Status
Available
Publication
New York, NY : ReganBooks, c2005.
Description
Nearly every major city in the world has them: hidden underground seduction lairs where men gather to trade the most devastatingly effective techniques ever invented to seduce women. This is not fiction. For two years, bestselling author Neil Strauss lived among these men. Using the pseudonym Style to protect his real-life identity, he began his remarkable journey from AFC (Average Frustrated Chump) to PUA (Pickup Artist) to PUG (Pickup Guru) -refining his approach, sharing unforgettable encounters with the likes of Tom Cruise, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Courtney Love, and ultimately transforming himself from frog to prince . . . to prisoner. And then things started to get really strange. One of the most explosive and controversial books in years, The Game is guaranteed to change the lives of men and transform the way women understand the opposite sex forever.… (more)
Media reviews
The Game sends out a very mixed message to wannabe PUAs: You’ll get laid a lot, but you may try to commit suicide..., lose your job, or like Strauss almost alienate the love of your life. Not to mention herpes!
User reviews
LibraryThing member Timotej
I think the book was a bit amusing, just because the men it's about really makes this game into some sort of a secret society, a cult. I found myself thinking and hoping that there are more than games and sexual behaviors going on in these boys mind and that there are woman out there, who can see
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through the game or even play themselves. Show Less
LibraryThing member smetchie
I hate this book. I hate myself for reading it. (I tried not to.) I hate Neil Strauss and I hate every idiotgirl who slept with him or gave him her number. It's true that I love to hate and that would be reason enough not to drop kick this book into the nearest dumpster. (Also, I got it from the
I'm ashamed of the women who've fallen for all this pick-up artist bullshit and I'm ashamed of the men who wasted actual brain-power on learning how to do it. I don't want to believe that there are hundreds of thousands of men out there who want, more than anything else in life, to be able to nail chicks that are way too hot for them. What a pathetic life's ambition. How sad for society in general.
There has to be a way to end this. Prostitution should definitely be legal. Not just legal, but socially acceptable. Also, beautiful women need to be less stingy with the goods. Throw these social rejects a bone, so to speak. Their unchecked macking is a danger to us all.
Now please excuse me while I try to restore my faith in humanity by watching Remember the Titans, Return to Me*, and The Blindside.
*I know that one's not based on a true story but I like to pretend that it is.
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library so that would be rude and I'd have to pay for it anyway.) But I actually enjoyed it, God help me. The author put an astronomical amount of time and energy into bamboozling people and dammit it worked. He's a pathetic little man but he's actually kind of likable. Grrr! I'm ashamed of the women who've fallen for all this pick-up artist bullshit and I'm ashamed of the men who wasted actual brain-power on learning how to do it. I don't want to believe that there are hundreds of thousands of men out there who want, more than anything else in life, to be able to nail chicks that are way too hot for them. What a pathetic life's ambition. How sad for society in general.
There has to be a way to end this. Prostitution should definitely be legal. Not just legal, but socially acceptable. Also, beautiful women need to be less stingy with the goods. Throw these social rejects a bone, so to speak. Their unchecked macking is a danger to us all.
Now please excuse me while I try to restore my faith in humanity by watching Remember the Titans, Return to Me*, and The Blindside.
*I know that one's not based on a true story but I like to pretend that it is.
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LibraryThing member megacoupe
There's a good chance I wouldn't have believed some of the extreme claims made in this book if I hadn't seen VH1's reality show, The Pickup Artist, first. Whether you believe it or not, Neil Strauss' The Game is a fun and hilarious book that will suck you in and keep you reading until you hit the
The gist of the book is as follows:Neil Strauss is asked by an editor to investigate the underground PUA (pick-up artist) community. Like most people, Strauss doubted that he would find anything legitimate, but decided to look into the assignment, partly out of self-interest. After learning some PUA techniques from Mystery, creator of the Mystery Method of seduction and perhaps the greatest PUA, and finding some success, Strauss takes on the alias "Style" and totally immerses himself in the lifestyle.
Style uses the skills honed by years of writing and journalism to study the many schools of seduction and eventually emerges as one of the world's greatest pick-up artists, rivaling and perhaps even surpassing Mystery.
Strauss packs in plenty of hilarious details about the encounters of various PUA's in many different situations, various episodes concerning Mystery and his emotional and mental disturbances, and the events leading up to the collapse of Mystery's ambitious Project Hollywood. Most importantly, Strauss provides his own insightful commentary on all the things the PUA community has completely wrong, namely the misogynistic tendencies of many PUA's, the lack of originality and individual thought amongst PUA's and the complete absence of any "techniques" for staying in healthy, long-term relationships.
Despite Mystery's self-defeating personality, the lawlessness of Project Hollywood and having a large number of PUA's turn against him, Style manages to keep his head on straight and even lands himself the girl of his dreams-without using any seduction techniques! (they have quite the opposite effect, actually)
Even if you don't believe in the powers of the pick-up artist, this book is worth checking out if only for Strauss' wonderful story of developing confidence in himself and finding happiness. And if you do think there is something to this seduction thing, then this book is a good starting point for learning some things and how to not let yourself get carried away.
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back cover.The gist of the book is as follows:Neil Strauss is asked by an editor to investigate the underground PUA (pick-up artist) community. Like most people, Strauss doubted that he would find anything legitimate, but decided to look into the assignment, partly out of self-interest. After learning some PUA techniques from Mystery, creator of the Mystery Method of seduction and perhaps the greatest PUA, and finding some success, Strauss takes on the alias "Style" and totally immerses himself in the lifestyle.
