The Art of Seduction
by Robert Greene
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Book Reviews of The Art of Seduction
Book Review: My guide for those interested in buying:
Summary: 5 Stars
When I received this book in the mail I was surprised at the size of it (nearly 500 pages). I was slightly concerned that such a large book (with such small font, as well) would not be able to maintain my interest, but after skimming into random pages, I found the writing quite engaging and interesting.
THE FIRST HALF OF THE BOOK:
is littered with anecdotes of historical figures engaged in the act of seduction or being seduced, from Cleopatra to Casanova, and more. Each anecdote is strategically placed to introduce a specific personality trait and to demonstrate its effect on the target. The author then breaks down the persona, explaining the reason for its appeal and the psychological effects it evokes. Finally, a "keys to the character" section provides a "what to do and what not to do" guide that I found myself using my hi-lighter pen quite alot on for future reference. The author encourages you choose the traits that are most appealing to you, to help you focus on emphasizing the seductive areas of your personality.
THE SECOND HALF OF THE BOOK:
follows the same physical structure as the first half, with historical anecdotes introducing key elements that are then broken down and psychologically explained. However, instead of explaining personality traits, the second half of the book focuses on step-by-step social interaction, from first meetings, to conversations, to sending mixed signals, and so on. Every chapter is analyzed in depth, providing the reader with a sound-enough understanding of romantic interaction so as to enable one to quite literally bring a target to follow you around like a child, or, if you want, to drive them wild with infatuation.
Overall, this book is great if you like learning, are interested in psychology, and want to develop a mastery of romantic social interaction. I highly disagree with those reviewers that call this book manipulative. Ignorance. Manipulation is to adjust the actions of another. This book focuses on adjusting your own actions to maximize your seductive appeal. Terrific book. I am very glad I bought it.
EXERPTS:
"Low self-esteem repels, confidence and self-sufficiency attract. The less you seem to need other people, the more likely others will be drawn to you. Understand the importance of this in all relationships and you will find your neediness easier to suppress. But do not confuse self-absorption with seductive narcissism. Talking endlessly about yourself is eminently anti-seductive, revealing not self-sufficiency but insecurity."
"People are inherently perverse. An easy conquest has a lower value than a difficult one; we are only really excited by what is denied us, by what we cannot possess in full. Your greatest power in seduction is your ability to turn away, to make others come after you, delaying their satisfaction."
"The way insinuation works is simple: disguised in a banal remark or encounter, a hint is dropped. It is about some emotional issue- a possible pleasure not yet attained, a lack of excitement in a person's life. The hint registers in the back of the target's mind, a subtle stab at his or her insecurities; its source is quickly forgotten. It is too subtle to be memorable at the time, and later, when it takes root and grows, it seems to have emerged naturally from the target's own mind, as if it was there all along."
Book Review: Money well spent!
Summary: 5 Stars
I highly suggest this book to anyone who has trouble in the relationship department. The Art of Seduction is a no holds barred approach to seduction, the art of using another person's emotions towards you to gain what you want from them be it sex, money, or companionship. Mr. Greene pays no attention to the lofty ideals of romantic bliss, such as Romeo and Juliet, except for pointing out the weakness of such thoughts in a "victim". If your are one of these people I suggest you read the book to notice the signs of being seduced. There are countless comparisons of seduction and warfare scattered through out the text. Personally, I acquired the book in order to understand what had went wrong in previous relationships and was very pleased to find the answers in these masterfully written pages. The book begins by listing several archetypes of seducers such as the Charmer, the Coquette, and the Rake. You are to find which one of these qualities fits you, use it to your advantage and learn to recognize these traits in other people. There is also a very useful section on anti-seductive qualities which you must root out from your character. Following the types of seducers is a section on the types of victims ranging from Reformed Rake or Siren to New Prudes. After the introductory lessons of seducers and victims comes the meat of the book which breaks seduction down into 24 steps. For every seducer, victim, and step of the seduction process there is at least one example and several sidenotes. The key to a successful seduction is not giving the victim what they THINK they want, but getting to know them well enough that you can supply what they need. This book is written extremely well and is easy to follow and apply. However, several readers will view the book as too amoral. Without a doubt the information provided is held to no standards of morality or society. The way you use the information is at your own discretion, personally I am now able to recognize others applying seduction to gain something from me and I have employed some of The Art of Seduction tactics to improve personal relationships. In life, you decide whether to be the wolf that preys on the sheep or the sheep who simply exists. If nothing more this book will provide validation for several of the questions you may have about people around you and whether they are a sheep, a wolf, or a wolf in sheep's clothing. Mr. Greene doesn't use the analogy of wolf and sheep but I think it helps to convey the message. If you wish to interact with society I suggest you read this book and apply it's message. That is unless you are a completely contented person and have no kind of psychological hang-ups, in which case the contents of this book are much less relevant. However I doubt there are many of you reading this who can honestly claim to have complete happiness. As Robert Greene states, people who are content and psychologically stable have little chance of being seduced.Book Review: Seduction equals turning people into objects for your selfishness
Summary: 1 Stars
Several years ago I picked up a book called "The Art of Seduction" by Greene. Its very organized, with history, quotes, and sorta "how to's" but its seriously dry reading. The author writes with a sense of egotism so large I find it appalling... in fact it reads like a manual for chaos and revenge.
