Your dad bod could raise your kids’ risk for obesity and disease. You’ve probably heard of the “dad bod.” It’s the body shape of a guy who’s not super fat, but not in particularly good shape, either. It’s gotten a friendly rebrand over the past decade with articles saying that some women prefer the soft dad bod over a super shredded physique. But a new review out of UC Irvine, published in Current Obesity Reports, complicates the dad bod’s innocuous reputation. We usually talk about a mom’s health before and during pregnancy shaping outcomes for her future kid, but researchers found that dad’s health plays a role too, and earlier than you’d think. A father’s weight and habits before conception can change his sperm quality and the epigenetic markers that switch on early in a child’s development and influence their metabolism, appetite, and disease risk down the road. Obesity, it turns out, is estimated to be 40 to 70 percent heritable. The encouraging part is that a lot of it looks reversible. Drop the weight, clean up your habits, and the markers you pass on improve. If you’re planning on becoming a dad soon, take this as a nudge to start eating better and hitting the gym. 

In Defense of Sunlight by Rowan Jacobsen. We had Rowan Jacobsen on the podcast two years ago to talk about the health benefits of sunlight, and his new book dives even deeper into the research-backed evidence of just how good it is for us. His argument is that we’ve spent decades living under what he calls a “zero-sun” policy: slather on sunscreen, dodge the sun whenever you can, and take a vitamin D pill to cover the difference. And he makes a strong case that we’ve got it mostly backwards. Yes, too much sun causes skin cancer, but skin cancer kills relatively few people, and the cost of avoiding the sun shows up everywhere else, like high blood pressure, depression, poor sleep, autoimmune disease, and even all-cause mortality. Ever since I went down this rabbit hole myself several summers ago, I’ve tried to get a little sun daily. It feels good, man. Jacobsen boils his advice down to seven words: Get sun. Not too much. Go outside. The book releases to the public next week.

Douk-Douk Folding Knife. I’ve had one of these in my pocket knife arsenal for years. It’s a simple folding knife with a single blade that tucks into a housing of stamped steel. The simplicity is exactly what I like about it. Douk-Douk has an interesting history. It’s been made by the Cognet family in Thiers, France, since 1929. Gaston Cognet designed it for France’s Pacific colonies. It didn’t take off there, but became the unofficial national pocketknife of Algeria instead. It’s a good beater knife to have around for everyday knife needs. 

The Endless Summer. My dad surfed in Corpus Christi as a teenager. The surfing isn’t great in the Gulf of Mexico, but it was a big part of his young life. He’d watch The Endless Summer from time to time when I was a kid to re-live his glory days. This 1966 Bruce Brown documentary is about two guys chasing summer around the world so they never run out of waves. It’s an incredibly relaxing movie to watch. I’ve never surfed, but I come back to this movie every few summers because it gives me a peek into a subculture — and a part of my dad’s life — that I don’t know much about.

On our Dying Breed newsletter, we published The Four Faces of Envy and Sunday Firesides: Exercise, Man’s Most Faithful Companion.

Quote of the Week

What is difficulty? Only a word indicating the degree of strength requisite for accomplishing particular objects; a mere notice of the necessity for exertion; a bugbear to children and fools; only a stimulus to men.

—Samuel Warren

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Every man needs a multitool or three stashed around the house or garage, or as a permanent part of his EDC. But how do you choose one in a multitool landscape that has hundreds of options, including for niche users like backcountry campers and first responders?

If you’re like many consumers, you start to do some research. But discussions and reviews of multitools can quickly become overwhelming and overly detailed. Most guys I know, myself included, are less interested in the sheer number of tools or the technical specs and more interested in one main thing: usefulness. How practical is this tool and how will it make my life easier? 

On your behalf, reader, I recently sought to cut through the noise to offer some clear advice on what multitools are worth picking up. I did a bunch of research, made some choices, and tested six of the most popular multitools on the market today. The options (and most recommended tools) remain dominated by three primary players: Leatherman, Gerber, and Victorinox (Swiss Army) — all of which you’ll see tested below. 

For size comparison. Starting on top and moving clockwise: Amazon Basics, Gerber Truss, Gerber Dime, Leatherman Skeletool, Victorinox, and Leatherman Free P2. 

It should be noted at the outset that these tools, with one glaring exception, did a pretty good job with the basics and would be perfectly serviceable for personal use or given as a present (a multitool is a classic gift). Most of my quibbles are fairly minor: I didn’t like the action of folding a tool out or putting it back into place, opening the pliers was a bit more awkward than it had to be, or it just didn’t feel right in the hand. When you’re spending good money on a tool, though, you want it to do exactly what it’s meant to do — and in a comfortable, easy-to-use manner, to boot. 

