I think there’s value in this book – no matter what someone does, there’s always something to be learned from the experience.

Does this book have a good amount of educational value? Oh yeah, all kinds. Is this book worthy of pledging our undying faith? HELL no. The experiences that Neil shares create the potential to discover new insights to social dynamics, and I’m all about increasing my understanding and awareness of myself and my environment. But I also think that anyone who regards this book as the ultimate way to go can potentially close themselves off to that which matters most about interpersonal connections.

I’m really glad that Neil ended the story with his budding relationship with Lisa, because it’s important to highlight the fact that you have to open up and take a chance w/ your heart to experience a rewarding and fulfilling relationship. Sarging can be fun, but you don’t want to be stuck in a game where someone has to “win” all the time. Don’t be like Tyler.

In short, I’d say read it, and take a thing, or two, or ten with you…but don’t place the book on an alter above your fireplace.

Jacques

I thought this book was great. It reveals the benefits and flaws about becoming a PUA. What I think the hidden message in the book is, In my opinion, Neil showing that anything can be attainable, but sometimes it isn’t what you expect it to be (social robots, Tyler, mystery’s collapse, and etc). I do think if guys ar considering to be PUAs, then they should read this book before doing so

Damn Girl! Opening up a can of worms!

I’ll tell you what. I LOVED The Game. It’s one of the books that showed me as an angry and frustrated guy, I could STILL go out and date women and enjoy my life. From a woman’s perspective, I would think that they might see the book as some kind of guide to manipulation for sex. It’s not. It’s simply giving a guy tools that he can use to be social, sexual, charming, and self-improving over all. And from the perspective of someone who never really had a problem getting dates I would assume the same negative view on the book and the community.

But to point a finger at a guy desperate to become greater than he is and say, “douchebag”…well you may as well be standing in front of a mirror saying the same thing simply because it’s not cool to do that and you know it. No one says says that to a woman looking at the “10 ways to land your man” section of Cosmo. Or even to a guy looking at some Muscle Milk ad in a Maxim. Both sexes do tons of things to improve for the opposite sex. It’s only because The Game actually WORKED and caught on like wild fire that it’s getting so much talk. I’ve never read a magazine tip that has done a damn thing for me. But when I got caught up in real self improvement and socializing with this kind of material, I blossomed. (But in a manly way. Like Schwarzenegger jumping out of an exploding building onto a truck, kind of way.)

But I digress, there is a poison to completely depending on material from a book to replace your personality. You turn into a robot. You become dependent. And you forget that the whole purpose is to improve yourself as a human being so women/men will simply notice you as a result. The game, after you’ve gotten grips on it, should simply fade away. And your normal life you’ve been chasing should kick in. But if you can become aware of that. You’ll be fine.

I figured I’d also put in my change on Tyler (Owen) from the book. I think on a personal level that his work is some of the best I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t stick to this fake ass game where you feel compelled to wear goofy shit just to get attention. And trust me, I did. After awhile, you have to let go of all that crap. I’ll admit that when I read the book I was hating the guy too. But all that changed the moment I began to learn what his company was about. The difference between what The Game was about and what Tyler teaches is very different in style and is considerably impressive. I’d give the guy a chance if I were you. That and the book has been out for years now. Time to let go.

I read that book long time ago, when i used to belong to pua community. Which is just dumb.
I could write an essay about those things. I was living different gurus ideas for way too long. And Neil lived Mystery’s idea.

From Shark,BadBoy, Gunwitch, DavidX you will learn how to be a dough bag. From Mystery you will learn how to be a creepy guy.

But the one thing is sure. All those methods are just methods. They dont learn very very very important thing – CONNECTING WITH A PEOPLE. Those gurus treat women like a robots/machines: do this so she will react that. They dont even consider other people feelings. Its all about fucking, nothing more. If relationship is involved is about fucking (maybe only mystery had some love to few women).
Those methods doesnt teach dating. They teach how to play games. And how to take advantage of the women.
I was doing it and i am NOT proud about it. I was very fake but not everyone could see so it result that i hurt few women. Which i am feeling bad about.
Than i drop all those retarded methods and really fall in love. You cant fall in love playing games.
But that time it wasnt good for me coz she was playing games. Looks like what goes around comes around.
Than after painful heartbreak i found David Wygant and Vanae. Those are my favorite websites, coz i can see those people are real, and they teach the right things.
I learn from them a lot.
And then i found beautiful good girl who fall in love with me, and i fall in love with her. Lately she became my fiancée.

So if somebody is looking for love I strongly recommend avoid everything associated with PUA.

thanks for reading.
webninja

Glad you brought up this book, Vanae! I think the great thing about this book, as opposed to other PUA literature, is that it can be read simply as a story. As educational value, it is more of a beginner’s book to women. It’s not a shot or anything at the Game because it is very palatable and appropriate for people not learned in PUA verbage and thought processes.

It is not the greatest book, but I don’t think that it is necessary to hate it. Yes, it is responsible for the birth of many bad PUAs, but being bad is just a moment in learning. For many people, it is necessary to experience the wrong stuff to more easily define the right stuff. It really depends on fate and the willpower of the individual to tread where he wants.

