| Notable members of the seduction community |
|---|
| Neil Strauss (Style) |
| David DeAngelo |
| Juggler |
| Mystery |
| Ross Jeffries |
| Lance Mason |
| Zan Perrion |
Neil Strauss is a Los Angeles-based author and journalist who writes for The New York Times and Rolling Stone, where he is a contributing editor. He is well known for his best-selling book The Game.
Contents |
Background
Neil Strauss attended a private Chicago high school, the Latin School of Chicago. Strauss later attended Columbia University for two years, as well as Vassar College[1]. He began his career writing for Ear, an avant-garde magazine, before moving on to the Village Voice, where he did everything from copy-editing to fact-checking[2]. His fastidiousness paid off when he was invited by Jon Pareles[3] to become a music critic at The New York Times, where he wrote the influential Pop Life column. He was then invited by Jann Wenner to become a contributing editor at Rolling Stone where he wrote cover stories on Kurt Cobain, Madonna, Tom Cruise, Orlando Bloom, the Wu-Tang Clan, Gwen Stefani and Marilyn Manson. He won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his coverage of Kurt Cobain's suicide for Rolling Stone and his profile of Eric Clapton in The New York Times Arts & Leisure section.
Ghost-writing
Neil Strauss was a co-writer or ghostwriter of several best-selling books for various celebrities, including The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell with Marilyn Manson, The Dirt with Mötley Crüe, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale with Jenna Jameson, and Don't Try This At Home with Dave Navarro. After leaving The New York Times to ghostwrite the memoir of Jameson, Strauss authored The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (Regan Books, 2005), a book about a sub-culture of pick-up artists known as the seduction community. The book has made a month-long appearance in the New York Times bestsellers list in September-October 2005, and reached the #1 position on Amazon.com immediately after its release in the United States. His follow-up book, a controversial graphic novel How to Make Money Like a Porn Star, came out in 2006 on September 26.
The Game
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In The Game, Strauss tells the tale of his transformation into "Style," a pickup artist under the tutelage of Mystery. The book charts two years in his life. In addition to documenting his experiences with pickup artists like Mystery and Ross Jeffries, it also describes his interactions with celebrities including Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, and Courtney Love. Strauss writes of his distrust of pickup artists "Tyler Durden" and "Papa," the co-founders of Real Social Dynamics. In promoting his book, Neil appeared on various TV shows, including The View[4] and ABC Primetime. [5] In September 2007 copies of The Game started circulating with a sticker advertising a new book called The Rules of the Game. The sticker on the book includes a link to Strauss' website, www.neilstrauss.com. The website, as of October 2007, does not describe the content of the new book however.
The seduction community
In the Seduction Community, Strauss is known by the pseudonym "Style" (also known as "Chris Powles"). Three years after he had joined the community, he published an article in the New York Times about his experiences[6]. After publishing the book, Strauss temporarily retired as a pickup artist and settled with a long-term girlfriend Lisa Leveridge, who plays guitar in Courtney Love's all-female band The Chelsea.[7] An article in the Sunday Mirror, however, suggested that Leveridge broke up with Strauss in February 2006 to date Robbie Williams.[8] A more recent article in Ireland Online seems to indicate that she has broken up with Williams as well.[9] Strauss denied the Williams rumor, but confirmed his breakup with Leveridge on his mailing list a few months later. At the end of 2005, Strauss passed his knowledge, which he has titled the "Annihilation Method", to 5 selected followers at a three-day seminar at his California home. He recently sold 375 exclusive copies of the "Annihilation Method" program to those who arrived first on his website, only375.com. Strauss completed an interview with the popular seduction blog The Attraction Chronicles in mid-June 2006 that helped to give members of the community a glimpse into his goals and future influence in the seduction community.[10] Strauss recently held a private reunion teleconference ( Oct 12, 2007) with the men known as the "375" to see how they'd progressed in their lives. Of course, the number was actually lower than 375, as many people had returned the program, defaulted on payments or left/lost interest in the community. The actual number of copies sold is a closely held secret by Strauss. Some of Neil's top "375" students went on to publish their own seduction material, such as How to Fuck Strippers[11], a controversial book, by a former student. Others went on to found their own "new wave" seduction schools, such as Become Alpha, a school later featured in Forbes[12] and other major publications.
Stylelife Challenge
On May 31, 2006, through Neil Strauss' VIP mailing list, Strauss announced the Stylelife Challenge [1]. The challenge was for those who have trouble with women to get a date in 31 days or less. During the entire month of July 2006, participants were given daily challenges on the Stylelife website[2]. These challenges were designed to help men change their look and overcome their fears and hopefully get a date within the allotted time limit. While the primary goal was simply for participants to get a date, the most improved won a week-end in San Diego with the famous Inner Game guru 'Hypnotica' (see 'Rasputin' in the Game). The Grand prize winner was "Taste".
Stylelife Academy
On March 10, 2007, through Stylelife's mailing list, Strauss announced the Stylelife Academy[3], which he describes as "the first online school for self-improvement and attraction. Enrolled students study a variety of subjects ranging from mind-shaping, to body language, to story telling, to being a good conversationalist in daily online classes."
"Rules of the Game"
"Rules of the Game" [4] (Harper Paperbacks 978-0061540455) is a companion piece to Strauss's bestselling 2005 book, "The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists."'
While "The Game" was a memoir of Strauss's time in the pickup community, "Rules of the Game" is more of a how-to book on strategies for improving men's social lives. The book is slip cased edition of two volumes: "The Stylelife Challenge: Master the Game in 30 Days" and "The Style Diaries: The Pickup Artist's Companion."
The "Stylelife Challenge" provides an introductionary 30-day plan that includes techniques such as how to refine one's identity, how to approach strangers, how to get a phone number, how to perform cold reading, and other skills that will improve social success.
"Style's Diaries" is a collection of short stories that were not included in "The Game." These ribald tales include time Strauss quite possibly married a woman in Reykjavik, Iceland, a frightening seduction experience in Bangladesh, and other adventures. The collection of short stories also contains a comic strip by former Marvel and DC Comics illustrator Bernard Chang. Chang previously collaborated with Strauss on the bestselling "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star" and "The Game" as well as the graphic novel "How to Make Money Like a Porn Star."'
Bibliography
- The Long Hard Road Out of Hell (1998) ISBN 0-06-098746-4
- The Dirt (2001) ISBN 0-06-098915-7
- Don't Try This At Home (2004) ISBN 0-06-039368-8 ISBN 0-06-098853-3
- How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale (2004) ISBN 0-06-053909-7
- The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (2005) ISBN 0-06-055473-8
- How to Make Money Like a Porn Star (2006) ISBN 0-06-088405-3
- Rules of the Game (2007)
See also
References
- ^ http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0106/0106thegame.txt
- ^ Slushpile interview with Strauss
- ^ Interview with Strauss on MediaBistro
- ^ Neil Strauss on The View
- ^ Neil Strauss on ABC Primetime Live
- ^ Neil Strauss: "He Aims! He Shoots! Yes!!" The New York Times, January 25, 2004
- ^ Emma Forrest: "All the right moves." The Observer, September 11, 2005
- ^ "Exclusive: She's the 6ft One", SundayMirror.co.uk, February 19, 2006
- ^ "Robbie Williams: It could be a man for me." Ireland Online, September 11, 2006
- ^ Neil Strauss Interview
- ^ https://www.bang-strippers.com/how-to-fuck-strippers-book.html
- ^ http://www.forbes.com/leadership/2007/05/16/bootcamp-confidence-management-lead-careers-cx_mk_0517alpha.html
