Customer Reviews

Smart Dating: A No-Nonesense, Kick in the Pants Guide to Dating and Relationships

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Donald Black is just that, a hidden treasure in a sea of would-be "self-help-ists." Instead of trying to sell you on some crazy method or present you with lousy pickup lines, he gives you advice and suggestions that make sense. This is a book for men and women alike. Once you have read it (and it's a fast and easy read), you will come back to it again and again to reflect on Donald's good words of wisdom. You will see changes in yourself and in your dating life after you read Smart Dating.

Forget about being from other planets, Donald Black's advice and suggestions are DOWN TO EARTH! In this day and age, we all spend a lot of time worrying about what we did in the past and feeling guilty or stupid, but this book teaches you how to learn from your past and create a new and wonderful future for yourself and your relationships. Whether you are looking for a commited relationship or if you just want to find interesting people to date, Smart Dating is the book for you.

Being a woman who's been married over 14 years, I found Donald Black's "Smart Dating" to be informative, with excellent ideas that are easily implemented, and are valuable to all relationship types, married or otherwise. Originally purchased for my 18-year old daughter, I found the information applied to all ages and relationships, including this "old married couple." Mr. Black's relationship ideas WORK!!

The best thing about Donald Black's book is that he talks like a real person would talk. He makes it easy to understand exactly how to go about finding people to date. In the past I have tried bars and even looked into dating services. And that doesn't work. After I read Smart Dating, I tried some of the things that were suggested, like instead of asking a woman out on a dinner and movie date, I met someone in a bookstore and asked her if she would like to have a cup of coffee and just talk for a few minutes. It worked! The lady I was talking to felt much more comfortable about talking to me even though I was a stranger because I didn't try to impose myself on her for three hours when we had just met. That is just one of the pieces of practical advice Mr. Black's book gives you. It also offers a LOT of great ideas about where to meet people, what to talk about, and also answers so many of those frustrating questions about dating, like, how can I get a second date?

Unlike other books I have read, Donald Black doesn't try to "psychologize" and put labels on everything. Instead, he deals with what happens between people. I loved this book also because I found myself nodding and saying, "yep, that's true," or "whoops, I did that one time." I felt that Mr Black really understood how challenging it can be to date and really offered advice a person living in today's world can actually apply and IT WORKS!

I bought this book because I was considering starting a realtionship and wanted to make sure I didn't screw it up. I never ended up getting into the relationship, but nonetheless I enjoyed reading this book. It offers a comprehensive method to meeting someone, and what to do and discuss in primary dating stages. However, I was looking for a teenage aspect for relationships in this book, none of which Black offers; it gave me things to look out for in the future to ensure success, but didn't do much for me in the present. Being a high school junior, i found it useless to discuss child issues with a girl from math class, etc. The teenage dating world is alot different than the adult, hence Black's infamous cup of coffee really doesn't apply to a high school student. All in all I thank black for speaking to me, even though i didn't turn into the Leonardo Dicaprio I expected from reading the book. heheh

If you keep only one new year's resolution, let it be to buy a copy of Smart Dating and read it. I wasn't sure what to expect when a friend of mine recommended this book, but it was straightforward and easy to read. Much of what Mr Black says makes a lot of sense, but it is kind of like the old saying: "It's so obvious I didn't think of it." I'm glad that I read Smart Dating because Donald Black points out what I needed to think about when i went about dating and looking for a new relationship. It has really helped me start to develop a new outlook on my social life. Now I KNOW I can get the dates I WANT!