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The Game
The Game
The Game
Audiobook (abridged)9 hours

The Game

Written by Neil Strauss

Narrated by Neil Strauss

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

()

About this audiobook

Nearly every major city in the world has them: hidden underground seduction lairs where men gather to trade the most devastatingly effective techniques ever invented to seduce women.

This is not fiction.

For two years, bestselling author Neil Strauss lived among these men. Using the pseudonym Style to protect his real-life identity, he began his remarkable journey from AFC (Average Frustrated Chump) to PUA (Pickup Artist) to PUG (Pickup Guru) —refining his approach, sharing unforgettable encounters with the likes of Tom Cruise, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Courtney Love, and ultimately transforming himself from frog to prince . . . to prisoner.

And then things started to get really strange.

One of the most explosive and controversial books in years, The Game is guaranteed to change the lives of men and transform the way women understand the opposite sex forever.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateJun 16, 2009
ISBN9780061866876
The Game
Author

Neil Strauss

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.

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Reviews for The Game

Rating: 4.383983567761807 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

487 ratings47 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "The Game" is a memoir by NYT music journalist Neil Strauss. It covers a period of two years he spent in the "pickup artist" community. In the first part of the book, he describes his experiences learning strategies, psychological techniques, and sometimes canned lines or routines to help attract women's interest (and ultimately sleep with them). As the book proceeds, the experience of picking up women is largely abstracted out, and the focus becomes Neil's interactions with other members of the "pickup artist" community. Many of these people are oddballs with various mental disorders or personal issues. This culminates in extraordinarily dysfunctional, cult-like behavior as a group of pickup artists rent a house together and several try to monetize their skills by offering seminars."The Game" is not (and does not purport to be) any sort of instruction book. It is an autobiography. It is also a look inside a community of men who are often very insecure, who feel a hole within themselves, and who think that by attracting and sleeping with women, they will achieve meaning or restore value to their lives. Unsurprisingly, even those who become skilled at picking up women remain dissatisfied, sometimes more so than before they joined the pickup artist community. They learn some of the outer, superficial techniques and strategies for appearing confident and meeting women, but they still lack the underlying building blocks that make up a good life (including character traits like self-confidence and inner peace, as well as physical things like having a good job and working passionately to make the world a better place). Neil recognizes this, and his book chronicles a stage in his life that he seems glad to have moved beyond.This book has some notoriety, but I think it is generally undeserved. The pickup artists are not fooling or tricking women- the women know what they're getting into. (This may be one reason why most of the women the pickup artists attract appear to be struggling with their own demons, including self-esteem issues, illegal drug use, etc.) "The Game" is essentially a story of imperfect men and imperfect women seeking validation through each other- an unhealthy co-dependency that is part of muddling through, learning about oneself, and, hopefully, reaching a place where true self-confidence and a fulfilling relationship are possible.I would recommend this book to men who are having difficulty meeting women, but not for the reason one might think. The tips it provides are so sparse that they could be covered in a one-page cheat sheet, and they are so self-evident (e.g. self-confidence is attractive) that you hardly need a book to tell you. What "The Game" does is to illustrate that you're not alone- lots of people, both men and women, feel a need for intimacy, for sex, and for deeper validation. The path to true success- that is, lasting satisfaction and happiness- lies in authenticity and improving oneself, not in a bunch of psychological tricks and routines.

    4 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There's a good chance I wouldn't have believed some of the extreme claims made in this book if I hadn't seen VH1's reality show, The Pickup Artist, first. Whether you believe it or not, Neil Strauss' The Game is a fun and hilarious book that will suck you in and keep you reading until you hit the back cover.The gist of the book is as follows:Neil Strauss is asked by an editor to investigate the underground PUA (pick-up artist) community. Like most people, Strauss doubted that he would find anything legitimate, but decided to look into the assignment, partly out of self-interest. After learning some PUA techniques from Mystery, creator of the Mystery Method of seduction and perhaps the greatest PUA, and finding some success, Strauss takes on the alias "Style" and totally immerses himself in the lifestyle.Style uses the skills honed by years of writing and journalism to study the many schools of seduction and eventually emerges as one of the world's greatest pick-up artists, rivaling and perhaps even surpassing Mystery.Strauss packs in plenty of hilarious details about the encounters of various PUA's in many different situations, various episodes concerning Mystery and his emotional and mental disturbances, and the events leading up to the collapse of Mystery's ambitious Project Hollywood. Most importantly, Strauss provides his own insightful commentary on all the things the PUA community has completely wrong, namely the misogynistic tendencies of many PUA's, the lack of originality and individual thought amongst PUA's and the complete absence of any "techniques" for staying in healthy, long-term relationships.Despite Mystery's self-defeating personality, the lawlessness of Project Hollywood and having a large number of PUA's turn against him, Style manages to keep his head on straight and even lands himself the girl of his dreams-without using any seduction techniques! (they have quite the opposite effect, actually)Even if you don't believe in the powers of the pick-up artist, this book is worth checking out if only for Strauss' wonderful story of developing confidence in himself and finding happiness. And if you do think there is something to this seduction thing, then this book is a good starting point for learning some things and how to not let yourself get carried away.