I’m not crowning a single winner here. Instead, here is a honest look at six popular options — and how to choose the right one for your specific needs.

Amazon Basics Multitool ($19)  

For the simple fact that this tool is sold under the Amazon Basics banner and is dirt cheap, it’s going to show up high on search results and sell a ton of units. Which is a real bummer, because this multitool blows. 

Verdict

From the start, this tool just did not feel very solid. Its two main pieces move laterally, giving it a cheap and clunky vibe. The implements do not open or close very easily, and accessing the pliers is a less-than-smooth experience. This review is short and sweet: do not buy the Amazon Basics multitool for yourself or your loved ones. 

Victorinox Swiss Tool X ($155) 

The maker of the original Swiss Army knife has been around for nearly 150 years. They’re best known for their red, pocket-sized tools that are centered around the knife and screwdriver bits, as opposed to today’s tools that are generally built around a hefty set of pliers. While I didn’t test one of the red classics, I did buy one of their modern options that is more like the standard modern multitool.

Verdict

The Victorinox was the longest tool I reviewed and among the top two heaviest. Bulky can be okay, if the benefits outweigh that downside, but that’s not quite the case here. A big part of the problem with this one is that it features a very polished mirror finish, making it slick to hold and use. When it comes to any tool, a good solid grip is critically important, and this multitool is lacking that in a big way.

And while opening and closing the integrated implements is generally smooth, the inner functions are not the easiest to access and required some fingernail fiddling that wasn’t very fun. Those downsides, along with the hefty price tag, mean that the Swiss Tool X is not one of my top choices. 

Leatherman Free P2 ($130)  

No multitool review would be complete without testing an American-made Leatherman or two. Since the 1980s, Leatherman has been the go-to brand for multitools — and for good reason. They’re generally reliable, durable, and can be passed down from grandfather to father to son. The only real problem is that there are so many Leathermans available. There are a few dozen options to choose from, which is rather paralyzing as a consumer trying to figure out what to buy — from the $250 ARC to $40 pocket-sized options and everything in between. 

Ultimately, I went with Leatherman’s “Free” system, which was appealing to try out because it touts one-handed opening and locking of tools, for those times where you just don’t have a second hand available. 

Verdict

The reality, for me at least, was that I could never quite figure out how the one-handed operation was supposed to work. It felt forced and awkward, even if technically doable. (Plus, I actually found one-handed use to be easier with the Gerber Truss and the Leatherman Skeletool.) 

The lever for closing tools was not very intuitive or easy to operate.

Opening and closing the pliers was slick — probably the best and smoothest of the bunch — but the inner tools were fairly hard to access without first opening the outer tools. The notches on the end are supposed to make it easier, but I didn’t find that to be the case in practice. 

I also didn’t like the mechanism for unlocking the tools for closing them. The lever was the hardest to use of all the tools I tested. Overall, it’s a fine multitool, it just doesn’t have the smoothest or easiest operation of the bunch.  

Leatherman Skeletool CX ($100) 

Leatherman’s pared down Skeletool has become very popular in recent years. Whereas many multitools have suffered from feature bloat (do I really need multiple blades? or a can opener?), the Skeletool offers users the few tools they use most: pliers, one quality blade, a couple of screwdriver bits, and a bottle opener. The stripped down tool therefore weighs less and carries a slimmer profile than its dozen-tool (or more) cousins. 

Verdict 

Somewhat surprisingly, the Skeletool has been the full-size multitool that I’ve reached for the most. I wasn’t sure if it actually had the features I would need, but turns out it’s popular for a reason — about 80% of what I need a multitool for is covered with a blade, pliers, and a screwdriver. Plus, I found one-handed operation of the knife to be the easiest of anything I tested. 

Given its weight and profile, I’ve come to think of the Skeletool almost as more of a pocketknife with a couple extra features. It carries a lot easier than the heavier tools listed here, and the clip lets you easily snap it onto a pocket, backpack, keychain, or tent. 

Gerber Truss ($55) 

For most of the 2000s, Gerber has been right behind Leatherman as a leading maker of multitools (as well as other heavier-duty outdoor blades, like survival knives and hatchets). Rather than being sleek and shiny, their style is decidedly rugged and tactical. Like Leatherman, Gerber offers plenty of options, but its smaller lineup makes choosing one a little easier. I went with the Truss, which is their middle-of-the-road, standard multitool. 