As for the book helping people to pretend to be someone else…well, I’d like to relate it to a sport and specifically, tennis. Tennis involves a lot of technique, and often, a great teaching tool is for the player to pretend to be some GREAT player like Agassi or Federer – it is assuming a false identity for the purpose of improvement. Until a player becomes great, he/she works hard to emulate models that they find to be unnatural but have been demonstrated to work over and over, again. PUA is very similar. PUAs are delving into the PUA knowledge bank with the goal of NOT being a PUA, but rather, beyond because a PUA is like that beginning tennis player copying the right stuff, shaving off the bad stuff, and being more well rounded in ability. And when they evolve to the point of mastering the techniques, they learn to fully express themselves in a way that they never could before (in tennis being able to shoot different types of shots to a desired point, in life after PUA being able to socialize with more people. There is nothing wrong with that. PUA is just a step to create freedom and push the boundaries of possibilities for a person. Some embrace it. Some don’t. But what can’t be argued over is how it changes a person to realize more of who they are independent of their feelings towards PUA.

The Game is, at it’s core, a self-help book. If you read between the lines it teaches the EXACT same techniques as any number of other books from the likes of Anthony Robbins to Eckhart Tolle. The power of positive thinking, how to control your emotions, etc. It’s all in there. It just teaches within a different context (ie. improving your dating life instead of how to not be depressed, or whatever). A lot of the stuff in The Game is second nature to social, outgoing people. Some of it is useful even to the most naturally sociable individual. Yes, it teaches womanizing on some levels. But I agree in that the final message is one of being true to yourself and finding someone you feel good with, ignoring any “rules” purported dating gurus or pick up artists throw at you…

Hmm I’ve never heard about this I’m curious now, maybe i’ll take a look at it. we’ll see.

Have you read the book Vanae? What do you think about it?

This crap does not work! Either a chick is into you or not. If she is you can talk about your dirty socks and she’ll be interested. If she’s not she won’t want to hear anything you have to say or offer (unless its a buttload of cash)

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this.

I have seen this book change thousands of guys lives.

Some for the worst, but the majority for the better.

Just found out today that another guy I work with is getting married this year.

The PUA world is much like the martial arts world to me, learn it, absorb it, forget it.

Once you get what you need out of it, you should move on.

and usually the guys who turn out for the worst, had issues BEFORE, this just let them focus them in a different area.

Stephen
aka Bravo
(Executive coach for Neil Strauss)

Hi Vanae, this is Eric. I met you last night at 83 proof along with your friend Annie (Kevo’s friend). You were talking to J and I was on my way out since I was a bit too tipsy to be having a respectable conversation with my friends, much less strangers.

Anyway I found out from J this morning that you were a dating coach and stumbled upon your website. I think it’s great that you are offering people out there advice to spice up their lives.

Had I known that you were a dating coach, I might’ve tried some of my old material on you but I’m sure you’ve seen it all. I actually took a seminar once with a local PUA and I have to say that it’s shown me things about myself that I haven’t thought possible before. You see, the thing about the PUA community is that everyone has a different approach. Some prefer direct, some indirect but a true PUA would never let you know that you were under his spell.

So I wonder, if I had a chance to speak to you last night if something might’ve clicked? Or maybe I would’ve been under your spell? I’m just kidding. I am not a professional PUA but it’s opened my eyes to things I like and do not like about dating. Maybe I’ll meet you sometime in the future and discuss a few of these topics.

The Game by Neil Strauss is only a tip of iceberg of the whole idea of pick up.

Pick up is much more than just a canned and dishonest opener and other routines and technique that leads you to girl’s bedroom.

On a deeper level, it is all about connect. To be able to observe and understand the person in a short amount of time and connect.

One cannot truly master the skill of pick up if he is not willing to put his own heart into it and actually “talk” with girls.

(talk, I mean really talk, not anticipating, no intension, just purely want to get to know her)

Of course, what comes along is the benefit of been with hundreds of women, and be able to choose the one that you feel most suitable for you.

However, no girl will ever sleep with a guy if she doesnt want to, a guy only needs to learn how to bridge the connection and let her know that he is not judging.

If you want to know more you can sent me emails and I can tell you more about it.

btw, thx for the video on how to survive a break up. Even as a pick up artist, break up still hurts.

I think this book is pretty decent. I just got done reading it and i took some ideas out of it..a lot of which i already know. Some of it i agree with, other stuff seems a bit too forward. The goal of the book is to get guys out and meeting women for guys who don’t have that much experience with women like me. I have never had any friends teach me anything about dating as many other guys have…so it’s been a long and rough journey filled with a lot of fucks up along the way. I’ve never found much help besides this book and a few online tips to go about things. Women have a wide variety of things from cosmo magazines, to 17, to vogue, to hundreds and hundreds of other resources. Not to mention they always have good friends they talk to to get advice from. I find it rather pathetic when a female says something like “well using this stuff is not natural, its not genuine, ur not being yourself.” Fuck all of that…they’ve been reading cosmo’s for 15 years and dare to say something like we are the ones not being genuine. The game is some simple tips and techniques to help guys out along a pretty tough road. If it was women doing all the approaching, and taking all the steps on guys then i would definitely expect them to have a hard time….but they don’t have to do nothin and they are still the ones getting tips from an infinite amount of sources. I think everything is learned throughout our lives and really nothing is natural. So lets all just stop the BS and all try to be more compassionate, genuine and kinder people for the simple sake of it…techniques or no techniques.