Rating: 
Summary: Read It Now
Review: Wild at Heart is an outstanding book. Every man should read it. Women who want to know their husbands much, much better - and serve as better wives - will also want to read it.I bought this for my wife, having read parts of it only, then read it myself after she finished. Outstanding. It is an excellent COMPANION book for men to read alongside those that focus more on the desires and needs of wives. What Men Should Get Out of It - I felt like I was discovering (or rediscovering) major parts of myself as I read this. Eldredge focuses on a man's innate need to find the "wild" self in three areas: being a "warrior," living adventurously, and fighting for one's woman. His message speaks to the man who has burried the wild and passionate side of himself into a passive, "nice" lifestyle. According to Eldredge (and I believe he is quite accurate) most women (at least the kind most men really want) ironically do not truly want this kind of "nice" and passive man, even though (and this is the tricky part) so many woman act so as to tame the wildness right out of their men once they are married. The man ends up not knowing what's missing from himself, and the woman ends up not at all happy with what's left over. And neither sees what's lacking. This book shows the lack. This was like looking in a mirror for me, and seeing the hidden parts that are in great need of being fed and revived. Why Women Should Read This - Any woman who reads this will (assuming she truly loves her husband) have a better idea of how to encourage her husband to be the man he was designed to be, and therefore bring her more joy in the relationship. Equally (or more) important, women will learn how to (and how not to) raise their sons. Wounds - The book spends some time discussing why things AREN'T working as designed in most men, including a sad message about how not to raise one's sons. Men will read these parts of the book and see the errors of their own parents, and will then see a path to get beyond what they were missing in the manhood passage of their own youth. And, more, men will learn how best to interact with their own sons to do it right. Warning - Eldredge mentions favorably at least one modern author who has adopted what has been criticized by Reformed theologians as "Open Theology." Then Eldredge makes points that tend to support the notion of Open Theology. Mind you, I happen to agree completely with Eldredge and with the criticism of the kind of theology that renders God (and man) as sort of risk-free puppets of an unalterable and perfectly safe hyper-detailed scheme or script. I note this only for those who are so locked into hyperCalvinism that any other view sends you into a tailspin. This is only a very small portion of the book, and really should not be any ground to avoid the meaty message of the book even for those who take a theologically purely Reformed view. Most will not even notice anyway, but it's worth noting. Caveat - One point. Although it's a great, well-written book on Christian manliness, I would suggest also one of the more stayed books on a man's role in a marriage relationship, such as those by Gary Smalley. Wild at Heart is I think the best book (by far)I have seen regarding what makes a man a man by design, but a good complimentary text that focuses more broadly on a woman's desires and needs will help assure that a novice on relationship issues will be best able to live out Eldredge's great suggestions in ways that carefully also consider one's wife's needs in a broader focus. In other words, if you're buying this book for a newlywed man, or for a guy who's about to be married (or a man who's married but is not well-focused on being a selfless and loving husband), buy this book WITH another that will spend time helping him understand the needs of the woman. But without reservation, I would recommend this book to ANY man, and to most women. Outstanding, refreshing, and truly inspiring. It changed me.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: I found the book to be affirming & encouraging. Some good principles & biblical truths reagarding the nature of man and his purpose. However, I believe Eldridge wrongfully traces the characteristics of man examined in the book backward to God, rather than from God to the image of man. For example, if God is a "risk-taker" then we have a open God who is not completely sovereign, which is unbiblical. The reader should read with this in mind, and mine the book for all it's worth...lot's of golden nuggets.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth While
Review: Though I struggle with blanket statements meant for all men, the concepts brought forth are worth pondering. If you read this book looking for flaws, you will find them. If you read this book looking for answers, you will find them as well. I recommend the Field Manual if you really feel the need to dig into the subject matter of this book. He asks a lot of difficult questions that helped me better understand my own struggles with my past and how it affects me to this day.
Rating:
Summary: It's actually alright to be me...
Review: This book restored a lot of my self-esteem. For the longest time I thought that I had to continuously try to be docile and peaceful, not to offend anyone, and to meld into society. But this book (and others, including Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle) helped restore my youthful desire for adventure and glory and the call of the wild. But perhaps I am predispositioned towards hiking and camping anyway. The hills are ever calling me, but just as loud is the cry of the sea...
Rating:
Summary: Wild at Heart -- Great book for men
Review: John Eldredge's Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul, is the perfect book for any Christian male to read if he is seeking explanations of his nature. The book touches on man's natural desires (the healthy desires) of exploration, passion, and the feeling of being alive. It casts an entirely new light on the needs and wants of men, making their natural longing for adventure a positive virtue, and not a dangerous vice.
I am a seventeen year old boy, and I'm not sure if I would call myself a man, but this book has affected me nonetheless. The book interests me, because it successfully outlines a man's heart, and even gave me some personal revelations. Until now, I never fully understood how I should behave as a Christian male, but using references from Braveheart as well as the Bible, Eldredge explains how a man's life should be lived.
