Book Review: The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, by Neil Strauss

Why grown men cruise the Sunset Strip in fuzzy purple hats and eyeliner.

Regan Books, 2005, 464 pages

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 best-selling 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.

( Hate the game, don't hate the player... well, actually, the players are kind of shitty too. )

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