Because in this sense seduction is about exploiting the weaknesses in others to a selfish means that can only leave its "victim" (as it is referred to in the book) totally manipulated, used, if not destroyed. Seduction in this sense is the epitome of getting high off of others so the seducer is the narcissist... its about power and power struggles... that if you ask me such tasks are too bothersome and complicated.
Totally missed is the fact that the seducer may have voids of their own which are totally dependent on the validations of others. Not to mention addictions or what have you... Granted the book does cover the consequences of such things... to a small degree.
In conclusion, all of us have seducing capabilities, anti seducing traits, and weaknesses. There's a small portion of the book dedicated to the "victims" of such charmers. Because if you're going in for a kill you must know where people fall short right? Right....
However... the difference between a seducer and a friend... is that you can reveal your weaknesses to your friend, and they wont exploit them to the extent of a seducer. If at all! A real friend will tell you things that you need to hear, even if its hard to hear, but that's what a REAL friend is.
Maybe seduction has its fun qualities but if you're treating your so called "victims" like objects eventually it will back fire. Cause look, while a roll in the hay is fun, no one wants to be reduced to a bike ride... because bikes or roller coasters etc. are machines... and if people were machines it would be easy. But they are not, they have emotions, and they are complex.
That's why seducers have to have a bunch of people available to them so no one can get burned too quickly or what have you. Its a lot of gaming.
In conclusion I find this book to be interesting at least, but a total car crash. I think its good to have people in your life, interact with them, whatever... but if you need so much power that you are tapping everything you can then it makes you look freaking creepy and scary... even if you have cloaked yourself with so many charms you appear approachable.
Book Review: Word of Caution for the Chronically Emotionally Disfavored
Summary: 3 Stars
I wanted to comment on the book, and I apologize to all concerned parties for being somewhat unfair, as I have not read the entire work.
Nevertheless, I need to warn on an important issue. Many people who have problems finding, sustaining and exercising their seduction power run into important psychological dilemmas. These are due to chronic loneliness, chronic fatigue, bitterness, and long-held anger, among other complicated factors.
My warning comes on these lines: If you have low self-esteem, anger issues, are used to being lonely (and this is not uncommon for the straight-A student who once held such academic glory or for the dedicated capitalist employee trying to strike it big) reading any book won't solve the problem of this lack of power.
What I mean is that we are so used to being ourselves, that it is difficult to break-off patterns. People we deal with or avoid on a daily basis are used to seeing us the way we behave ourselves. As one of the chapters well put it, they "unconsciuosly sense our (awkardness)" so to speak. I'm not saying these patterns cannot be broken but do expect years or decades before doing so.
This is one of the reasons many people who write about power in the world and in seduction, as being a part of our nature where we seek such power to meet very specific and basic needs on many levels, claim that it is by far one of the most difficult things a human being can accomplish. I'm not speaking of finding someone and sleeping with them or marrying them or staying in a relationship if that's what you want. I'm speaking of true power where you get the persons you REALLY want, you REALLY like, you REALLY relate to and in those instances where you don't get the target you get the need and the attraction of the target off your chest. That is, to gain this power of seduction is to be OK on most levels with oneself, and this becomes difficult because most people had bad childhoods inherited by parents who also had bad childhoods and so forth, and all this occured on a subconscious level.
This is just an opinion of mine and a warning of not spending your hard earned money on something you won't be reading but for entertainment. If it's entertainment you want, buy the book, but don't delude yourself into thinking this power will come easy. It will take commitment and years of self-discovery, self-knowledge, self-healing for most of us.
Book Review: A book for a more heated loving relationship
Summary: 5 Stars
I originally wanted to find a book to improve the relationship with my wife when I saw this book. I didn't think I would go near it at first since I don't want to ruin my already not so perfect relationship and I definitely don't want my wife to love anyone else more than me. But then, I wonder how I would know if my wife is being seduced. Or going further, how I could beat the others to put myself on top of her most seductive guys list. For this second thought, I bought this book and read it in secret.
Each chapter unfolded a piece of secret of our complex human psyche. Some of the ideas are against what I was told to believe. They are like the truth we are not supposed to talk about.
And then, it changed me. This book explained to me a lot of human behaviours that made me understand my wife differently. I started to pay more attention to the interactions between us. I started to understand why she reacts in a certain way. Even in public, I started to recognize who she likes and who wants to get close to her.
This book taught me how to stir up desires and wants with proofs from many famous people at any point in time in history. I can now understand why couples cheat for their failure to deal with boredom. I know it sounds bad to doubt the one I love and to have less than total faith in her. However this book made me think that I am lying to myself if I use the word "faith" to cover my eyes. For better or worst, this book changed my view point of relationship and even marriage. I don't want to use the word "marriage" as a stop sign for stirring up emotions and desires.
This book suggests a lot of bad things; to be cruel, to be manipulative and to cause pain but they are all quite useful. And now I don't care if I should be a perfectly loving husband. All I know is it feels good when my wife wants me so much more after seeing me being surrounded by other good looking women. I now even deliberately make myself unavailable for most of her family and friends' gatherings, and then show up occasionally to surprise her.
I can already hear a lot of scolding for my comment above (including a loud one from my mother). Perhaps the ideas in this book are all wrong. But they are all too seductive for me to not use them. And I know it sounds phony to cause pain and be cruel in order to find more love. But if I am to be burned in hell for playing with my wife's emotions, I wish to be burned with all the heat I can find in her.