Book Review: “What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him” by Byron Yawn

Book Review: What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him by Byron Yawn

The Good:

One Liner After One Liner. Goodness, I have never read a book that had so many one-liners that hit you right between the eyes, especially as a dad. So much so, you had to really take your time through some paragraphs because were so full of sentences dripping with truth and power.

Like a Modern Day Proverbs. The wisdom this book provides for sons and Fathers of sons is priceless. It will provide healing, wisdom, instruction, and parenting guidance. It reminds me of the book Solomon wrote for his son…while it certainly does not have the power of God’s Word, it still draws from Biblical principles for the next generation of men.

Counseling Gold. Countless times I wrote in the margin of this book “counseling illustration” or “use in counseling”. As a young father, I need all the wisdom I can get in parenting my own children, let alone counseling other fathers. This will help.

Humor Like a Desert. Just how I like it. I love dry humor, and this book was full of it. It was well-placed, and allowed the read to be more enjoyable. At times, it kept me coming back for more.

Miscellaneous Reasons for Purchase. #1 – Man Laws. #2 – Chapter on Sexual Purity. #3 – Chapter 18 will grip your heart and will have an incredible effect on the reader (if not, check your pulse).

The Bad:

Redundancy. There was some redundancy of literary style at times. Hard to explain, but sometimes slowed the flow of the read. The repetitiveness in style often cause the writer to say the same thing in different ways in the same paragraph.

Too Dogmatic? I put a question mark here because it wasn’t something that caused me to struggle in my doctrinal view of the book. However, there were some very strong statements that may cause you to slightly raise an eyebrow, but not get bent out of shape.

Take the Gospel, and Call me in the morning. This seems like this is happening more and more in our Christian culture where we simply say the solution is the Gospel. While it probably is true, I need more than just the word, but an explanation. There were times in the book where it had the former without the latter.

The Grade: A

I just finished the book a few days ago, and have already recommended it to a Men’s Bible study group, a parent of a teen, and put it in my planner to recommend at my next big parents meeting. This book comes strongly recommended from one dad to another. With my little boy coming any day now, I needed this, and your son wants you to read this book too.