Most of the book concerns man's desire for danger and adventure. I can personally relate to this having caused enough mischief in my seventeen years to last a lifetime, but it shows males ways to explore without causing trouble. The author is a Christian, and he shows the reader how to exercise his need for exploration within the rules of the church, without becoming terribly boring. All men were created in God's image, so our natural desires should not be denied. They are not harmful in any way, they are actually Godly. Wild at Heart establishes excellent guidelines for any male, Christian or non-Christian, to model their life after. He uses entertaining stories from his past to grab the reader's attention, then administers meanings behind the stories that a man can't help but consider. I enjoyed this book thoroughly, and would recommend it to any man interested in the natural desires of his soul.
Rating:
Summary: From A Woman's Perspective
Review: This book is must reading for every Christian man, woman, father, son, daughter...well, you get the idea. As a never-married 30-something, I needed some Godly guidance on how to be a woman as God created me to be, and how to relate to Godly men as He intended them to be. Feminism and other postmodern thought has left us all completely confused as to what it means to be a man or a woman. Unlike a lot of women, I actually LIKE men as a species, and love what makes them the way they are. This book really helped me understand some of my stupid behaviors with men as a young woman. My dad is wonderful, but he rarely told me I was beautiful, so I rarely felt I was. Now that I am fully identified in Christ (and was before I read this book), I have a new appreciation for God's love for me. A great book for individual or group study. Warning: some of the journeys are painful. Don't bother if you are not interested in real change and growth!
Rating:
Summary: A man's field manual for life, best book ever.
Review: Underlying I was always searching for answers. There was also something under the surface, questions needing to be answered. In reading this book I had incredible breakthroughs with my family and relationships with women. Understanding why I operate they way that I do and that we are all dealing with the same things on a day to day basis. Thank you John Eldridge for sharing this book with the world, it truly has made an impact on my life, God Bless.
Rating:
Summary: A book of healing and finding a man's soul
Review: This book is somewhat controversial because it could be read as one which encourages macho-ism and feeding strictly on raw testoserone. However, I found that instead of that the author is emphasizing that we have a God given masculine strength of character which is ready to fight for Christ. In order to accomplish this, he delves into places that we, as men have hidden away for fear that we would be perceived as "wimpy", but in exposing these places, we allow a terrific healing to occur. I was personally healed of many things through the reading of this book, and I have a greater understanding of what it means to be a Christian man. Whether I choose to live my life on all of Eldredge's principles or not is my choice, but his voice is a refreshing one of clarity and boldness in a sea of church confusion towards the role of Christian man. A must read for any man, teenager, or woman.
Rating:
Summary: Eldredge hits the mark.
Review: I could not put this book down as I cried throughout the pages while reading the book. This book hits so many nerves of what it means for a man to be masculine as God would have him be while countering both the extreme super macho man and the feminized nice guy dad who has been made into a woman. For too long, groups like Promise Keepers have spread the lie that all Christian men must, in order to be seen as real Christians in God's eyes, be alot like the Ned Flanders character from the Simpsons and subscribe to many of the personal ideologies made corporate theologies propogated by ministers such as Dobson, Robertson, Falwell, and others where real Christianity is dictated by how much and how well you subscribe to the "Republican, feminized testosteroneless Promise Keeper, butterfly kissing dad, married to the stay-at-home mom who drives the home school bus minivan, calling themselves "single income" but the mom sells Avon, tupperware, vitamins, Amway, weight loss, and other MLM pyramid scheme products etc. at night, homeschool the seven kids who look like the Precious Moments Figurines living in the Thomas Kinckade gingerbread houses in the meadow next to the brook where the deer pants reminiscent of Little House on The Prairie" where the environment appears to be "sanitized", "isolated", and "overprotected". In fact, groups like Promise Keepers and 'so called Christians' like Dobson, Robertson, Falwell, etc. have labeled those who disagree with some or all of this concept in public, in forums, in the local church, etc. as "bitter", "heretic", "bigoted", "narrowminded", etc. Finally, someone has addressed and tackled the issue of feminized Christian men and has told us with Scriptural proof that it is ok to and is necessary to be aggressive without being rude and also have a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.
Rating:
Summary: A+ ... Men Have Deep Hearts!
Review: Hello everyone - this book has sure stirred things up a bit in the world of book reviews! There are many good reviews of Wild at Heart so I will not waste your time repeating them here. This is life-changing material and will challenge you for years to come. What I want to point out is that this book is both God inspired, and a direct attack (intended or not) on the political correctness movement and the world's fundamentally evil nature. Lost non-Christians and Christians alike will say many illogical and unfounded "bad" things about this book and the ideas presented -- "posers" can twist arguments (including biblical references) in subtle ways - they do not do it on their own. There is a real spiritual battle resulting in many reviews that deride John Eldredge and his biblical perspective of man; do not hold this against the authors. "Read the book, the Field Guide, and listen to the Tape Series. Use your God given insight and intelligence and draw your own conclusions!" You owe it to yourself to discover the truth and not rely on someone else's opinion. . Thank you for your time. -Eddie
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