“Behind every man is his man cave.” Or so goes the opening line of The Man Cave Book (2011 HarperCollins Publishers) by Mike Yost and Jeff Wilser. The two authors are no strangers to the pantheon of all things men, having created mancavesite.org and authored The Maxims of Manhood.
The Man Cave Book by Mike Yost and Jeff Wilser
The duo are well aware that in the design world there is constant evolution and man cave design is no exception, inevitably changing with trends, technologies and most importantly, new and out of the box thinking. The Man Cave Book does an above par job of identifying the latest in man cave design trends and takes us on a rather whirlwind-like tour of a plethora of different man caves to suit a variety of tastes, budgets and levels of difficulty in regards to achieving. The book talks about The Everyman Cave that you can have without “plundering your savings, gutting your home, or ditching your family.” Mark Lau, the owner of one such cave featured in the book, which includes a plethora of razor sharp war memorabilia, says of his décor, “The collection of swords depicts my love of my German heritage, my love of America, and my love of weapons.” Manlier words were probably never spoken.
2010 Man Cave of the Year by Steven Clark
The Sports Cave, which is essentially “a shrine to your team that’s so spectacular, so heroic, that it actually improves your chance of winning,” gets plenty of coverage here as well. A great example is a cave owned by Alfred Wasilewski that includes furniture, framed photographs signed by players and even projections slides that shine on the cave ceiling, all in the theme of the New York Giants. Perhaps it’s the Gentlemen’s Cave featured in the book that is the ultimate style for the most ambitious of cave dwellers. Elegant, design-forward, and most of all, expensive, such a cave harkens back to another era when the bachelor pad was all the rage. However, in the modern age, such a cave will have the latest in technology (and maybe a stripper pole, too.) An interview with Wired’s Daniel Dumas featured within the book reveals some interesting tidbits about options for the Gentleman’s Cave; in regards to audio, “You can go balls-to-the-walls,” he notes. “There are companies that will come in to your room, measure your acoustics, judge the materials of your walls, and they’ll make a custom audio system. This is the kind of thing NBA players do. You can spend $100,000.” Additional man cave themes in the book include: The Bar Cave, The Clutter-as-Art Cave, and Odd & Outdoor Caves.
As the duo of Yost and Wilser say, “The man cave can be anything; a stylish lounge, a home theater, a high-tech Mecca to gaming; a music studio, or just an ode to your once great college crash-pad.” If you’re thinking about manning up and creating your own man cave, The Man Cave Book is certainly one resource that will help you to “cave on”.
