The Game

[botias]

I just finished The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists. It's the first book since my teen years to make me want to turn right to the front and start reading it over again as soon as I'd finished. I don't have much interest in sleeping with hot women, but I could feel the pick up working on me even as a voyeur, knowing exactly what was going on. To understand it is to know myself better. I saw how characters that I've found sexy and attractive had these same characteristics and ways. A masterpiece it's not; Neil Strauss is an engaging and capable writer, but he's not a 10, but if, like me, you struggled with the social 'game' and have yet to master it, if you've been 'shit tested' many times and failed, if you wonder why some guys got it, it's a tantalizing glimpse of the answers. ETA: The bible styling, with faux leather cover and red ribbon bookmark, was kinda fun. Like a good pick-up, it was a bit cheezy but strangely difficult not to like. I think all books should come with ribbon place keepers.

Comments

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

This sounds like an entertaining read, and I'd love to know how to pick up hot women. For research!

The styling sounds great and it's a real ice breaker with some women! Telling them you're actually reading a book about successfully hitting on them would be an immediate turn off though.

[botias.livejournal.com]

Hee! I just read an interview with the author:

Amazon.com: Do you meet women who have read The Game? What do they think? And with the thousands of people out there you have trained and the many more thousands who have read the book, are women starting to recognize the strategies? Do they ever say, "Hey, you're playing the Game on me"?

Strauss: I've run into some women who've read the book to learn about the male mind, and they've all been positive about it--the book, that is, not the male mind. It's the women who've heard of the book but haven't read it who want to burn it.

And actually, a guy at a book signing the other day told me he got caught using one of the openers. But he still walked away with her phone number. His advice: on the rare chance that it happens, don't get scared and scamper off. Instead, use it as an opportunity to start a conversation about the game itself and whether it works. If they've read the book, this obviously means they're interested in the subject--and now you both have something in common.

Frankly, a confident guy with 'game' can say almost anything and get away with it.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

It's all about confidence, which I totally lack! Good thing I'm not trying towork The Game.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm... that sounds like a good investment for me, if I'm trying to write the Great American Teen Romance Novel - insights into the interactions between people is always good. And interesting. And I have an Amazon gift card that needs usin'! :D

[botias.livejournal.com]

You could do worse. This particular book is not a manual (there are many) but a memoir and investigation into the subculture. I notice they occasionally use the term 'polyamory' to describe their lifestyle, though it's not what springs to my mind when I think of poly.