Style uses the skills honed by years of writing and journalism to study the many schools of seduction and eventually emerges as one of the world's greatest pick-up artists, rivaling and perhaps even surpassing Mystery.
Strauss packs in plenty of hilarious details about the encounters of various PUA's in many different situations, various episodes concerning Mystery and his emotional and mental disturbances, and the events leading up to the collapse of Mystery's ambitious Project Hollywood. Most importantly, Strauss provides his own insightful commentary on all the things the PUA community has completely wrong, namely the misogynistic tendencies of many PUA's, the lack of originality and individual thought amongst PUA's and the complete absence of any "techniques" for staying in healthy, long-term relationships.
Despite Mystery's self-defeating personality, the lawlessness of Project Hollywood and having a large number of PUA's turn against him, Style manages to keep his head on straight and even lands himself the girl of his dreams-without using any seduction techniques! (they have quite the opposite effect, actually)
Even if you don't believe in the powers of the pick-up artist, this book is worth checking out if only for Strauss' wonderful story of developing confidence in himself and finding happiness. And if you do think there is something to this seduction thing, then this book is a good starting point for learning some things and how to not let yourself get carried away.
Show Less
LibraryThing member navry22
Women!!! Read how men are able to get into your head then into your pants!! It's a canny and clever book with many lol moments. I enjoyed this book......especially finishing it right before a trip to vegas with the girls, then calling out the pua in a club!!! :)
LibraryThing member jackichan
Probably the most well written and interesting non-fiction work I have read. If you're looking for a "how-to-manual" or a good story, you won't be disappointed. Not for the closed-minded, or for the innocent; this book could do some serious damage to the psyche of those who aren't ready for the
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worldview shattering contents. Show Less
LibraryThing member talk0underworld
Neil Strauss's writing style (no pun intended) would have made this a captivating read even without the added bonus of Mystery's ridiculousness and Courtney Love's endearing nuttiness. But when all is said and done, even the men who "score" at this "game" end up looking pathetic. They can dress it
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up all they want, the bottom line is that they spend hours of their lives and thousands of their dollars pretending to be someone they aren't just to get idiot strippers to pay attention to them. None of them end up happy when all is said and done. Show Less
LibraryThing member davidroche
Just ridiculous. I assumed that this was fiction but no, it was much stranger than that.
LibraryThing member mashcan
This book is fantastic to read. Can't put it down, it's non fiction, amazing, probably mostly for guys, but maybe not.
LibraryThing member kidrah
an eye-opening take on guy-girl interactions and how certain techniques work on picking up women - it's interesting as a psychology read (and leads to great discussion)
LibraryThing member JasonFG
This book si a lot of fun. It si the story of how a Rolling Stone (now NY Times) writer went from not being able to pickup women...to being one of the top pikcup artists in the world. Read it as a story - instead of as a guide...so both men and women can read it. But...it does point to other
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seduction gurus (Mystery, Juggler, Ross Jeffreys) if you are a man...and need the help. It is great that this book opened the door to many men who could not get a date...becomeing successful with women. Show Less
LibraryThing member OanadeSidor
Really fascinating, entertaining and at the same time irritating read. The techniques fascinate me, especially when they are used in other contexts than this, but the "game" itself... what can I say? I watched and really enjoyed the tv-series The Pickup Artist too, although it gave me very mixed
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feelings. Again, the techniques and the mind manipulation stuff is intriguing and can be used for amazing things. Using them to deceive, cheat and fool people is really shitty and an incredible waste of potential... Show Less
LibraryThing member montano
Hilarious and depressing. Hilarious because the lengths these guys will go to score are absurd and the stories will make you laugh despite yourself. Strauss's description of this underground world of pickup artists makes them look pathetic. But seriously, is this what the American male has been
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reduced to? Show Less
LibraryThing member Brumby18
very interesting read - the actual info is a bit sparse for the wantabe lathario but the yarn i found quite interesting. The ending is not quite what I had thought . Read as a yarn it was entertaining but no literary giant, read as a guide to helping the dull and desperate , I think there are other
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ways to get there. Good luck fellas. Show Less
LibraryThing member Meggo
In the end, virtually none of the characters one meets in this book ends up happy. But that's not the point. The point is, as a woman reading this story of competing schools of pick-up artistry, to understand the other side. Almost all of the pick-up artists in this book were deeply flawed, damaged
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individuals, who learned techniques to play women like violins in order to salve their bruised and battered egos. In the end, as the author notes, almost nothing is big enough to fill the hole inside their psyche. Still, it's a fascinating look at the other side of dating - the premeditated, consciously manipulative side. I felt like having a shower after reading the book, but it was difficult to put down all the same. Show Less
LibraryThing member jimocracy
This guy took his research way to seriously! The story was interesting but the characters were less than engaging. All the pick up artists (PUAs) came off as insecure little boys who had to seduce women to feel better about themselves. I think the author did a great job of presenting this openly
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and honestly. That was its charm but it also left a bad aftertaste. Show Less
LibraryThing member BethanyMoore
4 stars for it being so well written.. but... WTF? I spent most of the book shaking my head. These men are freakin serious about picking up women. On the one hand, it's good that they're improving themselves.. nothing like a little de-geeking to help a guy become more social, but... damn!
LibraryThing member rottweilersmile
this is honestly a pretty damn fascinating book, especially in retrospect of what we see "puas" or "incels" as today, and how they've changed over the years. one of the famous puas in this book seems to have a hard time adapting to the new algorithm landscape in particular.
the ending is pretty
the ending is pretty
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weak, probably because an editor wanted a happy ending or it was rushed. clearly laughable now Show Less