Rating: 
Summary: Awesome.
Review: Over the last 20 years I have read many books on the subject of Christian masculinity, but this one is by far the best I've ever read.In this book, Eldredge cuts across the grain of mainstream Christianity to articulate, explore and advocate a way of living that most men only subconsciously dream of: full of a thirst for Christ and purposeful, courageous adventure. This book has had a deep and immediate impact on me as a husband, father, brother and follower of Jesus. Don't let the short number of pages fool you. Eldredge pulls no punches in this highly concentrated work. Sometimes you'll sit down to read a chapter and only be able to get through the first few paragraphs before having to put it down to think and pray. And ladies, this isn't just a "guy thing". It would be an awesome book for wives to study with their husbands, and explores many issues pertinent to women as well as men. Overall, a refreshing, beautifully-written book that I think is exactly what the church needs at this time. I wish every man I know would read it.
Rating:
Summary: Changes my paradigm
Review: John Eldredge's book, Wild at Heart, along with his previous two works, The Sacred Romance (with B. Curtis) and The Journey of Desire, has given me such a vision of how God has intended for us to live our lives. The book teaches about three things that men need to have in life: a battle to win, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. Wild at Heart shows how we have lost sight of these things, why we lost sight of them, and how to gain our hearts back. All through this book, I found myself nodding my head in agreement as to how my insecurities and lack of passion for the Gospel have been disguised through "busyness" in church, friends, etc. This book makes you realize that there is truly more to the life than just serving in church, raising a family, and succeeding at work. These are the fruits of our relationship with the living God, yet I have treated these things as the end-all goal of my life. My only complaint is that I felt like I wanted more application on how to include battle, adventure, and rescue in my day-to-day life. All too often, I felt as though the only way to achieve these things is by moving out west to go climb mountains and wrestle with elk all day long. I am getting ready to go through the book again with a friend to get his perspective on it. That may help me with the daily application. All in all, I loved this book. Reading this mainly at the local Starbucks on a daily basis, I found myself many times wanting to stand up and yell "Yes!" after reading some statement in the book. But instead, I would just take an extra sip of my Sumatra.
Rating:
Summary: Awaken the wildness
Review: What a great book!! "Wild at Heart" was a breath of fresh air in my life. Mr. Eldredge reminded me of who God is and who I am in relation to God, and what an amazing thing to be reminded of. The book talks about how most Christian men have been brainwashed into the attitude that being the "nicest guy around" is the ultimate goal in life. However, as followers of God, we're never told to do that. Jesus calls us to lose life in order to save it, pursue the pearl of great price, and risk to grow in relationship with God and others. Through "Wild at Heart", God has reawakened the wildness that I once posessed. Thanks Mr. Eldredge, I needed this book.
Rating:
Summary: What about My Life as a Man
Review: Dear Heavenly Father, what do You want of me. For years I have run from you, not knowing You, not believing in You. Yet all the while you waited patiently upon Your hill, watching My wanderings...making sure I was safe even though I did not realize You were doing so. Then one day, I came to my senses, I looked up upon the hill, I saw you for the very first time. There was love beating in my heart, I conceived, a love for the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. And so I began climbing the hill. Up to the Lord, up to the Sacred Romance. Yet it is a long and difficult climb. Thus I ask again, what do You want of me. I read this book, Wild at Heart, and I realize so many things. Most of all, dear Heavenly Father, I realize that though I keep climbing the hill, I have lost so many things. Through my struggles and my temptations, I have let go of so much passion. Thus I stop upon the climb. Just trying to see what it means to be a man. What does it mean, oh Father, to be a man. A real Man. What does it mean to have the passions and the desires that you bless and call forth from a man's heart, oh Lord? Dear Father in Heaven, I want to be the Man you long me to be. I want to be wild at heart. I want to, like Eldredge challenges, live the adventure. Not just simple day to day hum drum. Not just petty foolary. I want what Eldredge speaks of: to see out the roads less traveled. I want to listen to your songs along the path of heavenly glory. I want to continue climbing that hill toward where You stand awaiting me. Please Lord, bless me so that my eyes can see, my ears can hear, my heart can know, the meaning to be the man you want me to be. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen!
Rating: 
Summary: What about the women?
Review: So what if men have given up some of their God given masculinity and become a little "softer". All stereotypes aside, this is not a book that a modern wife will appreciate. Men as "dangerous, wild..." Give me a break. We are not in a hunter and gatherer society anymore. While I can appreciate anyone's sense of freedom and adventure, I personally know of two husbands who's lives have been "changed forever" after reading this book. One is moving his family across country and leaving all extended family and friends for an adventure that is totally his, not his wife or childrens. He has made this decision ( as head of family and household) based on his new "awareness of man". The other has quit his "boring, mundane" job for a more exciting job adventure. His wife, however is not excited that she will have to return to work if his "thrill job" doesn't present itself soon. I try not to take books like these too seriously, but I don't believe that all of these feelings are exclusive to men. I get bored with the everyday mundane dealings of life, and feel a lack of adventure too, and just think I was designed to be content having babies and preparing food! Just beware of anything that promises to change your life as soon as you read it...sometimes the life you have is not as bad as you think.
