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A review by kitaabworm
The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
3.0
There’s nothing in this book that you can’t learn just by simply going out and interacting with others. You do however, need to be aware, conscious and in a constant state of understanding. You need to learn and understand what you say and how those things affect others and how it makes them think, feel or react. None of the people used as examples in this book read this book to know how to do what they do. They simply went through trial and error and learned how to behave and what to say. To be a seducer, you need to be understanding of yourself and the others around you.
“Everyone has insecurities, but seducers manage to ignore them” ; I don’t agree with this. Ignoring insecurities will only make you fumble and look weak when they’re brought up in an interaction. The key is to accept them. It’s okay to not like something about yourself and be insecure about it, but you just have to be calm and collective and realize that you don’t like that part of yourself and that it’s okay that you feel that way.
“Seducers take pleasure in performing and are not weighed down by their identity, or by some need to be themselves or to be natural”
[On conformity] “at certain points in history it may be fashionable to be different and rebellious, but if a lot of people are playing that role, there is nothing different or rebellious about it.” The role of being different is like a state of equilibrium, go too far to one side and it’ll start moving towards the other. In this case people will start playing the role of being different by not being rebellious; which in a world filled with ‘rebels’, you will stand out by being disciplined and well-mannered. You’ll hold a certain power that people will want then they’ll start imitating you, then the cycle repeats itself
“Society may publicize its distrust of androgyny (in Christian theology, Satan is often represented as androgynous)” I don’t like the use of subjectively interpreting a religion to prove a point. So just because Satan is depicted as androgynous in Christianity, society thinks being a Dandy is untrustworthy and that’s all the more reason to break through society’s norms? Or that it’s evil? Satan is able to seduce because of his androgynous nature, that doesn’t mean being androgynous is evil or distrustful according to Christianity, it just means it holds power over males and females, making it dangerous and giving it the possibility of distrust. Tangent: this is part of the reason why the world is so divided, people have their own views on religions and the world that are just wrong (I know, hypocrite. I have my own view on other peoples view and calling it subjectively wrong based on my own views.)
There were a few times when Greene became slightly irritating because of how pretentious he was. “(…) the idea that without obstacles, without a feeling of transgression, love is weak and flavourless.” Sure love is a controversial topic and is different for everyone but in this context that Greene was referring to it was lust, not love. Greene uses the word ‘love’ wrong a lot through the book which kind of becomes annoying
Skipped appendices A and B
When writing a letter, “do not become sentimental—it is tiring, and too direct. Better to suggest the effect your target has on you than to gush about how you feel.”
When persuading or seducing in any way, focus on making your target create their own image or feeling of what you want to convey. The emotion will stay in their consciousness stronger than a informative argument. But even then, when conveying, make sure to keep it vague since being too precise will not allow them to use their imagination
Never explain, never complain
“Everyone has insecurities, but seducers manage to ignore them” ; I don’t agree with this. Ignoring insecurities will only make you fumble and look weak when they’re brought up in an interaction. The key is to accept them. It’s okay to not like something about yourself and be insecure about it, but you just have to be calm and collective and realize that you don’t like that part of yourself and that it’s okay that you feel that way.
“Seducers take pleasure in performing and are not weighed down by their identity, or by some need to be themselves or to be natural”
[On conformity] “at certain points in history it may be fashionable to be different and rebellious, but if a lot of people are playing that role, there is nothing different or rebellious about it.” The role of being different is like a state of equilibrium, go too far to one side and it’ll start moving towards the other. In this case people will start playing the role of being different by not being rebellious; which in a world filled with ‘rebels’, you will stand out by being disciplined and well-mannered. You’ll hold a certain power that people will want then they’ll start imitating you, then the cycle repeats itself
“Society may publicize its distrust of androgyny (in Christian theology, Satan is often represented as androgynous)” I don’t like the use of subjectively interpreting a religion to prove a point. So just because Satan is depicted as androgynous in Christianity, society thinks being a Dandy is untrustworthy and that’s all the more reason to break through society’s norms? Or that it’s evil? Satan is able to seduce because of his androgynous nature, that doesn’t mean being androgynous is evil or distrustful according to Christianity, it just means it holds power over males and females, making it dangerous and giving it the possibility of distrust. Tangent: this is part of the reason why the world is so divided, people have their own views on religions and the world that are just wrong (I know, hypocrite. I have my own view on other peoples view and calling it subjectively wrong based on my own views.)
There were a few times when Greene became slightly irritating because of how pretentious he was. “(…) the idea that without obstacles, without a feeling of transgression, love is weak and flavourless.” Sure love is a controversial topic and is different for everyone but in this context that Greene was referring to it was lust, not love. Greene uses the word ‘love’ wrong a lot through the book which kind of becomes annoying
Skipped appendices A and B
When writing a letter, “do not become sentimental—it is tiring, and too direct. Better to suggest the effect your target has on you than to gush about how you feel.”
When persuading or seducing in any way, focus on making your target create their own image or feeling of what you want to convey. The emotion will stay in their consciousness stronger than a informative argument. But even then, when conveying, make sure to keep it vague since being too precise will not allow them to use their imagination
Never explain, never complain