bachelor pads, and hideaways for men. The photos are inspiring and made me want to build a new shed, or dig a bigger basement to carve out my own manly domain (you know, so I can fill it with toys).

The book has dozens of stories about how guys convinced their wives that they needed their own space, and how they went about building them. It covers all kinds of collectors and passions, ranging from sports fans to auto enthusiasts to big game hunters. Now, who wouldn’t want to hang around at this guy’s place…

There are some great quotes sprinkled throughout the book such as:

“We don’t stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing.” — George Bernard Shaw

Many of the places featured in this book are obviously built for the rich and famous, but there are plenty of more achievable examples as well. I wonder if Mr. Martin would want to include yours truly in Manspace: Vol. 2…

Of course, I believe every guy needs his own space, and this book does a great job of putting that philosophy down in print. If you like to peek into other people’s lives and see where their passions lay, then you should pick up this book. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon.

As I read this book in my own Fortress of Solitude, the gears started turning as I thought of how I could get my wife to agree that the basement was due for a makeover.