Verdict 

Overall, I really like this tool. It just feels sturdy in your hand. The implements are thick and solid, so you know they won’t bust if you put pressure or leverage on them. Opening every tool, including the inner ones, is a breeze — probably the easiest of what I tested. The pliers are spring-loaded once they’re fully in position, which is handy. And the mechanism for closing each locked tool is a simple, easy-to-operate pull-back slide. 

An easy sliding mechanism to close locked-in-place tools.

My only gripe is that it feels a bit bulky in your hand when using the fold-out tools. I wish the profile was a little sleeker, and I’m not entirely sure why one end is wider (which is indeed noticeable while in use). This isn’t a multitool that fits nicely in a pocket. That said, this is a great tool overall — at a great price — for your garage, toolbox, tacklebox, camping kit, etc. 

Gerber Dime ($35) 

A true mini-multitool option can come in surprisingly handy. But finding one that doesn’t feel flimsy or disposable is not easy. Enter the Gerber Dime. It’s just two inches long and is literally a quarter of the overall size of the Victorinox. Cool. 

Verdict 

I’m a bit shocked by how solid this tool feels for how small it is. With a pliers, scissors, knife blade, “retail package” blade (literally just for boxes and hard-to-open packaging), a couple screwdriver bits, and even tweezers, it really has everything you’d need in a multitool — just in a smaller size.

Smaller than my car key and incredibly rugged. Impressive!

Overall, this thing is cute as a button (sorry, I meant rugged as hell), easily fits on any key ring, and has been a lifesaver on multiple occasions in my couple months of testing. It shouldn’t be your only multitool, but I might say it’s the single option on this list that’s a must-have. Of all the multitools I’ve tested, the Dime is what I’ve actually used the most because it’s been easier to have on my person at all times. And that counts for a heck of a lot when it comes to judging the practicality and convenience of a multitool. 

Conclusion  

To be honest, I’m not the handiest guy. I don’t get super excited about tools in general and my DIY chops are pretty average. Given that context, it’s my opinion that there’s a place in your home and pocket for a few of these multitools. A keychain tool is underratedly clutch, and at just $35, you can’t go wrong with the Gerber Dime. A knife that can fit in your pocket and has a couple extra features, like the Skeletool, is nice to have along on day trips, picnics, and other less intense outings — or as something that lives in your junk drawer for easy tasks around the house. And a more intense multitool, like the Gerber Truss, is absolutely valuable in your toolbox for small jobs or to have along on tool-heavy outings like fishing or camping. 

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Note: The following is an excerpt from The Technique of Getting Things Done (1947) by Donald Laird. 

The right reading — often accidental — wakes up slumberers and gives needed goals to those who still have none. The right book or article has started many on the main road and off the detours. 

Enrich Weiss wanted to act in a circus, so this nine-year-old practiced in a shed behind his home in Appleton, Wisconsin until he could hang by his knees from a trapeze and pick needles from the floor with his eyelids. At twelve he ran away from home. 

In a secondhand book store, when he was sixteen, he picked up a book on magic by Robert Houdin that was to change his life. He paid a dime for the book, started to read it after supper. He could not leave it. He thought about magic tricks while cutting neckties, while running in amateur races. He got more secondhand books on magic, worked up a few tricks of his own, and changed his name to Houdini. 

He was a lifelong habitué of secondhand book stores, gathered more than 5,000 volumes on magic and spiritualism which are now in the Library of Congress.

In Abilene, Kansas, a tallish high-school boy from across the tracks wondered what to do when he graduated. He was tired of working in the creamery. He visited the weekly-newspaper office; famed editor J. W. Howe loaned him a book that had just come in. The book told the story of that amazing military leader, Hannibal. Young Dwight Eisenhower was fascinated. It was the turning point in his life. Reading the right book started “Ike” Eisenhower on the way to West Point Military Academy to become Allied Supreme Commander in history’s greatest war. 

Robert E. Peary, a dreamy boy from Cresson, Pennsylvania, was inspired by Elisha Kane’s book Arctic Explorations (a dreary tome, if you ask me). Robert’s dreamy eyes narrowed; he could already see visions of the frozen Northlands. “I will help the world understand the mysteries of those places,” he decided. 

That book gave him a goal. At thirty he made his first voyage of exploration to Greenland. At forty-seven he tried to reach the North Pole and failed. But he still had his goal, born of boyhood reading. 

Heroically, he tried again and six years later did reach the Pole, the first person to capture this goal which men had been trying to reach for four hundred years. Scientific societies and governments the world over honored the boy who had gotten his start from reading, reading that gave him a wrought-iron determination.

Keep a supply of worthwhile books around where children can see them. Select books that cover a variety of subjects. Expose young people to the stimulation of reading. There is no telling where it may lead.

