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The Art of Seduction

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Must read romantic persuasion studies to treacherous seduction, Greene's historical tale here is a work of art. This is a sardonic, yet often profound view of the use of persuasion, influence and manipulation for personal benefit. This book is a synthesis of philosophy and psychology, and is paradigm breaking. Freud must have had a similar unnerving effect on his contemporaries when he discussed premises for behavior that were previously not part of social discourse. The author expands his global metaphor of "life as war" from his book the 48 Laws of Power into love and spirituality. This piece may be the most effective tool in today's culture, but it certainly is an interesting study. Numerous conflict and struggle analysis, and subliminal persuasion techniques to exploit situations.

The first half of the book identifies a number of infamous seductive characters over the centuries, and identifies the unique characteristics of each personality. The second half describes the seduction techniques they used, and the likely personality types they would most effectually be used against.

For the modern Casanova, Greene's seduction stories are a bit dated and chivalrous to translate into a modern day pick up artist, but highlights how the great seducer's of the past used their persuasion and charms to their advantage.

As far as the modern era, a comparable effective book for sexual influence, toying and subconscious steering of ones emotions to lure in women, I suggest The Professional Bachelor Dating Guide - How to Exploit Her Inner Psycho. Besides being a funny analytical satire, it encompasses very effective persuasion tactics and NLP to seduce the subconscious of each of a dozen personality types, who, let's be realistic, want to be seduced, or they wouldn't allow it to happen.

If you are just looking for a good book to help you get laid with minimal effort, then put this book down. There are books that are much easier and will get you results much faster. This book is not about getting easy pussy at a bar or strip joint. It is about helping a person fall deeply in love with you, and this is better. A person in lust for you is wild and not concerned about you. A person in love with you will go to the ends of the earth for you.

If you have very little background in psychology and/or philosophy, put this book down because you're not ready to understand it yet. It is an incredible book and I hope you don't get turned off because you're not prepared to read it.

If you are a die hard, conservative Christian moralist who is happy with their life and belief system, then PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE put this book down. Your beliefs will change to some extent, I promise, regardless of how strong you think they are. And if they don't you'll just be filled with dissonant emotions when you really understand what the Bible means when it says the world can be a terrible place.

On the other hand, if you are intelligent, observant, and patient then this is just simply an incredible read. You will see everything in this world with a new outlook. It will teach you the most intricate workings of human nature. Human nature is dark. Consider the following two biological facts:

1. A woman is likely to retain more sperm when she has an orgasm during sex.

2. A man's sperm is designed to kill the sperm of other men.

What does this mean? Women have been biologically hardwired to seek one man (the Alpha male) to be the sperm donor and to seek out another to raise the kid (the Beta male). Sorry folks, nature is just that dark. And this book has exactly the same kind of dark twists. It explains what makes people fall for other people, even if it is not so pure and wholesome. And though it is dark, it still is true, and there is beauty in truth.

This book will teach you how to play other people's emotions. This is a very important thing to learn. One cannot survive in this world without these skills. The most important thing people must realize about this book is that what is containes here is a dual edged sword. It most certainly can be used for evil. It does teach manipulation. But it also a book that can be used for good. With this kind of knowledge one can keep their partner happy for life. A seducer is a benevolent manipulator by definition.

For instance, if the seducer is really interested in mutual benefit, much useful learning will take place. A woman will learn that the most powerful way to keep her man happy is to be a sexual woman and a fun playmate. She will learn how to keep things spiced up with a few masculine psychological traits to appeal to masculine narcissism, deepen a man's love by giving him the gift of missing her. A man will learn how important it is to let his woman know how much he desires her and will also keep things spiced up with styling. Men and women can both learn how to keep people happy by being nondefensive and natural, to psychologically enrich others by being charismatic and charming, and to give and receive love as ideal lovers. And I've seen how much people who embody the psychological traits of the anti-seducer are despised by other people. The anti-seducer leaves people feeling diminished and hurt.

