"The Game", at first, appears to be an informative, eye-opening, entertaining an d DANGEROUS MANUAL ON HOW TO SEDUCE WOMEN.

Deep within this controversial book, however, lies one of the best self improvement books available to man... as long as he understands and embraces the fundamental reality that the acquisition of confidence and personal worth are strictly required in order to succeed at the G ame. A lot of low self esteem individuals will read this book and become, I beli eve, better men. And I completely understand the threat many women would feel by this material. B ut intelligent women are insulated from the manipulation at which many of the in dividuals featured in this story are so inept. Only the nave are at risk, as they always have been. Many people refer to this book as a manual on how to seduce women. But Neil Stra uss, 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 entert aining and insightful manual everybody said it was, but has also given an extrem ely 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 r eviewers' claims to the contrary, Strauss does disclose the nature and vivid exa mples 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 an d 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 art ist in the world. Tom Cruise's seduction guru character in "Magnolia" was suppos edly based on Mystery. By the time Strauss finished his assignment, he had trans formed 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 m ake 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 thes e guys. They (the serious ones) study contemporary literature on psychology and ancillary subjects, many of which involve some sort of self-improvement. The you ng, 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. Bu t 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 kno wledge 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 whi ch best suited his own personal style and made it his own. In the process he bec ame an underground, worshipped legend - Code Name: Style. But in the process, he also greatly strengthened his core person and acquired the Holy Grail: self-est eem. This book doesn't just contain the cumulative knowledge of the PUA communit y, but one hell of an entertaining story. It must be stated that the Game's contribution to much of Strauss' unstoppable s uccess is mitigated by the fact that he was a writer for one of the most respect

ed publications in the world, living in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills over Su nset Boulevard (a consequence of rising to the top of the PUA community), regula rly 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 w as 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 y ourself 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 dir ectly 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. Neve r 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 exam ple, "I like your hair, is that your natural color?" The more beautiful the woma n, the more effective the neg is in garnering interest as they rarely hear comme nts of that nature. 10. Once attraction has been established, punish any unwanted behavior by withdr awing 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 Gam e theory... and getting surprising results. Women that used to intimidate me wit h their "presence" were suddenly acting goofy/nervous around me. Could this be r eal? After I got over the initial excitement of my newfound knowledge, I began t o get disappointed that the women that made ME goofy/nervous for so long could b e 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 con versations 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 shar ed in "The Game" to simply get over that first, most difficult hurdle of establi shing rapport with a woman to whom he is attracted. I realized all anyone readin g this book is really looking for is confidence. And many individuals that happe n 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 nat ure of its possessor. The only real dangerous "players" out there are the ones w hose 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 repea tedly, manipulating and seducing a woman, in and of itself, is a victory that in variably leaves one hollow, still unfulfilled. In the end, your true self is wha t counts and is the only thing that can find and keep love.