I didn't want to like this book. Based on its description, I thought it was going to be a misogynistic, self-congratulatory vanity piece.

The Game is a memoir of Average Frustrated Chump Neil Strauss, a successful writer who could never get the girls until he joined the Seduction Community and learned from the master Pick Up Artists and became one of the top PUAs in the community today.

It is definitely addictive reading, and the story is told with just the right amount of humility and candour. Some of the AFCs and PUAs were definitely misogynistic, but the book isn't. I mostly felt sorry for these men who had such low self-esteem and confidence that they needed this sort of help just to speak to a woman.

There are definitely wannabe PUAs I read about who I immediately disliked, but there were those who I really felt sorry for: Sweater immediately comes to mind, the Australian AFC who just wanted to marry a beautiful girl. And what did surprise me was (SPOILER ALERT) the comment that it was the smart women who didn't think they would fall for the lines who did, as the bimbos didn't have the attention span, and so were immune.

It's almost unbelievable that men would go to such extremes and hand over so much cash just to learn how to pick women up, but there's a market for everything, I suppose. It is an enjoyable read, and I do recommend everyone reads it, male or female. If you're female you may recognise some pick up techniques that have been tried on you... although I didn't.

From what I've seen by searching the web, the book continues to be popular among men, even though it was published in 2005.