John Masefield ran away to sea at fourteen, was assistant bartender in New York for a while. At eighteen he read Chaucer’s The Parliament of Fowls. That decided him; he would be a poet. And in fifteen years his poetry had won everlasting fame. He became Poet Laureate. 

A librarian, your boss, a book dealer, a teacher can help you pick the reading that will count.

Often we just stumble across the right reading; that’s why it is wise to read many things. I accidentally stumbled into psychology. I was halfway through college, majoring in chemistry, and an assistant in the physics laboratory. Then one Christmas vacation I started to read a four-volume manual on experimental psychology by E. B. Titchener. At the end of the vacation I knew I was changing my vocation. My chemistry professor was disgusted. But the halfhearted chemistry student became an enthusiastic psychology student. 

Great Lives Remind Us 

Do you have a hero? “Tell me whom you admire,” said Sainte-Beuve, “and I will tell you what you are.” 

The lives of great men have aroused sleeping abilities in thousands of people who were once stumbling along. Reading such lives has given many an irresistible determination to get more things done.

Rudyard Kipling went to Bombay at seventeen wearing real whiskers. In the heat and sickness he toiled on a newspaper, apparently his lifework. Alone in the house one hot evening he picked up a book by Walter Besant, All in a Garden Fair. The book told the story of a young man who wanted to write and who did in spite of great obstacles. 

That selfsame evening Kipling resolved that he, too, would write, whatever the obstacles. He started at last to save money. At twenty-four he returned to England with his savings, settled in a room over a sausage shop, and began the writing that was to make his name world-famous.

F. B. Morse was one of eleven children. He was ten when he read Plutarch’s famous Lives of Illustrious Men [another title for Parallel Lives], those stories of ancient Greek leaders and noble Romans. The book fired the young man; he, too, was going to accomplish something. Within a quarter-century he won recognition as a portrait painter, and a short time later invented the telegraph. 

Plutarch’s Lives started him on the road to the American Hall of Fame. 

Plutarch’s work has given many young men the stimulus to get things done. Napoleon carried a copy of it for twenty years. Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the War of 1812, read and re-read Plutarch, starting in his youth. So did Robert Brookings, who established the famous Brookings Institute in Washington. 

Benjamin Franklin attributed his zeal for getting things done to reading Essays to Do Good, by Cotton Mather. He was about sixteen, working in his brother’s print shop, when he seriously began to read to improve himself. He says in his autobiography: 

I then proposed to my brother that if he would give me, weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I would board myself. He instantly agreed to it, and I presently found that I could save half what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books. 

But I had another advantage in it. My brother and the rest going from the printing-house to their meals, I remained there alone, and, dispatching presently my light repast, had the rest of the time till their return for study.

Loyola was thirty and a common Spanish soldier when he was laid low with a leg wound. While convalescing he read The Lives of the Saints, which inspired him to become a religious worker. He founded the Jesuit order, was consecrated a saint by Pope Gregory XV. 

“Study a great man,” said Louis Pasteur. 

Great men who have done things, who are still doing things, can become our inspiring lifetime friends through their biographies and autobiographies. Get a hero — and get better acquainted with him by reading about him. 

Some rich man who wanted to make the world hum could put more books about people who have done things within reach of the minds of the generation which is yet to do things. 

Everyone can find new friends who count by reading books about people who count. Try reading a biography a month for several months.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Life rarely unfolds according to plan. A relationship implodes. A move or job change doesn’t work out. Or you simply fail in a goal you’ve set for yourself.

My guest has spent almost two decades researching and field-testing how to get back on track when smaller slip-ups and larger upheavals knock you off course. His name is Steve Kamb, and he’s the founder of Nerd Fitness and the author of How to Try Again: An Approachable Guide to Navigating Chaos and Making Change THAT STICKS. Today on the show, Steve shares practical principles for dealing with life’s frustrating and demoralizing setbacks. We discuss why sometimes the best move is to pause rather than push harder, how to accept reality without resigning yourself to it, why treating change as an experiment can help you beat paralysis and take action, why you should treat consistency with your goals the way you do showering, and more.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• Steve’s previous appearances on the AoM podcast:
  • Episode #42: Level Up Your Life With Nerd Fitness & Steve Kamb
  • Episode #170: Level Up Your Life
• Steve’s AoM guest posts:
  • Don’t Be That Guy: The Taxonomy of Lousy Male Friends
  • How Superheroes, Movies, and Video Games Taught Me to Conquer Fear
• Nerd Fitness
• Museum of Failure
• Sunday Firesides: Good Times Are Not Around the Corner (And That’s Great News!)
• Sunday Firesides: Treat Life Like an Experiment
• “Lightning Fields” by the Killers

Connect With Steve Kamb

• Steve’s website
• Steve on IG
• Steve on LinkedIn
• Steve on Substack

Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)

Listen to the episode on a separate page.