To summarize, it's hard, it's dark, and it can be used to wreak havoc in the lives of others. But most people don't want to hurt others. They want to live, and help other people live, better, happier more enriched lives in all ways. I truly believe that with the knowledge that is in this book, people can accomplish just that.

Use it wisely, young Jedi. The dark side of the force is much more seductive.

This unusual text can be viewed from many points of view. On one level, the author's intentions are at best quite disturbing, because the texts theme has definite anti-social undertones. Deception, manipulation, exploitation of peoples weaknesses to achieve selfish ends has no moralistic value whatsoever; in fact the whole idea of preying on a 'victims' weaknesses in order to position them within your power, to then sexually dominate and influence them to your wiles and wishes, is a deplorable concept anyway you view it. Then again, from another perspective, the numerous techniques of seduction that Green instructs the reader on, supplying a plethora of examples from history and Western and Eastern literature, can teach us to be wary, or at least aware of certain individuals unscrupulous methods to attain what they desire. As the old saying goes, "Better the devil you know, than the one you don't."

The lessons on seduction, at bottom, can really only work if one's targeted victim has some weakness or vulnerability of character. (Green warns to stay away from confident, grounded individuals) Through subtly stalking your intended victim, listening to their every word, stroking their ego, thus discovering their weakness, you can then supply the necessary requirement, whether it be excitement, adventure, danger, loving parenting, add a little time and patience, your victim will eventually fall under your spell. This particular strategy of discovering weakness, focusing on needs, and appealing to an individual's ego, is as old as the pyramids themselves. What's interesting, however, is that this strategy works and continues to be used by individuals and organizations everywhere - but we continue to fall for the scam. And do not be fooled by Green's language and impressive erudite examples from the great works of literature - a scam is a scam no matter how you communicate it.

The text itself is a play on seduction. Green uses the two most seductive and sought after aspects of our existence to reel us into his tutorial: sex and power. None of us want to be victims, in fact we all want to dominate, be the winners, gratify our base and exalted desires. Do you want to unknowingly be seduced or be the seducer? The answer, of course, is evident. Green knows this and uses this strategy by proposing that he can give us an edge, supplying the means to attain our every desire.

In the end, after reading this text from cover to cover, I asked myself the question, what did I learn? What I learned is that certain individuals and organizations will go to any lengths, ethically or otherwise, to dominate others and get what they want. All things considered, it is better to know than to not know, no matter how unsavoury the subject matter.

I am a self-confident, self-motivated, self-directed individual who pretty much knows exactly what to do and when to do things to get the preferred results. I am a smiling, friendly and mostly a charismatic person. At least that's how I used to be before I met this girl in my Freshman composition class.

She was very attractive and I fell in love with her. She exercised the seduction techniques mentioned in this book (such as stirring interest indirectly, creting triangles, getting close to me and giving the impression of like-mindedness etc) to make that happen and it came to a point where I was fantasizing her with me in her life. She was all that I was thinking of. I was losing grip over my life. I somehow became dependent of her. She then started coquetting and withdrawing herself. I gradually started losing my self-esteem and I was no more that charismatic person with self-confidence and self-esteem. I was doing things that she thought would ultimately would lead to our mutual pleasure...but it only made both of us empty.

Finally, one day she drove me to a isolated forest...and I thought she was going to have us do something pleasurable (finally). She just asked me to step out of the car and handed some papers and got in her car and left me there stranded. I was devastated. I started reading the papers. It was titled "The Seduction of <my name>". It started with a character map of me...everything that she had observed about me, my weaknesses, what gave me my self-confidence etc. Then there were list of steps, almost like a manual, that described how she seduced me step-by-step. Then there were extracts from personal journal entries that described how, initially when we'd first met, she admired my quality of self-confidence and how much she wanted to have control over someone like me...primarily because of her own lack of it...and how over time she got bored of playing me like an instrument and how predictable I became etc. She didn't enjoy me anymore. So, she decided to dump me in the middle of the forest with this fact sheet. I was lying on the ground there crying my lungs out to death with limbs too weak to move. I completely lost my self-esteem and was at a point where I wanted her to accept me as her slave and was honoured by that thought. I couldn't even look up at people's faces anymore. This is the worst form of exploitation there exists. It almost feels like being eaten alive by insects from the inside and not being able to do anything about it.

