The Shocker

Brad P. one of the new wave of PUAs is the innovator of The Shocker, both as a method and as a book. The book The Shocker explains the method. This book is about opening, specifically the technique and concept on opening Brad P. has termed The Shocker.

A brief note about this review. The Shocker is the first of 2 New products reviewed here (the second I’ll put up in the next few weeks). Since Seduction Review moved, time has been spent so-far, re-reviewing older courses and texts – and it has been fun to revisit techniques and styles, some of them have remained part of everyday game, almost all withheld the test of time (there isn’t really a timescale with seduction technology, but there is advancement) and some had been almost forgotten. And as far as uploading the older reviews, that is still very much in progress. However we still keep moving and The Shocker is here for that reason – it is new technology.

The Shocker by Brad P. can be downloaded from www.datinggurubrad.com for $39.00.

What is The Shocker? It is a type of opener – a concise technique for achieving the objectives that an opener should. The Shocker is described using examples and explained in terms of its component parts. But first it is put into context with an explanation of the purpose of openers. In a description of the objectives of an opening line, the first thing to note is that Brad P. adds one important category to the traditional wisdom of seduction opening. The five objectives of an opener he proposes are a fairly straightforward bunch, but with the exception of “establish high social value”, which was previously not within the territory of the opener.

Opening (direct or indirect) has mostly been seen as juggling a hot potato in the seduction community, you fling it out and move on. Within the confines of the opener, there isn’t much room to initiate any seduction material or express any personality conveying characteristics. The Shocker is a different approach. Within its delivery, the Shocker’s structure builds social value by coming from and creating in the interaction a “cool kid” frame.

So what of the practical application of The Shocker. It has a strong pedigree to become a standard opening technique in the seduction toolkit, it is a good innovation on the opening principles that ranks well with other innovations in seduction technology. At its core is the extra level of social value built naturally into its delivery. It is, above all else, effective.

In a seduction world saturated with discussions of opening – is a book on one technique of opening at all necessary? If this book were about one technique in only one aspect of game it would vastly exaggerate it’s own importance. Instead, by including the new technique in the context of other openers The Shocker provides a more complete perspective on this part of game.

The other openers covered include the standard Situational and Opinion openers. Along with the author’s take on what he terms High Value and Low Value openers, as well as using Cold Reads on opening. The use of these other openers is explained well with some good examples of each. Categorizing technique by their style and objective, as this book does, allows for the critique of each one’s merits. However, the scale by which openers are judged is often an arbitrary one, useful only to separate one type of opener from another. The real merits of the book lie in the explanation and examples of different styles of opening, not least the Shocker.

The context that is missing is the style and method of game that follows on from this opener, as Brad P. sees it. This would provide a further context in which to place the opener. For instance, from the perspective of the book, the cold read is seen only as an opening technique, as obvious as this might seem in a book on opening, it has the effect of misrepresenting the technique. The context of the sarge surrounding the opening moments is useful, even if just to discern how it can fit your own game.

Summary.

The Shocker is a good opener, it works. This book is a good book, it explains well the Shocker opener and others. if new to the game and looking at ideas on techniques of opening, you have to consider that there is usually a good amount given on opening from the other systems in other seduction eBooks. Some perspectives and their reasons that aren’t part of this book’s agenda. On the other hand you get a concise breakdown of opening technique in this book along with the means to create your own opener based on each principle, and at the heart of that is an innovative new opener.

You should know that The Shocker is only 45 pages long. In comparison with other seduction eBooks it is the shortest. At almost a dollar a page, is it worth it? It is one of the books that is full of useful information, not one of its 45 pages is wasted. The core principles by which the openers are judged is arbitrary, but does provide useful perspective. The concise nature of this book is one of its key strengths.

The fact remains that it is a simple concept, executed in a straightforward and easy manner. For this one area of your game you would pay the same amount that you would pay for a whole system or method in another book. And what is lacking is the perspective of the Shocker’s inclusion in overall game. The price isn’t the issue, but the content – there is always room to expand on any ideas in seduction, and do it intelligently. There is more than enough room for Brad P. to expand his ideas in this book.

Opening is a crucial (if often over emphasized) area of seduction, and technique has been around forever on this one subject. It is no mean feat to develop new method in this area, and the Shocker is that. The book teaches the technique of the Shocker well and provides a good reference to other openers in seduction.

Rating: Content Information/Ideas Value
Overall:

Seduction.. In Reverse!

The video below is seduction technique for us and by (and for) women. It’s a bit of fun, and a good reminder why we are all motivated towards seduction.

