Those who have read early drafts of this book have all asked the same questions: Is this true? Did it really happen? Are these guys for real? Thus, I find it necessary to employ an old literary device... The following is a true story. It really happened. Men will deny it, women will doubt it. But I present it to you here, naked, vulnerable, and disturbingly real. I beg you for your forgiveness in advance. Don't hate the player... hate the Game. In THE GAME, Neil Strauss deives into the bizarre underworld of 'pick-up artists' - men who have devoted their lives to different techniques of seducing women. These are men with their own vernacular and codes of honour, who operate online and in person, who are so committed to honing their strategies that they give each other seminars and live together in shared houses - or 'Projects', as they like to call them. Neil Strauss lived among the players and survived - but not before he became one of them. In the course of two years, he transformed himself from a self-confessed balding, skinny writer into the quick-thinking, smooth-talking Style, a character irresistible to women, half psychologist, half magician. Britney Spears. By turns jaw-dropping, poignant and side-splittingly funny, THE GAME is a gripping portrait of a mad, self-referential community in the process of slow implosion. With guest appearances from Paris Hilton, Tom Crulse (whose character in Magnolia is based on a real-life pick-up artist) and Courtney Love, who lived with Neil in 'Project Hollywood' for a while, THE GAME is also the most sensational relationships manual since The Rules, essential reading for men and women alike.