Its a view into the life of pick-up artists, however, this was written a while ago, so a lot of it seems to be outdated, not that I’m a huge expert on this lifestyle. But it doesn’t seem so secret. Haven’t many womanizing men claimed that they figured out women, or at least figured a way to get in their pants? How there is a formula to get with women? Frankly, I’m surprised many of my friends did not have any clue as to what a pick-up artist was.

Its very well written. He has a way to pull you in, even if you find it repulsive. Hey, he’s a writer, AND a pick-up artist. Obviously a master marketer right there. There were so many passages and quotes in the book that really stuck with me when it comes bettering oneself. Its completely relatable. Who has completely “found” themselves? This book is about his life and how becoming a pick-up guru has changed his life for, arguably, the better. Its good.

Now to the subject matter of pick-up artistry. This is a very difficult. I actually have an old friend, who has taken up this lifestyle. It is really difficult for me to judge. I’m on the fence. I can see that his confidence has skyrocketed since beginning, which is always a really good thing, but he’s kind of a douchebag now. I say that lovingly, I guess. Hey man, I still support you.

In the novel, however, there is obvious something to be desired when the “Naturals” are all turning to religion to feel less empty. As a twenty-three year old single modern day woman with a sexual appetite, I can understand. So with this in mind, why keep doing it, when essentially you will feel empty? Is that when you drop out of the game and get married? Maybe that’s how it works these days.

Overall rating: 2.5/5 for it being interesting and well written.

Although well written and entertaining, this book totally skeeved me out. I recognized some tactics that had worked on me in the past, perhaps validating the methods. But, the characters in the book seldom seemed happy (despite their success) and generally had a low opinion of women and/or relationships.

El libro resulta muy entretenido, utiliza un lenguaje muy coloquial, y la verdad es que me enganchó en cuanto comencé a leerlo, y eso que me costó 5 años desde que lo compré.

Definitely the best non-fiction book I have read so far. It did not however teach me anything about meeting women and is certainly not meant it. The book had a very solid structure and never felt directionless. Though the book ended properly, I still fear that most of the books in this genre cannot have reasonable endings (because "life goes on"), so I will still steer clear of non-fiction.

HILARIOUS

why are men

Just realized I cannot give zero stars on goodreads

Well.
That was gross.

I liked this book, even though it was one of the creepiest things I've read. Great choice for Halloween! It's clever, mind-boggling, funny, and very thought-provoking. I like the unapologetic, matter-of-fact narrative. I like the honesty and the unmasking of the very razzle-dazzle pick-up artist community, especially the descriptions of Mystery's struggle with depression.

I picked this up because I heard very promising things about [b:The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships|26887738|The Truth An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships|Neil Strauss|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1444250539s/26887738.jpg|14779227]. I hope to discover great things there.

This is probably the most important book I read in 2014. Not the most enjoyable or well written, although I did enjoy it and Neil Strauss' writing style is really well suited to this kind of book.

This book is full of broken human beings looking for validation by becoming experts in the art of seduction, although by the end of the book the various schools of seduction are more science than art as each of these men rote-learn formulae and seduction tricks and then go out "in the field" to practice them in the wider community with significant success.

A lot of people gave this book a bad review because they apparently confused reporting on misogyny (which Neil Strauss does really well, no judgments just narrating everything) with approval or endorsement of misogyny. Strauss, to his credit, does a great job staying in character for almost all of the book, which may piss off a lot of people. I suspect if most of these people read the book all the way through, they would be significantly less outraged.

I read this book because a friend recommended it to me because I wanted a guide to establishing a rapport with people. This is not a manual for seduction, but rather a blow-by-blow account of one man's immersion into the subculture of male Pick Up Artists (PUAs), his eventual mastery of said field and his thoughts on how that affected his life. There are many interesting ideas in this book, as the various characters come to terms with the idea that there was a gap in themselves that they wanted to fill. In fact, a surprising revelation is that for many PUAs, the goal was not a relationship, or in many cases, even sex, but the conquest and the tally. The author compares the game to any popular male pursuit: Video Games, Sports, even Dungeons and Dragons, where you put in time and effort into "leveling up" to essentially show off to other "Alphas" for that group and gain points and respect. Revelation: The Game is really about scoring points and moving up the hierarchy with other men.

Strauss also compares the relationship between a PUA and the girls he picks up to a comedian and their audience: if the audience is too easy to charm, the comedian loses respect for them, and as a result for himself because his self-value is based on the opinions of his audience. This part struck home for me because who are we (well, at least me) except insecure people scrambling to fill voids in our lives and selves with anything that seems a decent fit and then hoping desperately that someone will come along with the secret to becoming a person.

The best bit of advice I got from this book was to stop living in my head and to just walk up to strangers and introduce myself. After a while, the fear of rejection will go away.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a really easy read about this lifestyle and ask them to withhold judgments till they get to the end.

A quote from the end: “Well," he said, opening the door to his car, "all you can do is put on an appearance of confidence sometimes. And after a while, others will start to believe it." [Eric Weber] grabbed the door handle to pull it closed. "And then you die.”