Download this episode.

Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice.

Transcript Coming Soon

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

So when I had Beau L’Amour — son of the great Western novelist Louis L’Amour — on the podcast a couple of years ago to talk about his dad’s life and habits, my ears perked up when he mentioned that his father worked out every single day for an hour or two in the afternoon, right into old age.

The conversation moved on, so I didn’t circle back to ask exactly what L’Amour did for his workouts, but that question has been rattling around in my head ever since.

So I recently decided to email Beau to see if he remembered what his dad’s daily workout looked like.

To my pleasant surprise, Beau wrote back immediately with something even better than I had expected. Instead of sending me a general description of Louis’ workouts, he sent me scans of his dad’s typed weekly to-do lists with completed items struck through in red pencil. On these weekly agendas, Louis included his workouts for the week.

The ones he sent span from 1968 to 1983, and they cover a lot more than exercise. A single week might include blocking out the first chapter of a novel, answering all his mail, reviewing his Chinese and French, reading to his kids by the fire, and teaching them how to fall and box correctly. It was inspiring to see that the young autodidact in Education of a Wandering Man continued his self-education even into his 80s and intentionally scheduled it with the same rigor he scheduled his workouts. But it’s L’Amour’s training I want to dig into here in this article.

Why Louis L’Amour Trained

Beau gave me the backstory of his father’s exercise habit. Louis was born in 1908, trained as a boxer, and worked physical labor jobs throughout the 1920s. He boxed and trained for the sport, focusing primarily on speed and endurance. By the early ’30s, he was trying to make it as a writer while training young boxers, which kept him in shape.

Then came WWII. His job in the Transportation Corps had him leading convoys of double gasoline tankers through burning towns in Europe, but the food was plentiful, and the trips into nearby cities were frequent, and he came out of it carrying extra weight.

Louis continued to exercise after the war, but he got really serious about it in 1966, when he was 58 years old. Like other writers, he spent a lot of the day sitting, and this exacerbated a niggling back pain he’d had since the war. The pain was getting in the way of his work. It got so bad that he went to a doctor for advice.

In a letter written in 1976, L’Amour recalled what he did next:

When my doctor told me I should not lift anything heavy, not even my own child, that was more than ten years ago. It was only then that I started lifting weights. I never had before, beyond what I had done in working around the country…I started lifting weights carefully, with very light weights, as I’d had a bad back since riding in jeeps during WWII. Now I can lift five to six thousand pounds in a couple of hours, and after my work-outs I feel great…since I began lifting weights I’ve had no more back trouble. I’d simply been sitting too much, and my muscles had softened, and there are some bones that need the strong muscles around them. I’ve never had to go back to that doctor because my back trouble ended with proper exercise.

L’Amour’s doctor told him to lift nothing. Louis responded by lifting thousands of pounds a session and curing the very problem the doctor was worried about. I love that. Sounds like a young Teddy Roosevelt, who, when his doctor told him not to overexert himself, decided to do the opposite and “make his body.”

There was another reason Louis started lifting when he was nearing 60. In 1974, he wrote in his journal:

I’ve not yet done a book that really pleases my taste…One reason I exercise, too. I am just learning to write, just gaining command of my medium, and must work for a long, long while.

Louis kept training because he wasn’t done creating his art yet, and he wanted a body that would hold up long enough to continue honing his craft and putting his work into the world. He trained for what Nietzsche called “Great Health.” Inspiring!

The Louis L’Amour Workout

Beau L’Amour training with his dad, Louie, back in the day. From the Louis L’Amour Facebook Page.

Alright, so what did ol’ Louis do for his fitness routine?

Remember, the man on these sheets is in his sixties and seventies, and the routine stays remarkably consistent across fifteen years of lists. It breaks down into three parts: conditioning, the iron, and discipline at the table.

Conditioning (the Boxer’s Base)

• Jump rope
• Stationary bike
• Heavy bag work 
• Walking
• Boxing rounds with his son, Beau
• Abs and sidebends

The Lifts (BB & DB — Barbell and Dumbbell)

L’Amour performed a circuit 6X a week that worked both his upper and lower body and included these exercises:

• Bench press
• Overhead press
• Flies
• Curls
• Rows
• Triceps
• Grip work
• Shrugs
• Lat pulldowns

Discipline at the Table

• Standing goal to stay under 220 lbs — sometimes he’d try to get down to 210
• Snacking was skipped when he was cutting weight; “No between meals,” as one sheet bluntly puts it

There’s nothing fancy here. L’Amour skipped rope, hit the bag, ran through his lifts, and ate sensibly. He aimed to do a variety of exercises, treated his workouts like a standing appointment, and got in one to two hours of physical activity every afternoon. 

