''The Alphabet of Manliness'' is the debut book by American

humorist A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business e ...

and

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personality Maddox, published in 2006. It reached the #2 position on the New York Times Best Seller List in the "Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous" category.

Publication

Maddox announced the book on February 22, 2005, and announced its title to a mailing list on October 18, 2005. An art contest was held on the website to pick the illustrators. The book was officially completed on January 19, 2006, as announced on Maddox's

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

. The book first appeared in Barnes and Noble bookstores during May 2006, and it arrived to those who pre-ordered it on June 1, 2006. The book debuted at #4 on the New York Times Best Seller list for "Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous," and remained on the list for ten weeks. The book was published by Kensington in the United States and was published by Penguin in the United Kingdom. The 224-page long book is dedicated to Maddox himself: "To the love of my life, my soul mate, and the greatest person in the world: Me." Several parts of the UK version were removed, perhaps the most notable omission being the "headbutt to the ovaries" section of the first chapter ("A - Ass-Kicking"). The edition also contains a

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. On February 20, 2009, Maddox announced on the book's web site that he is "working on a new edition of The Alphabet of Manliness," and that "the new edition will be expanded and revised, and will include The Numbers of Manliness."

Sections

The book consists of 26 short sections, each corresponding to a letter of the

alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllab ...

. * A - Ass-Kicking * B -

Boner Boner may refer to: People with the name * Boner (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media * Boner Records, a California-based independent label * Boner Stabone, a recurring character on the TV series ''Growing Pains'' * ''Boner's Ark'', a comic ...

* C - Copping a Feel * D - Dump, Taking a * E - Enlightenment * F - Female Wrestling * G -

Gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

* H -

Hot Sauce Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist. History Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of ye ...

* I - Irate * J - Jerky, Beef * K - Knockers * L - Lumberjack * M -

Metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

* N - Norris, Chuck * O - Obedience * P - Pirates * Q -

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* R -

Road Rage Road rage is aggressive or angry behavior exhibited by motorists. These behaviors include rude and verbal insults, yelling, physical threats or dangerous driving methods targeted at other drivers, pedestrians or cyclists in an effort to intimi ...

* S - Sneaking a Peek * T -

Taunt A taunt is a battle cry, sarcastic remark, gesture, or insult intended to demoralize the recipient, or to anger them and encourage reactionary behaviors without thinking. Taunting can exist as a form of social competition to gain control of the tar ...

ing * U - Urinal Etiquette * V -

Violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...

* W -

Winner Winner(s) or The Winner(s) may refer to: * Champion, the victor in a game or contest *The successful social class in winner and loser culture Film * ''The Winner'' (1926 film), an American silent film starring Billy Sullivan * ''The Winner'' ...

* X - XXX * Y -

Yelling A scream is a loud vocalization in which air is passed through the vocal cords with greater force than is used in regular or close-distance vocalisation. This can be performed by any creature possessing lungs, including humans. A scream is of ...

* Z - (Office)

Zombie A zombie ( Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in w ...

Illustrators

* Bryan Douglas * Justina Fader * Louis Fernet-Leclair * Jim Moore * John Petersen * Thomas Pollock Jr. * Leah Tiscione * Angelo Vildasol

Book signing tour

After the official release of ''The Alphabet of Manliness'', Maddox went on a book signing tour in several states, starting in his home state of Utah. The first leg of his tour took him from Salt Lake City to the East Coast and Midwest of the United States. The second leg of the tour to the West Coast started on July 13, 2006, ending on July 29, 2006. On this tour he dressed himself in a large royal gown and was wearing a crown on his head. This provoked many people to get down on their hands and knees in front of him, often kissing his hand. On the book'
website
Maddox also jokingly listed a set of rules for fans, such as barring eye contact or talking directly to him (referring to an

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

about popular figures such as

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and

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...

), formal dress attire, and remaining at least three feet (1 yard) away at all times.

Extended Edition

''The Alphabet of Manliness: Extended Edition'' came out on August 25, 2009. It contains an epilogue, 36 additional pages about "The Numbers of Manliness", and eight full-color inserts. Another book tour took place as well.

References

External links

Official website

The Best Page in the Universe

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alphabet Of Manliness, The 2006 non-fiction books American non-fiction books Fratire books Kensington Books books