Few days after this devastation, I googled and found this book. I read it and it revealed to me how someone as intellectually incompetent as herself could do something as vicious as this. It made me feel a lot better to know how exactly the worst thing ever to happen in my life happened. Now I feel that everybody should read this book...just to avoid being exploited in this way, if not for anything else.

Cautionary notes:-

As for those of you who were inspired by the cinematic quality of what happened to me and are motivated to use the techniques mentioned in the book to drain admirable qualities off someone for self-gratification, I have to warn you by letting you know why she even had to dump me like that. She, after reading the book, had to condition herself against expressing any genuine emotions and had to perfect the impression of genuineness of her made up emotions. She conceded in one of her later personal journal entries that she was in a sort of psychological trap. She started having trouble doing even simple things such as expressing genuine awe or even anger. She always felt the need to go by the rules. It made her less of a real human being and more of an imitation of an 'admirable human being'. When I recently contacted her, she said she needs professional help because she is very confused in discerning emotions that come from within and those that are just made up. She's messed up.

As for the testimonials of these admirable people (who 'practice' the art of seduction) thrown around in Greene's book, I have to inform you that those people are genuine human beings with natural seductive mannerisms. The most dangerous aspect of this book is Greene's portrayal of them as people who calculated their behavior and that ability to calculate behavior as being admirable. It inspires people to look at themselves and their naturally arising feelings with belittling eyes and to try to become these admirable people with admirable statistics. It also inspires them to lower the value for their genuine emotions. In my erudite opinion, focusing on your behavior and trying to adjust it using the feedback it receives from outside rather than using one's judgment from within leads to termination of personal growth. If you're so desperate to have a reputable history of 'conquests' when you're older as to compromise on investment in your personal growth and true exploration of human relations, then go ahead and seduce people into falling in love with you for all the wrong reasons'and become an imitation. Remember that unforeseen pleasures are often the most gratifying.

I'm greatly saddened by the number of people who have misunderstood this book because I have encountered so many people who could really use it to transform their own lives and the lives of those they might build connections with. I'm going to use this review to clear up some misconceptions about the book and give a few points of advice in using it.

There are some who read the Art of Seduction and immediately assume from the language Greene uses that it can only be used by someone who wants to gather conquests, or to sexually or emotionally exploit people and make them their playthings. Some may look at the term "victim" and associate it with someone who is victimized, whose life is greatly torn apart.

Many seem to have missed a quote from the acknowledgments section: "First, I would like to thank Anna Biller for her countless contributions to this book: the research, the many discussions, her invaluable help with the text itself, and, last, but not least, her knowledge of the art of seduction, of which I have been the happy victim on numerous occasions." Greene still lives with his girlfriend. He talks about his own seduction in an interview which I've posted in the comments, which may also clear up some misunderstandings.

If you read the book carefully, especially the chapter on victim types, you'll recognize that when Greene uses the term "victim", he is referring to concepts of which exploitation can be a part, but helping enrich someone's life can also be. First, we are victims in the sense that, when we are seduced, our seducer opens a defining wound or wounds in our personality, such as dissatisfaction with our circumstances or something about us. We all have things we lack in our lives or desires we've repressed, even if we are afraid to admit it. The seducer fills this wound and we give into their seduction (if it is done right) because it is an uncontrollable desire. The term "target" refers to this as a reference to the metaphor of Cupid's arrow. Second, we are victims of a seduction in the sense that parts of are life are gradually left behind or destroyed as we come into a new life that our seducer leads us toward. Whether this new life is good or bad for us in the long run depends on our seducer and the type of needs met.

