Men’s Health Matters

Movember harnesses the Moustache as the powerful symbol of men’s health, sparking important conversations and raising awareness about key issues. It’s serves as a reminder that while many men diligently maintain their equipment, vehicles and machinery, they often neglect their own health or use the excuse of “I don’t have time” to avoid seeing a doctor. Unfortunately, neglecting health whether physical or mental, can lead to serious, sometimes irreversible consequences.

Almost 2 in 5 men die prematurely in Australia and most of these deaths are preventable. Let’s work together to break down these barriers and encourage the men we care about receive the attention, support, and care they need to live healthier, longer lives.

Discover the extensive collection of men’s health and well-being books available for loan at Western Downs Libraries, designed to support your journey to a healthier, happier life.

Love, Dad: Confessions of an Anxious Father – Laurie Steed

The father of two young boys, Laurie reflects on how his own experiences have defined the kind of man he is and the kind of parent he would like to become. His stories – triumphant, funny and sad – draw on Laurie’s own childhood experiences and important relationships with family and mates, alongside the challenges of trauma and mental health shared by many men. This memoir openly discusses how Laurie strives to overcome challenges – from breaking generational cycles to maintaining joy in work and parenthood – and how others new to parenting can learn from this authentic story of a first-time dad and his family.

Plum – Brendan Cowell

This is a powerfully moving, authentic, big-hearted, angry and joyous novel of men, their inarticulate pain and what it takes for them to save themselves – from themselves. It’s got a roaring energy, a raucous humour, a heart of gold and a poetic soul.

Peter The Plum Lum is a 49-year-old ex-star NRL player, living with his son and girlfriend in Cronulla. He’s living a pretty cruisey life until one day he suffers an epileptic fit and discovers that he has a brain disorder as a result of the thousand-odd head knocks he took on the footy field in his twenty-year-career. According to his neurologist, Plum has to make some changes – right now – or it’s dementia, or even death. Reluctantly, Plum embarks on a journey of self-care and self-discovery, which is not so easy when all you’ve ever known is to go full tilt at everything. On top of this, he’s being haunted by dead poets, and, unable to stop crying, discovers he has a special gift for the spoken word. With spectral visits from Bukowski and Plath, the friendship of local misfits, and the prospect of new love, Plum might just save his own life.

Be Useful – Arnold Schwarzenegger

The world’s greatest bodybuilder. The world’s highest paid movie star. The leader of the world’s sixth largest economy. That these are the same person sounds like the setup to a joke. But this is no joke. This is Arnold Schwarzenegger. And this did not happen by accident. Schwarzenegger’s stratospheric success happened as part of a process. As the result of clear vision, big thinking, hard work, direct communication, resilient problem-solving, open-minded curiosity and a commitment to giving back. All of it guided by the one lesson Arnold’s father hammered into him above all: be useful. As Schwarzenegger conquered every realm he entered, he kept his father’s adage close to his heart.

Written with his uniquely earnest, blunt, powerful voice, Be Useful takes listeners on an inspirational tour through Schwarzenegger’s toolkit for a meaningful life. He shows us how to put those tools to work, in service of whatever fulfilling future we can dream up for ourselves. He brings his insights to vivid life with compelling personal stories, life-changing successes and life-threatening failures alike – some of them famous, some told here for the first time ever.

Riding with Roy – Sinclair Currie

This book could save your life, or at the very least steer you towards a healthier, more enjoyable existence. It is a book where the extreme informs the ordinary – where one man’s ‘out there’ vision of aging might help you frame a better pathway to old age. Humorous short stories chronicling the misadventures of old men riding mountain bikes are interspersed with information on the positive changes experienced by the human body during exercise.

It explains in easy to understand terms, what causes heart disease, what exercise does to the inner workings of your heart, and why a sedentary lifestyle is a deadly choice. Written to entertain and inform, this book argues that physical activity is the key to longevity and an improved quality of life as we age. Mostly, though, it’s about the strange and wonderful things that happened when I went riding with Roy.

Battling the Blues – Darius Boyd

Darius Boyd, an NRL great, broke into the Brisbane Broncos in 2006, winning a premiership in his debut season and another with the Dragons in 2010, where he claimed the Clive Churchill Medal. He played 28 State of Origin matches for Queensland and 23 Tests for Australia, never losing in an Australian team. However, off the field, Boyd battled depression, anxiety, and personal trauma. After a friend’s tragic injury, he sought help, entering a mental health facility to rebuild his life. Now retired, Boyd shares his story of overcoming adversity and living with mental illness in his memoir, Battling the Blues.

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