# How much of The Game is true? \[Book by Neill Strauss\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286 "2010-09-27T23:29:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/1 "2010-09-27T23:29:04Z")
I’m reading a second-hand copy of the Game at the moment, and I am loving it. I’ve laughed several times outloud, and find the characters fascinating. I find it hard to believe though. How much of the events (particularly those involving celebrities) are true? Do any of the techniques actually work? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/2 "2010-09-28T00:17:11Z")
I take it that there’s some book called “The Game” that apparently I should know, but do not. Can you give any more details that might identify it more closely? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/3 "2010-09-28T00:25:49Z")
I Searched for “The Game” on Amazon. > [@](#): > > Showing 1 - 12 of 220,915 Results You really need to help us narrow this down. ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/4 "2010-09-28T00:31:05Z")
Sorry, I was referencing The Game by Neill Strauss. I should have guessed that it wasn’t the only book called ‘The Game’.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/5 "2010-09-28T00:35:02Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I take it that there’s some book called “The Game” that apparently I should know, but do not. Can you give any more details that might identify it more closely? Neil Strauss, former New York Times music critic, Rolling Stones editor-at-large, freelance biographer, and self-styled Pick Up Artist with the handle ‘Style’, wrote a book that is part expose, part manual about the PUA subculture called The Game, in which he explained how he learned the moves and put the make on a number of celebrities (although the only one I recall offhand is a pre-psychosis Brittany Spears). Yes, the moves he describes work, albeit most effectively on the subset of women who tend to habituate clubs and the like. He actually spends more time writing about his fellow PUAs, most famously Mystery, all of who really come off as being dysfunctional fucktards. At the end of the book, Strauss essentially cops to the limitations of this act and ends up dropping his persona to be with the drummer from Courtney Love’s band. Curiously, in his next book, Emergency, in which he details his efforts to become a survivalist, he’s moved on to a woman who manipulates the he’ll out of him and sounds like she’s most functional as a boat anchor, so take of his method what you will. As for the stories, while you need to take anything written in this manner with a grain of salt, there is nothing horribly outlandish in them. I’ve seen more absurd things occur in person. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/6 "2010-09-28T00:35:10Z")
I’m guessing it is [this](http://www.amazon.com/Game-Penetrating-Secret-Society-Artists/dp/0060554738/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285634002&sr=1-1). It was popular a year or so back and talks about pickup techniques. I can’t answer the questions, as I have not read it. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/7 "2010-09-28T01:00:58Z")
My roomate in college was way into this. While he had smooth sailing with the ladies, he came off as a smarmy jerk. It always looked like a confidence scam for sex to me. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/8 "2010-09-28T01:43:46Z")
Though it has nothing to do with the OP, it nonetheless caused me to lose the game. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/9 "2010-09-28T02:44:02Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Though it has nothing to do with the OP, it nonetheless caused me to lose the game. Hah! You thought about the game. Now you need to go back to not thinking about the game. Go on, try. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/10 "2010-09-28T03:02:55Z")
Since this is about a book, I’m going to move it to Cafe Society (and add some clarification to the title.) Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-game-is-true-book-by-neill-strauss/555286/11 "2010-09-28T03:38:58Z")
Aww damn it, **Rhythmdvl** and **FILB** – I just lost the game. Thought everyone should know.