This book was actually pretty good. I was turned off by the topic but Strauss' writing is pretty captivating and the story is weirdly intriguing.

This book is amazing. I suddenly understand so much about some bizarre interactions I've had with strangers.

This is like the book equivalent of smelling something terrible and then wanting other people to smell it. Except it's more like, "Here, smell this. Have you ever smelled this smell before? Yeah, that's this book! That's where the smell is coming from! Isn't that crazy? It's so weird and indescribable right? Turns out it's Neil Strauss's advice."

I feel like this is honest to god one of the best books I've ever read because it's so awful. This book wants so badly to be self-aware and it ends up being oblivious in a way that makes it brilliant. It's essentially satire. It's "You're Fucking Out, I'm Fucking In" by Kenny Powers.

Trying to rate it is a catch 22. Ideally, this book wouldn't exist. It DESERVES one star. But I'm giving it five stars because it does exist and the only remedy for it's existence is to read it because the advice is rendered harmless if everyone is aware of it.

NOT ALL MAGICIANS ARE LIKE THE PEOPLE IN THIS BOOK!

Ok, got that out of the way, now onto my thoughts. Most of what I thought about this book, both before I opened it and when I started it was wrong. At first I thought it would be an interesting look at this weird subculture (which it was, but not all it was about), then when I started reading it, I thought it was this misogynist bible, reducing women to numbers and pick ups to formulas (which it was, but not all it was about), and then I was pleasantly surprised when I found that the book was also this arc of the author's self discovery (this was the best part).

It is sad to say, that most people are predictable. Ask a waitress who's worked at the same place for a long time, she can probably tell you what people will order just by looking at them. These pick up artists use this (as do many "psychics") plus different psychological hooks to pick up women. I can see why they have to reduce women to numbers because someone with low self esteem who needs help talking to people need that kind of boost to give them enough confidence to go for it.

Watching the author grow was really the best part. The gaining of his confidence, the mastery of his skills and finding who he became was really a joy to read. I think the last quarter of the book, was the most compelling, and it was difficult to put down.

I would recommend this book to men and women alike. I think everyone can gain something by reading it.

More than just "how to play the game" -- interesting tale of the rise and fall of the pick-up artist.

I learned that I am what is probably considered an AFC, or 'Average Frustrated Chump', but by the end of the book I confirmed that I'm OK with that. I don't have what it takes to venture into the PUA world, nor do I want to have it.

Having said that, and this is in no way influenced by my feelings about the subject (it was slightly entertaining, regardless), I felt like the book was poorly written. It's not that it's hard to follow (though it does jump around a bit at times), but it just feels like it was written by a Comp 101 student... or the pack of horny teenagers that wrote the screenplay for Crank.

"In fact, every woman I met seemed disposable and replaceable. I was experiencing seducer's paradox: The better a seducer I became, the less I loved women. Success was no longer defined by getting laid or finding a girlfriend, but by how well I performed. The bars and clubs became just different levels on a video game I had to get through."

This book was sad on so many levels.

This is the best worst book I've ever read. Docked a few stars, because some PUA tenets - emphasis/underscore, the word "no" should not be embraced as a challenge - veered into the icky. But read aloud to your friends on vacation? Used as the lens through which you watch flirty boys at the bar later that evening? Endlessly delightful.

Like, the PUA toolkit? Includes a piece of dryer lint to be discretely palmed and picked off a female to make her feel insecure/belittled and more vulnerable to the PUA's game. DRYER LINT, PEOPLE. It doesn't get any better than that.

I laughed, I learned, I was offended - and then I realized that CLEARLY the book was negging me in order to draw interest. Neil, you rascal!

"I've never heard grown men cry as much as I had in the last two years"

It turns out _pitch anything_ finds its roots in pick up artistry after all. If you want to know how to pitch anything, read The Game. If you more deeply understand and moreso why _not_, read The Game.