 

The independent academic criticism your used to on this site. Presented in this program: Suggestion; Sexual escalation; Using the principles of evolved cues to attraction. It can be broken down in any avenue of enquiry, but when applied it feels great for both of us.

Double Your Dating

Double Your Dating is a book that spawned a host of products from it’s creator David DeAngelo. David DeAngelo is a founding member of the modern seduction movement. With the release of this book in 2001 he moved into position as a creator of seduction ideologies. Double Your Dating is available from www.doubleyourdating.com, it costs $19.97.

The review below was originally written in early 2004 from a copy of the book bought in October 2003. That review has been updated, like all reviews, and posted now (August 2006).

This book sets out to redress the balance on everyday knowledge that doesn’t favor the modern man, at least when it comes to women. The book attempts to fill in the background on the understandings needed for dating success. And to provide some insight on behavior that fits the reality of what is attractive.

Double Your Dating is split into three parts, titled: ‘How to Think About Women‘; ‘How To Communicate With Women‘ and ‘Exactly What, When And How‘.

The first section, as its title suggests, is an exercise in re-framing. Through short sections on, for example “Where our desires come from”, “It’s OK to be a man” and “Internal states”, David DeAngelo reviews the perspectives that often curtail a man’s success with women. In proceeding texts on seduction the theories behind the skills take the context of explaining the adapted methods of seduction. Here though (and I give it credit as a pioneering text) the discussion of ideas fall into the education only category and any behaviors later in the book, as helpful advice.

The questions a book answers are dependant on the questions you need answers to. In learning seduction a man will have his own particular epiphanies (e.g. the “you mean women like sex too” moment). You can never be sure how much of what is obvious to you is in fact an obvious thing. And, of course, not everything is true in the impartial objective sense either. But what is true, is that if it means something to you then it makes a difference. After that brief aside I come back to my point, this book offers some obvious answers, but to points you may not have considered.

The second section of this manual deals, not surprisingly, with communicating. It is here that we find information about “How men usually find women” and “Personality traits that attract women”. And in the last pages of this section this book tackles techniques including “How to be funny”.

It is in the third section that we get the “how to’s”. “Where to Meet Women”; “How to Meet Women”; “Getting Phone Numbers and Email Addresses”. This is the basic stuff, that is not to say some of it isn’t useful, some of it is good. But it would be amiss of me not to point out that all of this has been covered more completely elsewhere.

The book comes with three (free!) supplements. I have said that when this book provides technique, it is presented as dating style advice. Partly this is to blame on the lack of a strong perspective and structured objective available. There is no coherent structure to the dating advice, more a list of things you should know. The free booklets are on ‘Critical Moments and Bridges’; ‘The Lover and Provider Personalities’ and ‘Sex Secrets’. The personality piece is arbitrary advice that could just as well be true as it could be untrue. The piece on sexual technique is much like the rest of the book, good advice, some of which may be useful to you. The piece on bridges offers the advice of a systematic approach but the rest of the book doesn’t provide a system around the bridges.

A question. Is the Dating of the title applicable to the student of seduction? The modern seduction method mainly exist outside the frame of dating, so is the Double Your Dating eBook more applicable to the ordinary fellow who just wants to have more dating success? It leans on ideas and behaviors that certainly fits a model of how to interact and appear attractive, with some advice on things like getting phone numbers. There is not a lot of depth to this and thus not a lot of seduction.

Summary. A book that gives a lot of introductory information to the ideas of seduction in dating. The ideas expressed in Double Your Dating cover all the main points that a seduction text should cover. It used to be one of the main introductions to seduction. I say used to as this book doesn’t have the complete feel of more recent titles. Many of the bases covered in this book are covered from a multitude of perspectives elsewhere, and with systematic approaches that make their application more complete and easy to follow. Competing texts have the benefit of ideology built not only around individual technique but around whole method.

The Double Your Dating eBook costs only $19.97. Providing you bought the book alone (subscription to David DeAngelo’s interview series that you can later op-out of seems to come as standard with this book) it seems good value at this price – given that it is roughly half the price of its competitors. This book can be one of the great bridges into the world of seduction, unlike many of the other books out there it doesn’t wholeheartedly abandon the dating frame. David DeAngelo’s position is not to diminish this world view for what it is but to expand it. So as an introduction that is mainstream friendly, David DeAngelo’s book is it.

Ratings: Information For The Money
Overall:

Tribute To Sarging

The Loveboy tribute to Sarging

At the tail end of 2004 the video below was released amongst the seduction community. Loverboy (the creator of the film) edited together a piece about his motivation to get into seduction. His tribute is a story many guys can relate to. P.S. For the uninitiated Sarging is the main community term for going out to pick up women.