I lift for plenty of reasons, but as a guy moving through middle age, L’Amour’s reason for lifting is the one that increasingly resonates. I want to stay strong enough to keep doing the work I haven’t finished yet.

Thanks to Beau for sharing these snapshots of his dad’s life. He’s got a new novel out — Skyring Water — that he collaborated with his father on, both before and after Louis’ passing.

For more inside details on Louis L’Amour’s life and work, listen to our podcast with Beau:

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Summertime is here, and we couldn’t be happier. As author Benjamin Alire Sáenz put it, summertime is a “book of hope,” filled with the promise of freedom, adventure, and dreamy idleness. It’s a time for sloughing off the heaviness of winter and soaking in the hot, rejuvenating sun.

It’s also a time for diving into certain pastimes and rituals. Seasonal traditions provide a natural rhythm and change to life that’s often missing in our modern world of fluorescent-lit, temperature-controlled sameness.

Below we offer 18 suggestions on things to do to make the most out of the season of summer and inject more of its mirth and charm back into your life. Do them all by Labor Day and you’ll have created enough hazy memories to keep you warm the next winter through.

Enjoy!

Here’s how to keep score with pen and paper.

Learn how to wear one with style.

Check out our video tutorials on summer grilling!

Need an idea on what to read? Check out our book lists!

Learn how to make your own rope swing with our illustrated guide!

Here’s why they’re still worth sending.

With our archives now 4,000+ articles deep, we’ve decided to republish a classic piece each Sunday to help our newer readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in June 2014.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Quaker Oatmeal Squares: Brown Sugar. As I mentioned in last week’s article on what I eat in a day, my mid-morning meal is usually a big bowl of Fage yogurt and blueberries with some Kashi or oatmeal mixed in. The store was out of Kashi the other day, so I grabbed a box of these on a lark. Never had them before. They’ve turned into a Bob Ross happy accident. Love ’em. The flavor is hard to place. Kinda taste like waffles. There’s a decent amount of fiber in these too, which my gut appreciates. I’m going to ride with the oatmeal squares as the grain in my yogurt bowls for a while.

The Life of a Salesman. I love reading features about how people work. I enjoy them even more when they’re about jobs that have all but vanished. This LIFE photo essay by Cornell Capa is one of those. Inspired by Death of a Salesman, which had come out the year before, Capa spent four weeks shadowing Robert Brooks, a real salesman who rode trains out of Long Island through Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, and Detroit, peddling umbrellas. Brooks fronted his own expenses and only made money when he closed a sale, and that year buyers were pinching pennies. No wonder Willy Loman was such a sad sack; the life of a traveling salesman was tough. The loneliness of Brooks comes through in the photos. 

1994 Interview With Eugene Sledge. If you haven’t listened to my interview with Henry Sledge about his father Eugene’s brutal war memoir, With the Old Breed, I highly recommend you do. After reading the book and talking to Henry, I went down some Pacific WWII YouTube rabbit holes and found this 1994 interview with Eugene about his experience on Peleliu. It was cool to see the man himself talk about his experience. One thing that struck me was how concerned he’d been about not wanting to let down his fellow Marines. He had a deep sense of manly honor. 

Survival in the Executive Jungle by Chester Burger. I stumbled on this one while poking around old books on the Internet Archive (I enjoy reading old ephemera). Published in 1964, the book reads like Machiavelli from the Mad Men era. It covers things like how to handle your boss, your colleagues, and your own ambition. Plenty of the advice has aged out (the world of the gray flannel suit is gone), but a fair amount still holds up. My favorite was the chapter “Time Worshipers and Clock Watchers.” It’s a nice kick in the pants about putting first things first by separating the work that actually matters from the busywork you do to look busy. You can read the whole thing for free on the Internet Archive.

On our Dying Breed newsletter, we published 5 Underexamined Consequences of the Declining Birth Rate and Sunday Firesides: Dying of Embarrassment.

Quote of the Week

Facts that are not firmly faced have a habit of stabbing us in the back.

—Sir Harold Bowden

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Burgers are my favorite food. What’s not to like about them? They’re tasty, filling, and — if you load them up with toppings like tomato, lettuce, and onion — offer a fairly nutritious mix of protein, carbs, and veggies.

​What I also like about the humble hamburger is exploring its many regional variations. New Mexico’s green chili burger? Fantastico. Minnesota’s Juicy Lucy? Amazing. Utah’s pastrami burger? Brother, I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a pastrami hamburger today.

