Boying Up

How to Be Brave, Bold and Brilliant

By: Mayim Bialik

Narrated by: Mayim Bialik

Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Mayim Bialik, star of The Big Bang Theory and author of the number one best seller Girling Up, puts her PhD to work to talk to teen boys about the science and pressures of growing up male in today's world. A must-have book for all teenage boys!

Why does my voice crack like that? What should I eat to build muscle? How do I talk to someone I have a crush on? What do I do if someone calls me names or bullies me?

Growing from a boy to a man is no easy task. Bodies are changing, social circles are evolving, hair is appearing in places it never was before - and on top of it all, there's the ever-present pressure to conform to the typical idea of what it means to be "manly" and masculine. But it's easier to do if you're armed with facts.

Using personal anecdotes as an overly observant mother of two boys and plenty of scientific information from her life as a neuroscientist, Mayim Bialik, PhD, star of The Big Bang Theory, talks directly to teen boys about what it means to grow from a boy to a man biologically, psychologically, and sociologically. Using the same cool, fun, and friendly tone that she took in Girling Up, Mayim takes boys - and their parents! - through the challenges and triumphs of Boying Up today.

In six sections (How Boys' Bodies Work; How Boys Grow; How Boys Learn; How Boys Cope; How Boys Love; and How Boys Make a Difference), she takes a look at what it means for boys to come of age in today's world, how can they take control of their paths, and what can they do to help shape the types of futures they want for themselves.

©2018 Mayim Bialik (P)2018 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"A matter-of-fact mirror that reflects reality and respect, not bewildered embarrassment." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Boying Up hits all the hot spots and should be included in tween and teen library collections." (VOYA)

this book was a perfect guide to help young boys

great conversation starter as well as an obvious guide to growing up. Mayim is also a wonderful narrator.

Mom of 3 boys

3 of my 4 children are boys. I figured any info on the struggle they live in their formative teen years is better than none. Certain sections of the book were a little too progressive and open minded for me, but I guess it's the reality my son's will face. Not sure if I'll buy the book for my 13 year old boy.

Wonderfully accessible to our 15 year old son & us

Listening to Mayim Bialik is like listening to a good & wise friend! Thank you for context and direction. This book has added so much to our ongoing conversations between us and/with our son. So enriching! I've just purchased "Girling Up" for myself so I can rethink a few things in my life with Bialik's guidance and I am 55!

I’m in different.

I follow the author for over two decades, and I thought that I would read this book because she’d have a lot to say what she did. My problem is I think when very scientific people explain things to general public, the cold callus truth of it without any warmth or expression of kindness coming through gets lost. I’m sure this all makes some people very unhappy but that’s my opinion, good luck listening to this book.

Lots of rehash from Girling Up

Good book, but it’s super similar to her first book. Like whole passages copy and pasted.

Wish this was part of HS curriculum

Mayim successful in communication with what is important. Without any communication with Mayim, compare my advice from 30 years ago.
Roadmap to Happiness
Challenge your God given talents
Hope for a better world tomorrow than today
Religious beliefs should be a part of every day
Intimacy with God, family and friends(create new family)
Service freely given and anonymous if possible
Train your mind body and soul with learning, exercise, and prayer
You will not find happiness in S.A.D., only sadness
Sexuality not based in relationship Alcohol
Drugs
The above information was revealed to me from observing patients in Emergency Rooms over 20 years (1999)

Mike Oster
​Everyone has God given talents. You need first to know yourself in order to reveal to your consciousness what your talents are. That involves finding that God is within you. His abilities are limitless, and so are ours.

Sometimes viewing or reading biographies will reveal your talents. The trick is to see which people you most admire. You probably admire them, because their passions and talents are the same as yours. Achieving and excelling beyond the ability you think you have is the key method of achieving happiness.
Parents that love their children will make an expectation that their children achieve beyond the perceived ability. If they instead choose to expect below or average achievement, they will rob their children from their full potential. The most successful human endeavors occurred when the bar was set above what the human thought was the limit (i.e. the 4-minute mile barrier, going to the moon, the sound barrier). The human mind sets the human limit. You can actually achieve whatever you put your mind to. ​We can wake up each day with or without hope. This is a gift from God that we actually choose to accept or reject.
Common sense will tell you which choice positively affects the immune system, our mental health, and how we feel at the end of the day. Combined with the leap of “faith”, we develop “courage”. Almost mathematically, Faith plus Hope = Courage. Once we have courage, we are unstoppable in achieving happiness.
​Religiosity is now “IN”. Recent scientific studies indicate that humans that have religious beliefs have longer and healthier lives. This is a win either way proposition. If there is no God and our 80 or so years on earth is “all that there is”, the best situation is the have the greatest health.
Therefore, being a “fool” and believing something to be true that is not (There is not God), gets you health. If the other possibility is the actual truth (There is a God), you also win. Self-reflection, prayer and meditation all lead to happiness.
​Intimacy can be with our parents, siblings, cousins, or friends. It can be sexual or platonic. So what is intimacy?

...Communicating with another human and realizing that God is within them. But first, you must have the courage (=faith plus hope) to know God is within you. Logically, if you are not totally narcissistic, you realize that God is in others (our bodies are temples (churches) of the Holy Spirit). When we interact with other humans on an intimate level, we get a glimpse of what God is like. That makes us totally happy. Keep in mind that Sex without relationship, conversation without listening or other forms of communication based on selfishness reveal to us “emptiness” and sadness.
​Service to other humans makes us feel good. That is why there are so many service organizations in the world. We feel best when we do something for “other than self” and get nothing in return. This can be doing something for your family members, your spouse, your congregation, and your friends.
​Train you mind body and spirit.
To train you mind, exercise it with crossword puzzles, jumbles, mystery books, etc.
To train your body, exercise with simple walks, jogging, health club.
To train you spirit, meditate.

amazing

very good presented guidance for growing little men
love the part with "what He said"

Missed Audience?

I watched her “sell” this book on GMA. How I perceived the book from the show, was the book was to discuss how the brains in boys operate differently and their needs are different. I am a first time mom and have a one month old son, so I thought “Hey! This book sounds like it would be great for me to get ahead of the game.” So far I am very disappointed and I doubt I will continue to listen to the book. Most of the information that has been read, I learned in my Health Class in middle school. So maybe this was targeted for boys who are going through puberty?

meh...

Honestly struggled to finish it. From everything I had seen, it was marketed as a book to help raise sons in this "me too" era. Other than going over basic respect and dignity, it barely covered anything but the very basics for boys in terms of school, stress and hygiene. It's a really simple book that goes over really simple topics.

Mediocre at best…

I’m not really sure what I expected but I don’t feel like I got what I wanted out of this book. I have three boys (11, 8, and 3) so I decided to listen to this book in hopes of learning more about what to expect in approaching seasons and thought maybe it could be a resource I could encourage my boys to listen to. I feel like there are better resources out there though. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley has been a great resource for my oldest on sexual health for example.

The good: The importance of being aware of what media we consume and the relationships we keep will influence what we consider normal and acceptable as well as the importance of consent. I also liked her straight forwardness on the problems with drug/alcohol use.

The mediocre: she spends very little time on the actual development of boys on physical or hormonal level and instead the book is really more of a kind of self help book for boys.

The bad: her chapter on nutrition is steeped in diet culture. Bleh. She spends a lot of time reinforcing gender stereotypes claiming it’s all because of genes without talking a lot about the culture in which we operate in. She also only talks about relationships in a heteronormative way.

All in all, I didn’t think the good was worth the mediocre or bad and I won’t be sharing with my boys.