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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Because of the cover, and probably even more so because of where it's shelved in bookstores, you may not think this book was intended for women to read. And you may think you don't WANT to read it, but you do. If you're at all interested in human relationships and psychology, if you've ever looked at a couple and wondered how HE managed to get with HER, or even if you just like reading salacious details of other peoples lives, this book will interest you. Neil Strauss is an amazing author who can make you look at any person or any subject in a new way. I had no idea the pick-up community even existed, so having his introduction was awesome since it is a truthful and insightful account.
i got a bit upset at the end when things started falling apart in the crew.
i'm still upset no one has tried any of the moves on me, though there's a higher chance of it happening now that mystery had his vh1 show.
i'm still upset no one has tried any of the moves on me, though there's a higher chance of it happening now that mystery had his vh1 show.
Really interesting book, well written. And after you finished it you still want more.
fast-paced
Yikes! Well written but the whole point of the book makes me ill. It is sort of a manual for men to learn to be assholes and think of women as just objects and also a memoir of teaching men to run lines and tricks on the insecure. It seems that the spell that they get trapped under explodes at some point into depression, breakdowns, or leaving in someway. A false subculture like this can never feed the deep longings of a soul.
i like neil strauss a lot. i think this is one of his weaker books. the first 2/3 are great about how he gets involved in the pick up artist scene, and then his life as a "PUA". The last third is inexplicably about the minutiae of his life living in a sort of PUA dormitory, complete with inane arguments between the PUAs and their various friends, girlfriends etc etc. I started wondering why on earth a Rolling Stone journalist (it's not clear if he'd published any books at the time of this account) would be living like this. The "PUA"s he's associating with just seem really young and socially stunted.
Having said that I now want to go deeper into the PSYCHOLOGY that the PUAs read, and have added a bunch of NLP books/self help/personal mastery type lunacy to my reading list. I'm totally curious now. Going to start bending people to my will. Just kidding.
Having said that I now want to go deeper into the PSYCHOLOGY that the PUAs read, and have added a bunch of NLP books/self help/personal mastery type lunacy to my reading list. I'm totally curious now. Going to start bending people to my will. Just kidding.
Ok, I will admit, I have read this book twice. I found it amusing. It reminds me that life is not always heavy. Really though, it's one draw card is it's entertainment factor.
this story would make for a sick movie, except that just like “Fight Club”, it would probably unintentionally motivate people to become pick up artists as oppose to reject the entire worldview. Strauss is a fantastic writer who is not afraid of opening up about deep insecurities that I’m sure many men can relate to as recounts his journey into the underground pick up artist community. Beyond that, the book serves as a useful reference point to understand the rise of incels (a group that has since rejected him “betraying men”) and just how much of our current predicament is related to the deteriorating mental health of our youth. I am glad I read this book because it challenged me to see the other side of lonely men whose social ineptitude makes them feel so hopeless that they turn into a border line mysogenist cult. Furthermore, Neil has an amazing ability to self-reflect upon the ways in which becoming a healthier, stronger and more confident person improves your life beyond dating, and how so many of the tactics pick up artists use cross-apply to salesmanship. I know everyone expects the book to be an apologetic treatise on pick up artistry, but it actually turns out into a raw and honest reflection upon a destructive obsession towards conquering women to make up for far deeper insecurities.
I have very mixed emotions about this book. I find it to be a terrifying insight into the PUA psyche. It boggles my mind that this is how some people actually live their lives. In a way it reminds me of reality TV, you watch and get hooked because the idea of real people doing what they're actually doing on the shows is totally different from how most people live their lives. Although reality TV is mostly fake and set up, this was real. That's all I can say for now. Wow, just wow.