Some also say that to follow the Art of Seduction, you are not being your authentic self; that you are acting out a kind of fake simulation of a fantasy figure for the seduced. To these people I would point out a concept in social psychology known as the Fundamental Attribution Error: in the initial impressions we get of others, we have a tendency to attribute the behaviors someone engages in to their overarching personality traits rather than to the circumstances of the situation. If you reveal intense or vulnerable sides of yourself soon off in a relationship, people will assume that is how you tend to be--they don't know enough about you to think otherwise. This is why being completely honest can backfire on you. In the seductive process, you are gradually revealing yourself. Now, it is true that in a love affair you are to some degree applying a fantasy aura to some of your traits, but this can be a pleasurable way to bring out the private side of your target so they can access transformative attitudes and feelings. Consider also that there are different approaches to using the steps and ideas in the book. As Greene says, "select certain things that strike you as something you can do."

Why does Greene write as he does? Perhaps the following quote will shed some light on this issue: "The problem in writing such a book [The 48 Laws of Power], as I saw it then, was the massive amount of confusion surrounding the subject. Few people like to admit they are motivated by ambition or a hunger for power. That seems too ugly. If somehow they attain some success in life it is because of their goodness or talent, never because of any maneuvering or political gamesmanship. Many people are masters at passive aggression--disguising their grabs at power behind a benign or smiling façade.

All of this moralizing and denial creates a great deal of fog. To pierce this fog and get at the reality, I devised a method that has served me well in all of my subsequent writings: I would ignore people's words and justifications; instead, I would study their actions. To show what is timeless and universal in this hunger for power, I would look at the most illustrious people in history--all periods, all cultures--and ruthlessly dissect their successes and failures." [...]

There are some things we may find hard to acknowledge about love. The idea that being thrown about in emotional turmoil or getting emotionally rough treatment can engender confidence and a greater ability to engage with the world may be disturbing to some, but it can, as it did for Napoleon, and Nietzsche to some extent.

Greene may have also written in the way he did and given so many destructive examples because he wanted to caution people about the possible ruin we need to fight against in love. We need to be able to perceive when a seducer wants to exploit us rather than help us, and we need to know which of our desires can be self-destructive.

Greene deliberately avoids putting his personal philosophy on seduction in to the book. You can get some sense of it in a video interview, of which the following is an excerpt: [...]
"The thing in seduction is everybody that you're dealing with is an individual and your problem is you're bringing with you your baggage, your past, your stereotypes about who a man is or what a woman is like. The other sex is almost, Freud said, is like another country. You know you don't really understand them in any way, so you bring with you all of these stereotypes, these preconceptions and you just throw them on that person, and then you also have these lines that you learn from Robert Greene's book, all right, the Game or some other stupid thing like that, and then you know it's like you're not dealing with that person as who they are, and they know it and they feel it and it feels empty and mechanical. And so I preach it in The Art of Seduction is knowing that person, gathering intelligence on them. I hate to put it that way. Figuring out what makes them tick, who they are, what their needs are, what they're missing in life, what they want. [...] If you're able to make that person feel like an individual and that they are wanted and desired for who they are then you're going to seduce them whether your try boldness or whatever it is. So it's more like individualizing the people you're trying to seduce or reach in life."

Some things that may make it easier to understand the book: First, it's useful to try to interpret the implicit principles or methods in the stories that aren't always mentioned in the interpretations. This might be done by taking notes, in which you might also outline and/or summarize the text. Second, carefully study the victim types chapter and look for examples of each type throughout the text to understand yourself and the people you find seductive; they are made most clear in Phase 3. Think of the types as hints towards studying people's deeper and more multifaceted complexities. Third, the steps in each phase of the seductive process aren't all that step-by-step; there's a lot of going back and forth and mixing among the steps. In addition, certain steps are only useful with certain personalities (or perhaps better for a later seduction). Lastly, as a previous reviewer mentioned, it is useful to look at other books on social development to effectively apply the principles of the book. Some subjects to look into are conversation skills, conflict management, storytelling, body language, and behavioral modification. In addition, study books, music and other media you are interested in and that your target or your target's group may be interested in. Explore large cities nearby you - the bars, music, and other entertainment, as well as the parks and other natural places of interest. You may notice that the people who have a powerful effect on you listen to music that greatly contrasts with what you typically listen to. It can also be useful to analyze the personalities you identify with or idealize in the Art of Seduction or in other literature you are lucky enough to come across - try to figure out the attitudes, conflicts, and needs which motivate their actions.

