Why is that relationship books always seem to have as many pages as Bill Clinton’s autobiography? And seem to go on and on without getting to the point. Did you know that many books are never read past the first twenty pages? And that women buy most books? Combine those factors and is it any wonder that men don’t read relationship books? Yet, paradoxically, they’re the ones who need to the most. This is a challenge that confounds relationship experts and counselors everywhere.

As someone who has read many relationship books over the years, bestsellers or not, I can say that relief may be at hand. Now, a non-relationship expert (at least someone without a doctorate) but a man who has suffered through the pain of being separated, has met the challenge. He’s written an engaging, how-to relationship book for men that gets to the point, tells men what to do to make their relationships work, and gives them a gameplan for how to get better at relationships fast. And best of all, it’s done in just 150 pages. Readable? Yes. It could possibly be the best relationship book for men ever written.

After becoming separated and gaining an understanding of how unhappy many married women are (not just his ex-wife), Steve Campbell recognized that men need to get better at relationships fast. The economic and social equality gains of the last few decades mean that women now have the ability to take care of themselves and their children — alone if necessary. The old provider model of men dominating the money and relationship is largely over. Power is shifting and with that comes equality. Men now have to understand and deal with women’s needs. Ignorance is no longer a defense.

Increasing economic freedom also means that women are freer to explore their own needs, including their desire for deep and meaningful relationships. With two-thirds of all divorces initiated by women, it is clear that many marriages and long-term relationships are not meeting womens’ needs. Men’s skills are lagging in relationships — and men ignore the reality of what the author calls a “relationship gap” at their own peril.

Third and Long (the title indicates to men that it’s time to get serious about their relationships, just as third and long is a critical but not desperate moment in a football game) is written up using a football playbook analogy. But doesn’t take the football, team and coaching metaphor too far. It starts with the famous Sharon Stone line, “Women fake orgasms, men fake relationships” and links the two by saying that, today, woman are no longer willing to accept either fake orgasms or fake relationships. It builds from that pointed comment to develop a how-to book that covers all the bases.

Third and Long recognizes that many men have an incomplete or perhaps too simplistic framework for how they view relationships, probably because they learned about relationships from watching their fathers, who in turn modeled themselves after their own fathers’ lives. Unfortunately, grandpa is not that far removed from an era in which women were considered the husband’s property.

The remnants of that ownership mentality still exist to some degree today. It is a marriage yoke that increasingly chafes women the wrong way and makes men think they don’t have to pay close attention. But just as men learned over the last century how to fix cars and become experts in golf or football, they now must improve their relationship “game” if they are to be successful. In Campbell’s mind, it’s all about skill development.

First up, he explains to men why the “game has changed” from what he calls the John Wayne provider/protector culture of years ago. Setting up a simple but concise framework of understanding is an important first step toward expanding men’s knowledge base of relationships.

Then he follows with chapters on scouting and analyzing your relationship. In each of these, he brings in the best of the best from such best-selling books as The Five Love Languages and What Women Want Men to Know, and from Dr. William Glasser’s choices theory about how people and men choose their lives. Most importantly, Glassner notes that people (men) can choose to behave differently almost immediately if they want to.

Along the way, recognizing (as all guys know) that men have short attention spans, are action-oriented and just want to know (“Tell me what I need to do!”), he gets to the point, summarizing rather than telling long-winded stories of relationships gone wrong and then gone right. Relationship stories are great for women, but men just want to know what to do. The result is a comprehensive but concise book that no man can say honestly he doesn’t have time to read.

The best part of the book is when he gets into providing numerous tips or “plays” on what men should do. Paying what is called “deep listening” is the number-one tip of many, all of which can be quickly implemented by men to reinforce and improve their relationship skills.

To gain credibility with men, he throws in a few sports jokes and quotes. For women, he talks a bit about what happened in his own situation (he remains a friend and co-parent with his ex-wife – in fact, she edited this book, which in itself should make for interesting between-the-lines reading).

So, will a relationship book by a so-called “non-expert” fly in these days where so many people don’t realize that Ph.D. is often jokingly referred to as “Pile it Higher and Deeper?” Who knows. The bottom line is that the relationship gap between what women need and men are able to deliver is there and growing. To close the gap, either women will have to rein in their needs or men will have to improve their relationship skills.

Regardless of how it plays out, there’s little doubt a fresh perspective is needed to break the logjam and get men (your sons, nephews, brothers and fathers — not just husbands) started on building winning relationship teams that will be successful for years to come. And if sports can help to make a relationship book more readable for men, well, what’s the harm in that?