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The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists Imitation Leather – Illustrated, September 6, 2005
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Hidden somewhere, in nearly every major city in the world, is an underground seduction lair. And in these lairs, men trade the most devastatingly effective techniques ever invented to charm women. This is not fiction. These men really exist. They live together in houses known as Projects. And Neil Strauss, the bestselling author, spent two years living among them, using the pseudonym Style to protect his real-life identity. The result is one of the most explosive and controversial books of the year -- guaranteed to change the lives of men and transform the way women understand the opposite sex forever.
On his journey from AFC (average frustrated chump) to PUA (pick-up artist) to PUG (pick-up guru), Strauss not only shares scores of original seduction techniques but also has unforgettable encounters with the likes of Tom Cruise, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Heidi Fleiss, and Courtney Love. And then things really start to get strange -- and passions lead to betrayals lead to violence. The Game is the story of one man's transformation from frog to prince -- to prisoner in the most unforgettable book of the year.
- Print length452 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper Collins
- Publication dateSeptember 6, 2005
- Dimensions9.1 x 6.36 x 1.27 inches
- ISBN-100060554738
- ISBN-13978-0060554736
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Mystery is an aspiring Toronto magician who charges $2,250 for a weekend pickup workshop. He is not much to look at: a cross between a vampire and a computer geek. But by using high-powered marketing techniques he's turned seduction into an effortless craft--even inventing his own vocabulary. His technique sounds like a car salesman's tip sheet: his main rule is FMAC--find, meet, attract, close. He employs the "three-second rule"--always approach a woman within three seconds of first seeing her in order to avoid getting shy. Other tricks: Intrigue a beautiful woman by pretending to be unaffected by her charm; also, never hit on a woman right away. Start with a disarming, innocent remark, like "Do you think magic spells work?" or "Oh my god, did you see those two girls fighting outside?" And finally, the most important characteristic of the pickup artist--smile.
After two years, Strauss ends up becoming almost as successful as Mystery, but he comes to an important realization. His techniques were actually off-putting to the woman he ended up falling in love with. And they never prepared him for actually having a relationship. After a while, he ran out of one-liners and had to have a real conversation. Still, The Game is a great read that may help some AFCs come out of their shells. --Alex Roslin
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“Strauss is either a sex god or the anti-Christ, depending on your perspective.” — The Daily Express
“The funniest book I have read all year.” — Tony Parsons
“Neil Strauss has it all figured out. When it comes to the mating dance, Strauss knows how to lead.” — Chicago Sun-Times
“Strauss is a superstar…a stunningly explicit book.” — The Times (London)
“The book everyone’s talking about.” — GQ
“Touching and witty, four stars.” — Time Out New York
“Probably the most important self-help book you’ll ever read.” — Sunday Sport
“The first time the alphabet of male seduction has been painstakingly translated and written down.” — The Observer
“The single guy’s bible.” — The Daily Express
“a fascinating window into a world that Strauss has brought up from the underground. It’s impossible to put down.” — Calgary Herald
“Compulsive reading.” — Irish Times
“To call it a book would be an understatement. I prefer to think of it as the Bible.” — The Sunday Mercury
“an engaging and hilarious read...empowering.” — Pop Matters
“Entertaining.” — Newsweek
About the Author
NEIL STRAUSS is an award-winning writer for Rolling Stone and the author or coauthor of ten New York Times bestsellers. He splits his time between Los Angeles and wherever the Jonas Brothers are.
Product details
- Publisher : Harper Collins (September 6, 2005)
- Language : English
- Imitation Leather : 452 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0060554738
- ISBN-13 : 978-0060554736
- Item Weight : 1.56 pounds
- Dimensions : 9.1 x 6.36 x 1.27 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #58,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #181 in Sex & Sexuality
- #409 in Interpersonal Relations (Books)
- #486 in Love & Romance (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

A former New York Times cultural critic and Rolling Stone contributing editor, Neil Strauss is the author of ten New York Times bestselling books, including The Truth, The Game, Rules of the Game, Emergency, and Everyone Loves You When You're Dead. He is also the coauthor of the New York Times bestsellers The Creative Act with Rick Rubin, I Can't Make This Up with Kevin Hart, The Dirt with Mötley Crüe, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star with Jenna Jameson, and The Long Hard Road Out of Hell with Marilyn Manson. His serial podcast To Live & Die in LA reached number one on the iTunes charts, and was named by the Associated Press as the best podcast of the year.