...
This book explains the psychology of seduction. With examples throughout history it shows what works, and what doesn't. It doesn't start from the humanistic premise that all people are generally good, but from the biblical idea that "all men are evil" and will do evil. This makes the book downright devilish, and extremely practical and useful.
Approach indirectly, play the coquette, mix pleasure with pain, insinuate, "Use the demonic power of words to sow confusion", be hard to figure out. These are just some examples and this stuff works.
This is a handbook on manipulation. Although it can also be used to avoid being manipulated (very usefull, indeed).
Do yourself a favor, learn from the past, not only your past but the past of peoples from the dawn of time. This book was worth every cent.

I have been waiting for this book for almost 2 years. It did not disappoint me. I found it to be a profound book, although not necessarily a pleasant book. It caused me to re-think my relationships, perhaps even re-think myself. The 48 Laws of Power is the "bible of power". This is less general but more profound, which may be why it is unnerving. I have stopped reading the Joost Elffers sidebars, although I might in the future when I want a more light-hearted experience. I read a lot of books. My library is embarrassingly large. However, I do have a mental list of the few books that I would take to the proverbial desert island. This is one of them, and it is ironic that I would do this even though there would be no one else on the island to seduce. This book is a synthesis of philosophy and psychology, and is paradigm breaking. Freud must have had a similar unnerving effect on his contemporaries when he discussed premises for behavior that were perviously not part of social discourse.

I did not find the book to be amoral or manipulative. I found it to have a different morality than that which is instilled in us by convention. The book celebrates non-possessive intimacy, and describes the mindset that is the prerequisite to such an experience. I am struggling for words to express this, but it is as if there were more than one dimension to a relationship, a human bonding. We are used to relationships that are symetrical in time and depth: they are either shallow and brief, or they are deep and eternal. Greene describes a variation that is brief and deep. This is what differentiates this book from the tawdry.

This is the best book on seduction ever! Some reviewers argue that Greene doesn't make the seductive process clear enough and that these tactics will not work in every situation. Well, you can't seduce everyone, but I find that whether you suceed or fail usually depends on your observation skills and on how well you implement the tactics. You have to be innovative. No one book can tell you how to seduce every single person in every single situation. For example, one reviewer said that these tactics will not help you seduce someone you're already friends with. Yes you can--I've done it twice! The key is getting the person to see you in a new light:
Step 1. Put distance between you and your target. Don't tell her you're distancing yourself, just do it! If your friend likes you she will miss you. If she was just saying "Let's be friends" and doesn't care for you at all, she'll still feel your absence because your loss of interest will wound her ego--that's important.
Step 2. Be different. Alter your appearance, make friends with new types of people, sculpt your body, develop new interests, and date as many people as you can. Try to date only those who are at least as attractive as your target, otherwise she'll look down on you.
Step 3. Reintroduce yourself to your target. Don't approach her directly. It's important that she now come to you. If you haven't talked to her in a while, she may have forgotten about you. That's not necessarily a bad thing--maybe the old you was forgettable. But it's a good idea to have maintained an indirect connection with your girl. Maybe you are an aquaintance of one of her friends. Chat with that person occasionally (Don't mention the friend you'll be seducing!) and that person will probably give your target updates about you. Or maybe you work in the same office or have the same circle of friends. In that case, she can witness changes in you first hand. Remember, however, that if you have to see your target regularly it is all the more important to maintain an emotional distance until you're ready for the seduction to really begin. If your girl suspects that you're improving yourself for her or that you're trying to make her jealous, all your hard work will be destroyed.
Now you can reintroduce yourself in one of several ways:
a) Haunt her periphery by attending the places she attends without taking much notice of her, making her come to you.
b) Play the "coquette," seeming interested then disinterested, interested then disinterested.
c) arrange a "chance" meeting. I like this one.
d) befriend or date a friend of hers.