​But my absolute favorite regional burger hails from my own home state: the Oklahoma fried onion burger.

​Boy, I love this burger. Its beauty is its simplicity. It’s basically a smash burger with onions in it. Just two thin patties, with fried, caramelized onion, cheese, and a bun. Hot diggity burger, it’s tasty.

The History of the Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger

​There’s some debate about how the fried onion burger was born, but the general story is that it originated back in the 1920s, in a small town west of OKC on Route 66 called El Reno.

A father and son duo named Homer and Ross Davis had a place there called the Hamburger Inn. As beef was expensive, the Davises kept the price of their burgers down by reducing the meat portion of the patty and smashing thin-sliced onions into it. The result was a cheaper burger that still gave diners a meal that felt like it had some substance.

When the Great Depression hit, this cost-saving measure became even more appreciated, and what was dubbed the “Depression burger” really took off.

The name may have been a little unappetizing, but the concoction was decidedly tasty.

​While the original purpose of smashing onions into the burger was to stretch the meat out, the unintended consequence was that it added layers of deliciousness. When you smash those onions into a screaming-hot flattop grill, the edges caramelize and crisp, and the patty drinks up all that sweetness from the onion.

​The Oklahoma fried onion burger was a hit with patrons, and soon other places in El Reno started making them. Many of these establishments are still in business. Robert’s Grill has been flipping onion burgers in El Reno since 1926, Johnnie’s joined in the ’40s, and Sid’s Diner opened in 1989 and was featured on that spiky-haired culinary madman Guy Fieri’s show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

Last summer, our family made a road trip to eat an onion burger at Sid’s (and see the town where Twisters was filmed). The burger was okay. Solid. I enjoyed it. I always enjoy a burger. But I wouldn’t make the 2-hour drive to El Reno from Tulsa to eat it again.

You can find other onion burger joints around Oklahoma. Tucker’s is one of them. This OKC-based chain has a location in Tulsa, and puts out a legitimately tasty onion burger. They’ve got this big ol’ boy of a burger called the “Mother Tucker,” which has three patties. It weighs over a pound, and it’s an experience, my friend.

Recently, though, instead of outsourcing my fried onion burger consumption to dining establishments, I decided to try making them at home.

Friday night had long been Burger Night in the McKay household, and I’d make your standard backyard grilled burgers on my pellet smoker. Always enjoyable.

​But a couple of months ago, I had the hankering for an onion burger, but didn’t want to eat out. So I slapped a griddle we had into the smoker and got it scorching hot. While the griddle heated up, I sliced some sweet onions really thin and created some balls of 80/20 ground beef. Once the griddle was hot, I got to work. As quick as you can say “Jack Robinson,” I had fried onion burgers plated for my family.

​Reader, the family’s review of them was unanimous: amazing. Better than our usual burgers. Better than famous Sid’s in El Reno. Still not as good as Tucker’s — game respects game — but a worthy at-home substitute.

​The Oklahoma fried onion burger has become the McKay household’s go-to burger.

​Today, I’m going to explain how you, too, can make them this Friday. Even if you’ve never visited the Panhandle State, you’ll probably never go back to another way of making homemade burgers again.

How to Make an Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger

What You Need

​A griddle or cast-iron skillet. To make these onion burgers, you need a flat-top surface that can get really, really hot in order to give those burgers a nice crispy brown crust and those onions that delicious caramelization. If you’ve got a Blackstone griddle like many American suburban men do these days, you’re locked and loaded to easily make grilled onion burgers. If you don’t have one, you can buy a cast-iron griddle for your grill. If you don’t have a grill, you can cook them up in a cast-iron skillet on your stove — but realize that it’s going to get really smoky in your house; these burgers are best cooked outside.

​Heavy-duty spatula. You’re going to be smashing your burgers flat, and to do so, you need a heavy-duty spatula — something thick, wide, and made with stainless steel. A nice metal spatula will also help you flip the burgers while retaining the delicious brown crust that will form underneath.

​Mandoline slicer. You’ll use this to slice your onions super thin. You need your onions as thin as possible so they cook quickly.

Ingredients

• 80/20 or 85/15 ground beef. 80/20 has the ideal meat/fat ratio for hamburgers. But grocery stores sometimes only have 85/15. We’ve done that before, and it still works.
• Two large sweet onions. You want sweet onions for your grilled onion burger. And get two large onions. We’re going to be generous with our onion portions.
• Oil
• Salt
• Sliced cheese. American cheese is classic — extra salty and melty.
• Buns. You can never go wrong with a plain ol’ white bun. But if you want to kick your onion burger up a notch, opt for a potato bun.

