The Game

correspondent, for research assistance, and for sesquipedalian e-mails worthy of a Joyce. Maybe not James Joyce, but at least Dr. Joyce Brothers. (You’ve been Stylemogged.) Thanks to Lovedrop, who created the original Mystery Method course handout. And thanks to Sue Wood, who patiently transcribed tape after tape, which was no easy feat considering the many hours of hypnosis and house meetings contained therein. Thanks also to Laura Dawn and Daron Murphy for laboring through additional tapes.
    Thanks to my many self-improvement instructors, among them Joseph Arthur (for voice lessons, infinite wisdom, and an eye-opening Esalen retreat) and Julia Caulder (for teaching me Alexander Technique and letting me watch her sing Wagner at the Los Angeles Opera).
    Thanks to everyone who read early manuscripts, among them Anya Marina, Maya Kroth, M the G, Paula and Hazel Grace, Marg the mean babysitter, and my brother, Todd, who now has images in his head that he’d rather forget.
    Finally, yes, Lisa and I are still together. And though I’ve learned everything there is about attraction, seduction, and courtship in the past two years, I learned nothing about maintaining a healthy relationship. Being together has required a lot more time and work than learning to pick up women ever did, but it has brought me far greater satisfaction and joy. Perhaps that’s because it is not a game.

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    Copyright © Neil Strauss 2005

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    First published in the USA by Regan Books, an imprint of HarperCollins
    Publishers
    First published by Text Publishing in association with Canongate Books Ltd 2005
    Reprinted 2005, 2006 (twice), 2007, 2008 (twice), 2009 (twice), 2010, 2011

    Typeset by Palimpsest Book Production Ltd, Polmont, Stirlingshire
    Printed and bound by Griffin Press

    ISBN 978 1 920885 98 4

    In order to protect the identity of some women and members of the community, the nicknames and identifying characteristics of a small number of incidental characters in this book have been changed, and two minor characters are composites.