Once she starts to think she didn't know you as well as she thought she did and displays a little interest in the new you, you can start over again and use the tactics in Greene's book. Greene's book never outlined how to seduce someone you've been friends with for a long time. I devised this strategy based on the tactics outlined in "The Art of Seduction." Like I said, it's work twice for me. The first friend became so enamoured that I had to break up with her after only a few weeks. She was smothering me! But I am still dating the second girl and it's great. If you balk at the idea of doing all this just to win someone over, consider that she may not be worth winning over after all, or that you might not be much of a Casanova. But I think that all this effort will actually make you a better man (or woman since this strategy should work on a guy too.) Happy hunting!

I highly suggest this book to anyone who has trouble in the relationship department. The Art of Seduction is a no holds barred approach to seduction, the art of using another person's emotions towards you to gain what you want from them be it sex, money, or companionship. Mr. Greene pays no attention to the lofty ideals of romantic bliss, such as Romeo and Juliet, except for pointing out the weakness of such thoughts in a "victim". If your are one of these people I suggest you read the book to notice the signs of being seduced. There are countless comparisons of seduction and warfare scattered through out the text. Personally, I acquired the book in order to understand what had went wrong in previous relationships and was very pleased to find the answers in these masterfully written pages. The book begins by listing several archetypes of seducers such as the Charmer, the Coquette, and the Rake. You are to find which one of these qualities fits you, use it to your advantage and learn to recognize these traits in other people. There is also a very useful section on anti-seductive qualities which you must root out from your character. Following the types of seducers is a section on the types of victims ranging from Reformed Rake or Siren to New Prudes. After the introductory lessons of seducers and victims comes the meat of the book which breaks seduction down into 24 steps. For every seducer, victim, and step of the seduction process there is at least one example and several sidenotes. The key to a successful seduction is not giving the victim what they THINK they want, but getting to know them well enough that you can supply what they need. This book is written extremely well and is easy to follow and apply. However, several readers will view the book as too amoral. Without a doubt the information provided is held to no standards of morality or society. The way you use the information is at your own discretion, personally I am now able to recognize others applying seduction to gain something from me and I have employed some of The Art of Seduction tactics to improve personal relationships. In life, you decide whether to be the wolf that preys on the sheep or the sheep who simply exists. If nothing more this book will provide validation for several of the questions you may have about people around you and whether they are a sheep, a wolf, or a wolf in sheep's clothing. Mr. Greene doesn't use the analogy of wolf and sheep but I think it helps to convey the message. If you wish to interact with society I suggest you read this book and apply it's message. That is unless you are a completely contented person and have no kind of psychological hang-ups, in which case the contents of this book are much less relevant. However I doubt there are many of you reading this who can honestly claim to have complete happiness. As Robert Greene states, people who are content and psychologically stable have little chance of being seduced.

Robert Greene's book "The Art of Seduction" explains the psychology of seduction. Part of the allure of this book is that everything reads like a hypnotic novel. It is very entertaining, to say the least, and does contain some insights. All of people in the book are easily described like cartoon characters in terms of their outer motives, their inner motives and their subconscious needs. It parallels other interesting works such as Machiavelli's "The Prince" and scores of ancient writings in philosophy in that its conclusions are based on 99% argument and 1% evidence. Largely, this is because it is based on arbitrary, unverified models of human behavior.

I honestly believe that Robert Greene has mostly tried to make a compelling work of art here. Most of his assertions are not supported with scientific evidence or even balanced historical evidence. The book reads like a religious text, filled with unquestioned assertions. There are no qualifying statements about the content of the book whatsoever; there are no statements that document the certainty of the "truths" in the book based on the strength of evidence. Everything in the book is flatly stated. The text itself is written like a documentary about society narrated by an amoral, omniscient deity whose words reflect a potent combination of all of the described techniques of seduction

In this way, the book is a self-referencing paradox. It deceives you into understanding that you are being deceived. With examples throughout history it shows what works, and what doesn't. It doesn't start from the humanistic premise that all people are generally good, but from the biblical idea that "all men are evil" and will do evil. This makes the book downright devilish, and extremely practical and useful.