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And I completely understand the threat many women would feel by this material. But intelligent women are insulated from the manipulation at which many of the individuals featured in this story are so inept. Only the naïve are at risk, as they always have been.
Many people refer to this book as a manual on how to seduce women. But Neil Strauss, its author, never made such a claim. It was merely his honest and humorous account of his experience in the PUA (pickup artist) community. But Strauss is a talented writer. And, as such, he not only managed to make this the very entertaining and insightful manual everybody said it was, but has also given an extremely valuable tool to goodhearted men with benign goals - a tool that can be used with mutual benefit, without anyone getting hurt or played. In spite of other reviewers' claims to the contrary, Strauss does disclose the nature and vivid examples of the emotional and spiritual consequences PUAs reap when they manipulate people for narcissistic purposes.
This endeavor began when Strauss, a writer for the New York Times, was given an assignment to write about the underground pickup artist community. Strauss was a skinny, balding intellectual who felt awkward around women and hadn't had much success with them prior. He immediately homed in on a character named Mystery and hit the mother load. Mystery was a modern day Casanova and widely considered, by the cumulative underground community of PUAs, to be the preeminent pickup artist in the world. Tom Cruise's seduction guru character in "Magnolia" was supposedly based on Mystery. By the time Strauss finished his assignment, he had transformed himself and assumed Mystery's title as tenth degree pickup master of the universe.
As I began reading the book, I felt uneasy. Knowing this knowledge was out there felt akin to suddenly discovering a bunch of troubled kids figured out how to make nuclear weapons.
I've always had great interest in psychology and what makes people do the things they do. I discovered my knowledge of psychology was pale in comparison to these guys. They (the serious ones) study contemporary literature on psychology and ancillary subjects, many of which involve some sort of self-improvement. The young, horny ones operate with one laser-focused mission: Bed women... bed as many "9+" women as possible! The more they bed, the more they validate themselves. But some, more enlightened ones, were simply looking to find the best wife/partner they possibly could.
Strauss began as Mystery's student. After a few successes, he began to catch the eye of other PUAs to whom he quickly acclimated himself. He soaked up their knowledge like a sponge. At the end of two years, Strauss had studied, one-on-one, the methods of all the world's alleged greatest pickup artists and took that which best suited his own personal style and made it his own. In the process he became an underground, worshipped legend - Code Name: Style. But in the process, he also greatly strengthened his core person and acquired the Holy Grail: self-esteem. This book doesn't just contain the cumulative knowledge of the PUA community, but one hell of an entertaining story.
It must be stated that the Game's contribution to much of Strauss' unstoppable success is mitigated by the fact that he was a writer for one of the most respected publications in the world, living in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills over Sunset Boulevard (a consequence of rising to the top of the PUA community), regularly interviewing celebrities and driving a nice car; most men with these assets aren't having issues dating. Still, I believe the majority of what he achieved was aided by his mastery of the basic principals of "The Game". And those are:
1. You can only "game" a woman with whom you are prepared to fail (if you find yourself wanting her too badly, you'll never have her)
2. Exude extreme confidence
3. Demonstrate some kind of value, skill or talent NEAR your target, but not directly to her. Initially, pretend you don't even notice her.
4. Win over her friends
5. Be hard to get
6. Be fun
7. Handle challenges from competing men intellectually and psychologically. Never fight.
8. Respond to any signs that she's not interested as if it were "no big deal"
9. Once you have your target's attention, playfully insult ("neg") her. For example, "I like your hair, is that your natural color?" The more beautiful the woman, the more effective the neg is in garnering interest as they rarely hear comments of that nature.
10. Once attraction has been established, punish any unwanted behavior by withdrawing and disinterest, but do not pout or have an attitude.
11. Alternate between attraction and disinterest signals in a push-pull fashion until rapport is established
There are many other rules, but those are the ones that stuck out to me.
As I read, I found myself subconsciously adjusting my behavior, according to Game theory... and getting surprising results. Women that used to intimidate me with their "presence" were suddenly acting goofy/nervous around me. Could this be real? After I got over the initial excitement of my newfound knowledge, I began to get disappointed that the women that made ME goofy/nervous for so long could be so easily manipulated. I feared that I would start to lose respect for women. Who wants someone they don't respect?
But by the time I got to the end, I realized that I wasn't manipulating anyone. I was simply carrying myself with more confidence. I found myself initiating conversations with strangers. There were no signs of neediness or social anxiety. I realized a man with a conscience can take a small portion of the knowledge shared in "The Game" to simply get over that first, most difficult hurdle of establishing rapport with a woman to whom he is attracted. I realized all anyone reading this book is really looking for is confidence. And many individuals that happen to gain a skill or talent as a result of his quest for a better sex life might just get some self esteem in the process. And that, I believe, is the greatest good of this material. The greater one's self esteem, the higher his goals.
