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The Game: Undercover in the Secret Society of Pickup Artists Paperback – 6 Dec. 2007
Purchase options and add-ons
- Print length512 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCanongate Books
- Publication date6 Dec. 2007
- Dimensions11.1 x 3 x 17.8 cm
- ISBN-10184767237X
- ISBN-13978-1847672377
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Product description
Review
A narrative of daredevil sexuality. ― * Guardian *
Touching and witty. ― * Time Out *
The funniest book I have read this year -- Tony Parsons
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Canongate Books; Main edition (6 Dec. 2007)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 512 pages
- ISBN-10 : 184767237X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1847672377
- Dimensions : 11.1 x 3 x 17.8 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 14,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer reviews:
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.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book interesting, enjoyable, and entertaining. They also describe the humor as funny and intuitive. Readers mention the advice is useful and helpful. However, some find the technique hard to follow and overly simplistic. Opinions are mixed on the character development, with some finding them interesting and nice, while others say they're a bit moppy.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book interesting, enjoyable, and entertaining. They say it's insightful, elating, and an eye-opener. Readers also mention the story is great and the book is crammed full of knowledge.
"...3 - Not end up really liking this guy! He is definitely charming and dare I say, cool, but to that lovely place where he also knows how to laugh at..." Read more
"...It was funny, honest and eye-opening.But most people - should I say men? -..." Read more
"...It was very insightful and I liked how Neil's journey led him to realise the dark side of pick up artistry...." Read more
"...I found that the book read like a confession and was startlingly honest at times. Other times I found myself chuckling away to myself...." Read more
Customers find the humor in the book funny, well-written, and easy to read. They appreciate the genuine voice behind the writing and the intuitive books. Readers also mention the book is a good introduction to set the scene for the world of seduction.
"...It was funny, honest and eye-opening.But most people - should I say men? -..." Read more
"...Very well written and a real eye-opener...." Read more
"...Very very interesting, well written with some funny stories in it too." Read more
"...However, what really makes this a good read is the genuine voice behind the writing from a man who clearly came into The Game for valid reasons, and..." Read more
Customers find the advice in the book useful, helpful, and full of tips used successfully by PUAs to pick up women. They describe the story as funny, gripping, and much more than a self-help book.
"...It is also full of tips used successfully by these PUAs to pick up women...." Read more
"such a great read. a really interesting story and also very helpful in getting people to become a little more confident...." Read more
"...It certainly doesn't promote qualities such as honesty, respect and regard for the other person...." Read more
"Great story and useful tips." Read more
Customers find the book worth every penny. They say it explores the price and darker side of one of the most fascinating topics.
"...is elating yet the real merit of this novel is that it explores the price and darker side of one of the most fascinating sociological phenomena of..." Read more
"...It is worth every penny!" Read more
"Great product and great service and great value great seller" Read more
"Well worth it. A fantastic read." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the character development in the book. Some mention Neil is interesting, while others say one of the main characters is a bit morose.
"...The story of how he becomes a pickup artist is truly interesting and there's loads of little things you can take from and learn..." Read more
"Started of quite well and I was honestly interested in it but characters become annoying the more you read it...." Read more
"This is an incredibly fun book to read through. Neil is an interesting character surrounded with strange guys that want to change their lives and..." Read more
"...The book just didn't really move on and the characters aren't easy to identify with...." Read more
Customers find the technique in the book lacking, overly simplistic, and self-aggrandizing. They say it's not a pick-up manual.
"...good if you are wanting to become a PUA, there is very little mention of specific techniques and by the end of the book, one feels no desire to..." Read more
"...This book is not however a pick-up manual (I think Strauss is working on one though)...." Read more
"...Mystery Method" by Mystery, but be warned this book can be a little hard to follow. As for Neil Strauss's book, its more of a novel." Read more
"Tedious. Not the book if you want to improve yourself and actually find a decent partner...." Read more
Customers find the book sad, depressing, and dull. They also say it's written as a story.
"...to realise that the majority of the people in the book are pretty sad low lifes, like the type you don't associate with in real life...." Read more
"...That is was written as a story actually made it even more dull. A how to guide might have at least been fun to read...." Read more
"Well, it is an interesting read. However, it is a depressing book about some desperate individuals. I don't think I would read it again." Read more
"Sad, Immoral and Sexist and this is coming from a teenage boy." Read more
Customers find the book mysogynistic, exploitative, and juvenile. They say the girls genuinely take on an objectified feel.
"...But you feel empty, and rough, and girls genuinely take on an objectified feel...." Read more
"This was vile: mysogynistic, exploitative, juvenile pulp. I burned the book- no one else could possibly want to bother reading such utter tripe." Read more
"Sad, Immoral and Sexist and this is coming from a teenage boy." Read more
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Top reviews
Top reviews from United Kingdom
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However, there are a couple of things I would suggest a reader could do after turning that first page...
1 - put the thing down! Its compelling!
2 - Not enjoy some of the 'methods' of pick-up detailed within. I found myself oft times thinking "oh I seeeee!"
3 - Not end up really liking this guy! He is definitely charming and dare I say, cool, but to that lovely place where he also knows how to laugh at himself as well. I found myself in awe of the way he let negative things just bounce off of him.
...and there it is really! This book is NOT the one stop guide to becoming a MPUA (look it up!) that people have told me it was.
What it is is a few brief insights into a world I wasn't even aware existed, a person who I would like to be, and a compelling account of going zero to legend in about 18 months!
Whilst the author does come across as genuine, decent and grounded, from time to time he does appear to be a little dismissive of people who make their money from posing as pick up masters (he does name names!)
So seductive was this book that I too was compelled to finding out more and went to his website, only to be greeted by the exact same cash driven rubbish all the "others" in the field do!
