In the end, everyone seems flummoxed by human sexual behavior. Is it red and sore from overuse? Or … for another reason? There's also a tremendous amount of guilt, which, Strauss finds, could lead to intensive therapy, which might eventually lead to checking into an institution for 'sex addiction.' Then there's the chance that you'll become addicted to the very therapy that's supposed to free you from all of your other addictions-if you ever had any to begin with.Īnd let's not forget the poor, injured penis, which looms large over the proceedings like the pendulum in Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum. This is a world filled with unfathomable amounts of sex, but also a lot of bad sex. Sounds fun, doesn't it? This is not the sexual fantasy that Strauss, or anyone else, imagined as a horny teen. Strauss took much heat for The Game, and now says that it makes him 'cringe.' So is this new volume a true act of atonement, or merely an effective marketing scheme that better fits with today's myriad edicts on how to have a healthy, respectful relationship, long-term or otherwise? Romance and sex were finally theirs for the taking, and the key to the kingdom was handed to them by a 5'6' bald, self-described nerd who didn't lose his own virginity until his early twenties and then ended up with a penis rubbed raw from copious amounts of sex.īut that was ten years ago, and now, here comes the antidote: The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships, out this week.

These men were no longer losers, but Pick Up Artists (or PUAs), roaming bars with clever patter and 'flair' on their clothing and magic tricks up their sleeves. Most importantly, however, The Game finally gave good reason for male virgins to make their way squinting into a bright, new world. It still ranks nineteenth among all of Amazon's thousands of self-help sex books.

It was the one book that frat boys read that year for pleasure. It oozed its way into all corners of pop culture, going so far as to be referenced on The Simpsons. The Game was a philosophy, a movement, a way of life. This was more than a book this was a dating bible for the 21st century that even reflected a holy book's design: faux leather cover, with gold gilding on the edges. In 2005, Neil Strauss unleashed The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists onto the world, and, like herpes, it seems incapable of ever leaving our system.

The game neil strauss review