Directions

Get Your Griddle Hot

You want your griddle scorching hot so you can get that nice crust on your meat, and so that the onions cook quickly. Shoot for a temp between 375 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slice Onions — Thin!

Use your mandoline to slice your onions as thin as you can.

Make 3-Ounce Burger Balls

Each hamburger has two 3-ounce patties. Each assembled burger takes two patties, so if you’re serving 4 people, you’ll need eight 3-ounce balls.

Get All Your Supplies Locked and Loaded

Make sure you have all your supplies ready and at hand before you begin cooking; things will move quickly once the process begins.

Hit the Griddle With Some Oil

Place Burger Balls on the Griddle and Salt

Throw a Fistful of Onions on the Burger Balls​

Err on the side of more. You want lots of onions because the onions are going to shrivel and render while they cook.

Smash Down the Meat and Onion With Your Spatula

Press very firmly, until the burger is about as thin as it’ll go.

Let Burgers Cook for 90 Seconds to 2 Minutes

You’re going to get a nice browning of the meat that’s griddle side, while the onions render down into the meat from above. Once you see liquid form on top of the patties and the onions look like they’re starting caramelize, they’re ready to flip. Usually happens in about 90 seconds to 2 minutes.

Flip Burgers

Place a Slice of Cheese on Each of the Burgers Immediately After Flipping​

These are the makings of 4 burgers, which will take two patties each. Put cheese on all the patties.

Place Buns on Top of Cheese

Stack the buns on top of your burger, putting the bottoms on one patty and the tops on the other. Let the buns sit there while the other side of the burger cooks. This will steam the buns and make them nice and soft, as well as give them a savory flavor. Let the other side of the meat cook for about another minute or so.

Sandwich the Meat, Onions, and Cheese Between the Buns

Gather as many of the fried onions as you can and place them on the patties. Stack the top bun+patty+onions+cheese layer on top of the bottom bun+patty+onions+cheese layer, sandwiching all that gooey goodness between your two bun halves.

If you’re making burgers for a larger crowd, put the already cooked and assembled burgers in an oven set to warm, and get the next batch of burgers going on the griddle.​

​

You can eat these fried onion burgers as is, but if you’d like to garnish them in the Okie style, keep it simple. Mustard and pickles only.

Enjoy! Once you try these, all other burgers will pale in comparison.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

The frisbee is one of the simplest pieces of recreational equipment ever invented. With just a plastic disc, a little open space, and someone to throw it with, you can inject a boring afternoon with an ample dose of fun. Successfully throwing a frisbee, however, isn’t as obvious as it would seem. Most beginners try to muscle the disc through the air, only to watch it wobble, dive, or veer wildly off target.

A good throw depends less on power and more on smooth mechanics. With the correct grip, arm motion, and wrist snap — as outlined above — anyone can make a frisbee fly fast and true. Once you learn the basics, getting it to your target, even just across the yard, becomes surprisingly satisfying.

Illustration by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Walking is one of the most powerful health tools we have. It improves cardiovascular fitness, boosts mood, sharpens cognition, and can even be a predictor of how well you’ll age. But all those benefits depend on something we rarely think about until it starts hurting: our feet.

For many of us, walking is so automatic that we never consider the mechanics that make it possible. Yet the way we move, the shoes we wear, and the strength of the muscles in our feet can have a profound impact on how comfortably and efficiently we walk. When something goes wrong at our physical foundation, the effects can ripple upward, leading to pain not just in the feet, but in the knees, hips, and back.

My guest today is Dr. Milica McDowell, a physical therapist and the co-author of the new book Walk. Today on the show, Milica explains why walking speed may be a hidden vital sign, what gives you your signature walking style, and how to spot and address injury-inducing inefficiencies in your gait. We then talk about feet: whether you should worry about pronation, how to rehab plantar fasciitis — and no, it’s not stretching — the best kind of shoes to wear, and much more.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• AoM Article: Solvitur Ambulando — It Is Solved By Walking
• AoM podcast episode with Manoush Zomorodi
• AoM Article: I Started Taking a Walk Every Morning. Here’s What Happened to My Health
• AoM Article: 20 Rules for Walking
• AoM podcast episode with Matt Fitzgerald
• Altra shoes
• Vivobarefoot
• Lems shoes (this is the pair Brett wears)
• Tyr weightlifting shoe
• Injinji toe socks
• Toe spacer
• Study on calf raise standards

Connect With Milica McDowell

• Milica’s website
• Milica on IG

Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)

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Transcript Coming Soon

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.