I still admire the guy greatly (fantastic writer) but I couldn't help but feel Id somehow been let down. Reason?! Because, I don't know how he does it, but Neil Strauss' style (ironic!) is such that he almost feels like he is a pal! And that in itself makes this worth a read!
And I hasten to add - for both men and women alike!
But most people - should I say men? - will be reading The Game for tips on how to pick up girls and, for me, I found it strangely dated already and actually so American it would surely be regarded as dysfunctional here in Europe by most men, those who aren't pathologically shy, at any rate. I think if I went up to a woman I was attracted to and tried any of these 'methods' on her, shey'd run a mile, mistaking me for some kind of lunatic or stalker. These methods all come from the art of salesmanship - and I don't think we like sale people very much in the UK. That said I do like that tip about counting to 3, and then just throwing yourself into some kind of a conversation with the person who's caught your eye. There's something to be said for that, although it's really only a modern re-write on 'he who hesitates will fail'.
By the end of the book, with all the various pick up artists seemingly falling out or losing their way or just getting tired of 'the game', you begin to ask yourself, would any of this really work for me? Hopefully you realise you're so much better off playing your own game and just being yourself - with a tad more confidence. Want something darker for your money, try The Internet Date
It took me 5-6 sittings to finish this book, which I consider pretty good because the book is quite thick and I tend to read at a rather leisurely pace.
The book itself is a linear look at how the author started out as being pretty bad at meeting women and then, over the course of 2 years, how he became one of the best pickup artists in the world, to finally realising that, once you get involved in a world like that of the pickup artist, you run the risk of losing part of who you are, becoming, in the process, a monster who's finds the art of picking up women more interesting than the women themselves.
I found that the book read like a confession and was startlingly honest at times. Other times I found myself chuckling away to myself. I've been with my girlfriend for 8 years now, and yet still find the idea of being able to approach people rather appealing, albeit not for the reason of picking them up.
This book isn't a how to guide, so don't expect too much in that respect, however, that said, there's a lot of information which would be helpful if that is the goal of you buying this book.
Top reviews from other countries
I have been raped before by PUA feeling I owe it to them. You know whenthey rip off your pants and you're screaming no! no! Kicking him off etc, etc I'd better spare the details
The constant put downs -- it never stops, everyone hating on me forever. Why would anyone create this method?
So what did I like about this book? Why, these guys actually did screw with women and screw them up. So many woman seek staying home now and are permanently traumatized from how they were treated by these guys
And, it's important to talk about these things. This was huge, these guys where seriously harming, sex abusing and putting down women relentlessly -- they still are -- it's only gotten worse. A world created where so many men have to constantly be mean, hateful, and rape-y to women, because, they were told guaranteed success if you just keep tellinh her everything about her is wrong. Never mind he's a big guy and she's a little woman not expecting constant aggressive sexual persistence
Now to be fair many women do like casual sex. And focusing on those women for casual sex in nice way would have been fine
But to decide to use the internet to convince every man to verbally attack and abuse any woman he decides he has the right to have sex with and evily work at isolating her and putting her in a position to make her have to have sex -- because that's the point, no free will for her!
This is a very real, awful traumatizing part of the last almost 30 years
For me, I needed someone to talk about it openly, frankly amd with a human heart -- despite the errors he himself might have made
We need to talk about the awful, tragic things that happen in society in a meaningful way
This book talks frankly and openly about it, and in its 20/20 hindsight isn't cruel
For anyone greatly affected by the behavior of men involved in this, perhaps this book will help you face it and feel like you were part of a greater victimization, that it wasn't just you being constantly torn down by every man, but that each of a huge number of men have been robotically walking from woman to woman treating each terribly and forcing sex on them in huge relentless numbers getting angry and forceful when we say no, threatening, so many threats -- harsh words, that we can't say no (and knowing now it's because they were selfish in believing that the woman would just give them sex -- all the women -- and it is really easy to rape a woman -- she's small, scared and alone. This is a huge rape movement with women left very traumatized after relentless, endless men just needing to non-stop "neg" her. The men will even line up practicing their routines for the "10" whose life has now been shut down. She can't get to the train station, the men won't let her. She can't sit in a coffee shop, the men won't let her. She can't go on lunch break, the nen won't let her. She can't study biology at campus, the men won't let her. All her time is taken up with loud, abnoxious men putting her down, demanding dates and sex and getting angry because "no" from her isn't an option. They were told treating her poorly meant instant sex
Why would any man think they should be making women have sex with them?? These women wanted something else -- this is a form of rape on every level treating women like this. These men should be charged and jailed for abusing women, abusing their time, and abusing their sexuality
But, as I said, we need to talk about the horrific things that happen in society
This book was so very good at talking broadly on this part of our history, part of our society
If you need material that talks frankly about this, this book does
I recommend this book to anyone who needs to piece together what has been happening in the horrible mistreatment of women that has been taking place, and apparently world wide
I just want men to be nice to me, but regardless of what he's thinking consciously, if he finds me attractive, or has to build a relationship almost all men now think they should play the mean sort of games that are in this book
You can actually face these things and see them written out here, by someone who has a broader sense of what happened
In the author's defense, there were PUA (Pick up Artist) gurus everywhere, so what the gurus loca to you, or the popular abuse towards women was at the times it affected you are likely different and very much harsher than these guys in this book, because these guys may not have meant it as meanly as your local PUA guru. This community is tied to the misogyny community, and there are all kinds of misogynistic views in the PUA community. It is misogynistic itself to not think much of what it does to all the women having the Pick u
Up Artist behavior forced on them
PUA is an acronym for Pick Up Artist