Rating:
Summary: God only creates originals
Review: I have read many books seeking to better understand my man. I always walked away feeling this is not about him, he is not the typical man. John Eldrege has focussed on the way God made and views manhood. Why am I surprised at how beautiful and original our God made each and every one of us. Trust me, if you are a women you don't want to miss this read. And if you are a man you will be liberated at how perfect your heavenly Father has made you. This book just gets better by the page and as it draws to the end you are excited to become the person God has created you to be.
Rating:
Summary: Truly a Dangerous Book!!
Review: The emotional and spiritual castration of men has sapped our strength and robbed society of the true image of God that we bear . John Eldredge maps the dangerous journey in search of your heart as only one who has been there and made the journey himself can do. Do not read this book if you are just interested in "information" or looking to "expand" your views. It is a dangerous book. You will WANT your heart back. You will want to live for that which you were created to live for. You will become a person that may cause others to be uncomfortable. You will be more alive than you every imagined you could be. I'm warning you . . .this book is dangerous. I loved every page!
Rating:
Summary: An Essential Read For Men...and Women
Review: Following closely on the heels of his magnificent *Journey of Desire*, John Eldredge has written the "men's book" of the ages. In addition, female readers will not only gain insight into masculinity but will discover much about themselves and how God - and their men - play a role in their own personal dramas. Much will be said and written about this book, but one aspect that merits particular emphasis is Eldredge's uncanny ability to discern from the play of children the immense "Story" that God has placed humanity in - a story filled with heroes and villains, damsels in distress, sacrifice, and a happily everafter. The author demonstrates to the reader how little boys and girls innately understand the power of (and need for) a "battle to be fought, an adventure to be experienced, and a Beauty to be won." Such is the life at the heart of the Christian gospel. After all, Jesus himself said regarding children, "of such is the kingdom of heaven." Another key tenant of the book is that men and women must go to God individually, and not to each other, to gain validation. Eldredge stresses that true masculinity is "bestowed" from father to son. He poignantly explains, too, how Christ can take up the "initiation" of a wounded man into the fulness of masculinity (a special highlight is his inclusion of Ezra Pound's forgotten poem "The Goodly Frere", which offers an engagingly different picture of Jesus). Along the way Eldredge summarily debunks the "precept and principle" philosophies (which includes Promise Keepers) that have unwittingly robbed the Christian faith of its vitality. No "twelve steps" here - the focus is on life, not formulas. Filled with humor and remarkable frankess, this is a heart-warming challenge to join God in a wild, gut-wrenching, but ultimately triumphant battle.
Rating:
Summary: Be a Man.
Review: I was enthralled and challenged by John Eldredge's previous two works. After reading WILD AT HEART, I have been challenged even more. What makes a man? This is a question that all men struggle with at least once in our lives. Some wrestle with the question until they die. At one time, men knew how to be men, but in the modern materialistic society in which we now live, men no longer know what they are. There are many "self-help" books to help you through your struggles and you can buy pills to make you feel manly, but none of these things really help. They all deal with the struggle by avoiding it. John Eldredge examines the struggle without avoiding it. Men were created to fight a war, live an adventure, and win Beauty. Through his exploration of this issue Eldredge has re-claimed masculinity from the chaos of modernity and given men a useful guide to help them find their true selves. Learn what its like to truly be a man.
Rating:
Summary: No more pretending
Review: John Eldredge first captured my interest (along with Brent Curtis) with The Sacred Romance. He enthralled me with the challenging Journey of Desire. Now he has confronted me with his Wild at Heart. Very few men will be able to read this book without recognizing "the poser". We live our lives responding to the beck and call of the world, all the while knowing that we are selling out on our truest self. Eldredge is bold in his challenge for men to quit posing, and encouraging as he calls each of us to live as the men we were created to be. To know our truest self, we must know the Creator and trust that He created us to live a life full of adventure and mystery, rather than lives of tedium and boredom. Eldredge does not hold back in his assessment of the malaise that encapsulates so many men. His take on masculinity flies in the face of many of society's politically correct definitions of manhood, but my gut tells me that most men will know that Eldredge is right. This is a challenging book that will cause most men to squirm in recognition of how much we have given away. The book is ultimately uplifting in its call to authenticity. I have read a number of "men's books" and this one is one of the best.
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