    3 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    an eye-opening take on guy-girl interactions and how certain techniques work on picking up women - it's interesting as a psychology read (and leads to great discussion)

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Neil Strauss wonderfully narrates his transformative journey from an average frustrated chump (AFC) to master pick up artist (MPUA). This is entertaining, captivating, and enlightening AND one of the many titles I have started listening to but actually finished. If you skip this gem, you'll be an AFC forever.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It’s an entertaining book. If you love psychology and seduction this is ones for you

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    A bunch of weird dudes thinking they are a master with the ladies. The sex they got is all free, not hard for most people. This is like taking 1000s of FREE items and claiming you are rich bc of how much stuff you have.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wish I'd listened to this long ago, would've thought me a lot.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Changed my life

    I recommend this book but more so recommend going in deeper on studying the guys in it.

    RSD has been my personal favorite but I’ve studied them all

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I think the book was a bit amusing, just because the men it's about really makes this game into some sort of a secret society, a cult. I found myself thinking and hoping that there are more than games and sexual behaviors going on in these boys mind and that there are woman out there, who can see through the game or even play themselves.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Probably the most well written and interesting non-fiction work I have read. If you're looking for a "how-to-manual" or a good story, you won't be disappointed. Not for the closed-minded, or for the innocent; this book could do some serious damage to the psyche of those who aren't ready for the worldview shattering contents.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    4 stars for it being so well written.. but... WTF? I spent most of the book shaking my head. These men are freakin serious about picking up women. On the one hand, it's good that they're improving themselves.. nothing like a little de-geeking to help a guy become more social, but... damn!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    life changer. lots of lessons in one book. Thanks you.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I'm not sure why I waited so long to read this book.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    read it years ago, twice actually and i recommend it to every man, will totally change the way you look at your self and women.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book si a lot of fun. It si the story of how a Rolling Stone (now NY Times) writer went from not being able to pickup women...to being one of the top pikcup artists in the world. Read it as a story - instead of as a guide...so both men and women can read it. But...it does point to other seduction gurus (Mystery, Juggler, Ross Jeffreys) if you are a man...and need the help. It is great that this book opened the door to many men who could not get a date...becomeing successful with women.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fantastic novel you will really enjoy this. Everybody both men and women, and all adults should read this book because it has a lots of insights into really keen, profound things that the average regular humans just don’t know.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Highly entertaining.
    A wholesome, holistic story on the pickup community
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Completely useless and such a waste of time. I can’t believe this was published. Trash!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sehr unterhaltsam, man kriegt Überblick, was PUAs machen und wie das entstanden ist.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This guy took his research way to seriously! The story was interesting but the characters were less than engaging. All the pick up artists (PUAs) came off as insecure little boys who had to seduce women to feel better about themselves. I think the author did a great job of presenting this openly and honestly. That was its charm but it also left a bad aftertaste.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very entertaining. I enjoyed this book and recommend it. Easy to listen to.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent livre sur cette communauté.
    Beaucoup d’enseignements utiles et quelques leçons de vies à retenir !
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The effeminate lisp of this person was so repugnant that I couldn’t have listened if I had wanted to. Whoever the women are who fell for this woman’s game: are you deaf? It was like listening to the screech of a 5 year old holding their nose and singing the abcs.

    It actually wasn’t the content that was vomit inducing. It was the voice. Gross.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    in there is mistakes in audio book like reaching chapter#8 , the audio book is saying chapter #6.
    also there is a lot of paragraph missing in sixth chapters in Audio book for example page seventy one in written book paragraph few paragraph is missing in Audiobook.
    actually i like it most this book other than few books of inner life games.
    Chapter 4 is missing in audio book, in written book page #98 subject Field Report; Author: Extramask
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Good story...
    Consumable...
    Makes you wonder all the stuff not said...
    Romantic
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Way better than I had expected. Reads as a story. The style reminded me of one of Ben Mezrich’s casino books.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Boring converted into a soap opera. The beginning was good.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The writing was fine. The subject was disturbing. I applaud the effort to try to articulate the how/why of the male bonding rituals here. Unfortunately it comes off cult like at best (by the author’s own admission) and misogynistic n inhuman at worst. Truly, an example of how not to raise our sons.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    NS: To win the Game, was to leave it.
    MK
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Its not for everyone but if you start it you must finish it! Life is a game! Nice job!!!