Review
"Men Are Like Fish is a book everyone can learn from." --
Tamara Fairchild, Independent Publisher Online, April 17, 2000"There's a great deal more to the mating dance than sex, and a great deal more to developing a romantic life-time relationship than being good in bed. One of the best ways for a woman to begin is with a careful reading of Men Are Like Fish. " --
The Midwest Book Review, January 2000As Valentine's Day nears, some of us are smiling with passionate anticipation with visions of red hearts dancing in our heads, while the rest of us are grimacing at the thought of yet another scenario playing Captain Ahab on the open seas, trying to nab the ever elusive Moby Love.
Steve Nakamoto, a former communications instructor for Dale Carnegie & Associates and a personal development trainer for motivational expert Anthony Robbins, tells us how to get in the path of Cupid's arrow in his new book, Men Are Like Fish. Written especially for women, the 192 page book includes anecdotes, illustrations, quotes and a slew of clever, helpful metaphors on reeling in true love. It also offers insight on maintaining a healthy attitude during your quest. -- The Rafu Magazine, February 4, 2000
Honorable Mention winner in the Non-ficition category: extremely well-designed, catchy title, great quotes, good back cover, well-organized, well-written -- Writer's Digest 2000 National Self-Published Book Awards
Love is life's most important value and this book tells you how to make love work. -- Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series
Men Are Like Fish by Steve Nakamoto shows women how to catch 'em and reel 'em in. This book teaches women a simple, wise and fun way to catch the romantic whopper....from a fish's perspective. If you tap into his website you can take "The Big Fish Test" or "The Bait Self-Quiz." You can also check out "The 7 Habits of Highly Fishy Men," "The Top Ten List (reasons why women don't land the man of their dreams)," and "Uncanny Advice for Fish (Men)." -- Di's Meet People Magazine, March 1, 2000
Men Are Like Fish does an outstanding job of describing the entire dating to mating process in a concise, humorous and perceptive way. -- Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider, authors of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right
Nakamoto's writing is witty, [keeping] the reader's attention throughout the book with cartoons and pertinent quotes from famous writers, masters and more. -- Active Singles Life, June 2000
Steve Nakamoto has created a one-of-a-kind relationship book that is not only fun and easy to read, but is also packed with helpful pointers, universal truths, and unique insights. -- John Gray, author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
There are a lot of fish in the sea, or so the old saying goes. But how can single women make a good catch? Orange County author Steve Nakamoto, a professional tour director and former personal development trainer, uses fishing metaphors to offer entertaining and useful advice. Chapter titles, for example, include "The Bait: Make your attraction more powerful," "The Hook: Use only the most secure devices," "The Nibbles: Gauge your early responses wisely," and "Catch & Release: Don't kill the romance." Interspersed with his observations are relevant cartoons and quotes about life and love from various sources. -- The Long Beach Press-Telegram, February 27, 2000
From the Publisher
QUESTION TO THE AUTHOR: TELL US ABOUT YOUR BOOK MEN ARE LIKE FISH. WHY DID YOUR WRITE THIS BOOK? EXPLAIN YOUR TITLE AND WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT YOUR MESSAGE AND THE BOOK AS A WHOLE.
Men Are Like Fish uses a fishing metaphor to illustrate how a woman can hook-up with the right man and land his elusive love. It’s another way of looking at love in a fun and simple way (from a man’s point-of-view).
I wrote this book as the result of my own search for answers. I had a love affair that ended badly for me many years ago and it took me a long time to recover emotionally. Then I came across the work of Tony Robbins in the field of neurolinguistic programming which gave me some specific cause and effect reasons why romantic love happens.
I began working on the idea of a book titled "Instant Romance" which was about how you can use neurolinguistic programming techniques to get people to fall in love with you, especially on cruises and Club Med vacations.
Then one day I started noticing how people use fishing words in relationship phrases like he’s a nice catch, she landed a husband, he fell for her hook, line, and sinker, there are more fish in the sea, and don’t let the big one get away, to name a few. Part of my training with Tony Robbins was in the use of metaphors to create perceptional shifts and better understanding of complex ideas. So my book idea evolved into "Fishing For Love."
But writing still seemed a chore for me, so I took the easier route and decided to create a book of 500 quotations around the love and fishing theme. I went to book writing seminars and had my book idea evaluated by literary agents and book editors at the Maui Writer’s Conference. In a nutshell, the feedback was that any relationship book with the word "Fishing" as its lead-in would end up in the sports section of the book store. Also my original book idea was written for men and the agents and editors said that no publisher would take on a relationship book targeted for a predominately male audience. That’s because research shows that nearly 80% of all relationship books are purchased by women.
So I had to come up with an idea about relationships from a man’s point of view but written for a female audience. They also told me that the book of quotations was a bad idea and that it would only fly if I actually wrote a first person narrative with personal anecdotes. At the time it that seemed like a hard task for me to accomplish.
Then I came across a lady on a sightseeing tour that I was conducting (my part-time occupation is as a professional tour director) who told me, "Steve I’ve heard you talk about your fishing for love idea and it reminds me of the old saying that a man chases a woman until she catches him."
I found out that the saying was an American proverb which meant that if the woman is doing the catching, that makes the man the fish. I had it the other way around. Once I realize that love works best in America when it’s the man who is the fish, then the book fell into place. I had the first edition of the book completed about 6 months later.
That first edition came out in January 2000 and won an honorable mention certificate in the Writer’s Digest 2000 Self-Published Nonfiction Book Awards. For the next two years I went on over 180 radio talk shows where I discussed my book and tested out some new ideas. I definitely learned more in those two years of promoting than the previous 7 years when I was researching and writing the original book.
So it’s the second edition of Men Are Like Fish that is out now in bookstores and Amazon.com. This new edition is expanded, rewritten, updated, and loaded with unique new decision tools. I also took a calculated risk in making this new version a little bit more provocative. I hope that women can see the greater value in well-qualified straight talk instead of the usual wishy-washy self-help takes. But I realize that love is a very personal and sensitive issue so some women are just going to get offended and angry at the audacity of a man advising a woman on what to do.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