Knowledge is power. And it's only how that power is used that can reveal the nature of its possessor. The only real dangerous "players" out there are the ones whose cognitive reasoning and emotional maturity never fully develop and, at the same time, possess Oscar-worthy acting skills. Yeah, there are a few out there. But an intelligent woman knows when she's being played. And as Strauss saw repeatedly, manipulating and seducing a woman, in and of itself, is a victory that invariably leaves one hollow, still unfulfilled. In the end, your true self is what counts and is the only thing that can find and keep love.
HOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT THE BOOK: Since I don't have much luck with girls, and was tired of making love to my hand, i decided to purchase myself a fleshlight. If you never heard of it, it's an artificial vagina. On the website which sells fleshlights and other toys for both men and women, i noticed that they also had a knowledge section. Here is where i came across the amazing masterpiece called "The Game". So i went on amazon to read the reviews and previewed the book. I decided that i need to read this asap. I bought the book a week or so later.
WHAT I THINK ABOUT THIS BOOK: My life is going to change after reading this book. Neil Strauss has opened my eyes and made me realize that it's never too late to change and reinvent yourself. He is a perfect example of a AFC who never had much luck with women before he became a PUA. Soon after joining the PUA community, he learned different techniques on how to approach and talk to women. Today he is considered the best PUA in the world. Before joining the community, he would never have thought that he would be successful in picking up women let alone some of the most beautiful women in the world.
The stories in this book are amazing. I was hooked from the very beginning. I have never finished reading a book so quickly. It's amazing what kind of adventures he had during his journey being a PUA. It has inspired me to be more adventurous and expand my horizons. My goal now is to learn as much as I can from his teachings and the PUA community and use them in real life. Im ready to reinvent myself. I'm ready to forget about my past and make the rest of my life the best of my life. Although i wont be using only Neil's material like his student who can't think for themselves, I'll create my own that will fit my personality. I figure it will work out best for me.
I suggest this book to any guy who needs help getting women. I believe this book will give you confidence and encourage you to make the next step.
WHAT THIS BOOK HAS DONE FOR ME SO FAR: I went to a sports bar in NYC recently to watch the world cup final with my friends. This book motivated me to break my mental block of insecurity and to approach girls and start conversations. When my friends and i finally picked a spot to chill at, i saw a beautiful Spanish girl named mercy who was there with 4 of her friends. She was the hottest out of all of them. I was hesitant at first but i found it in me to open up the set. I ignored her at first and started talking to one of her friends. Then i was talking to three of her friends. Noticing that i was paying her no attention, she said something to me and i was in. I made her comfortable with me by making her laugh and being friendly. I later gave her my number (which was a mistake because she never texted me. Probably because she saw me hit on other girls throughout the day. It was a typical AFC mistake.) I also got the numbers of 2 of her friends.
Later i started talking to beautiful black woman who had short hair like amber rose. I found her very sexy. We talked, laughed and flirted. She told me she was 30 (Which was shocking to me since i would never think that an older woman would be into a younger guy like me.) she was divorced with 2 kids. MILF!! She later gave me her number but i never called her. I guess i have to build up more confidence to deal with MILFs
Then there was Kayla, the sexiest waitress that worked there. She was a solid 8. She was the type of girl that i thought would never talk to a guy like me. I went out for a smoke and she came out seconds after. She asked "does anybody have a light?" i looked at her and, without hesitation, went over to her. I lit her cigarette and we chatted. I made her laugh and feel comfortable with me. I talked to her like i knew her for years. I don't know where i was getting this confidence from. I could tell she was into me. We later exchanged numbers. I still text her from time to time and i plan to visit her again once football season starts. GO JETS.
That day i got a total of 4 numbers. My friends were shocked. They never saw me do that before. They've always known me for being the shy kid that never talks to girls. It was a success. I was shocked with myself. Especially because I didnt even rely on the methods from the book. I was just being my confident self. It was a test and it worked. I can't wait to see what the future holds for me. I see great potential in myself now. This book has already helped me grow. And this is just the beginning. Im sure it will help you as well.
Good Luck
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P.S.: O livro vem com um adesivo (uma espécie de etiqueta) na capa anterior. Recomendo cuidado na hora de retirar, para evitar que fique, desagradavelmente, grudada no livro, a cola dele.