It is included here for the relevance of learning, and maybe a bit of inspiration. Enjoy

Seduction School – A Short Review

Seduction School aired a little while ago (August 3rd) on channel 4 in the UK. I watched it recently, here’s is a brief review of the program as I saw it.

The show was about the transformation of guys with self-belief issues regarding the way they looked. Wayne (Juggler) Elise and Johnny saviour played the Hitch-like role of dating coach to these men.

First of all, there wasn’t a whole lot of seduction on show. The program wasn’t really about the seduction aspect of it but to transform the beliefs of guys who had always held themselves back through a negative self image.

It was a fun hour spent in front of the box. And with the format of the program you were rooting for the guys to nail their limiting beliefs and succeed.

I agree with many of the views on the show regarding the continuity. It’s not surprising that the development of the guys in the program seemed to stutter and then, just when you thought there was no hope, they pulled it out the bag and number closed some hot lasses. Built on the tensions of the moment, it made for more interesting TV, less like real life.

Another point that has been raised is the misplaced use of SOIs in the show. In the context of accepting that there is some creative editing by the program makers, the use of SOIs then seem less out of place.

After a full days instruction the program’s students were instructed to use SOIs into set about 15 minutes. The guys in the show, although not so evident to us as viewers, probably had more skill by this time than we were made aware.

The program’s producers, I expect should bear the brunt of criticism for misrepresenting a strong tool in the Juggler arsenal. One student (Dave) certainly became happy at using the SOI more or less upon opening, go figure.

What of Wayne and Johnny? Well, they came out of it pretty well. The brief glimpses of the quite direct and conversational style (of the Charsima Arts approach) worked nicely. Firstly though they came across as mean, forcing their students into the dreaded approach even before they had taught them anything. It’s certain though, that this is another media maneuver for compelling television. As for them as instructors, they presented the ideas well and led strongly in-field.

The show was less about seduction itself, and far more about the guys development. The reality of the fear of first doing this stuff was vividly clear, that does change. The guys the program was focused around were great and any mistakes that they made, we’ll forgive them. I wish them all continued success.

Seduction School Extra

Seduction School was broadcast in the UK on the 3rd of August. I was able to get to see a copy today, I will get round to giving a short take on the show soon.

But this is a brief note to draw your attention to an interesting follow up piece for Channel 4 Radio. In this broadcast, Wayne Elise (Juggler) and Jonny Saviour are recorded in-set in London bars.

You can listen to it at www.channel4radio.com

The Venusian Arts Handbook

Mystery Method produced a manual, released in October 2005. As a concise reference and learning tool for the student of the Venusian Arts. Venusian Arts is Mystery’s term: The Venusian Artist is the pickup artist, the master seducer, the student of seduction, the lover of women. Venusian Arts – the skillset. The term never really caught on.

At $68.00 it is the most expensive by a good way of the available written resources to the aspiring scholar of seduction. You can buy it from www.themysterymethod.com, note also that you can download Chapter 3 of the ‘Venusian Arts Handbook’ for free from themysterymethod.

This book is not entirely written by Mystery’s hand. And the contributing Venusian artists are some well known names: Lovedrop co-wrote (and edited), he is a Mystery Method instructor, a successful PUA in his own right, and has a great deal of experience of the material. Toecutter contributed on ‘winging’: for those who don’t know, Toecutter has been around in the seduction community for an age and has appeared at Cliff’s List Convention and with Pickup101 amongst others. With the (expected) contributed articles from Style, that infamous doyen of the seduction community and Mystery’s longtime wing, this product has strong credentials before you turn page 1.

Introducing Mystery Method. You are treated to a long introduction to the Venusian Arts in this book: forewords , quotes, about the author, dedications and contributions aside. All these things run into many pages, but it is the actual introductions to the ideas of Mystery Method that I’m referring to. Evolutionary theories, the context and role of the Venusian arts, this is explained early in the book. At its best it is useful re-framing info. from the perspective of seduction not often told, at its worst it is obvious pop-psychology.

The introductions to the concepts span many chapters in this book. Social status ideas are at the heart of Mystery Method and we are introduced to these early on. There is, not surprisingly, a good deal on this and of note is how the context is tightly bound to practical seduction. For instance, within context we are first told about peacocking.

The book at this point is covering it’s topic with sweeping broad strokes, but it is not without it’s advice. With a method like Gunwitch’s for instance you get real-world examples as to how things are. Mystery Method provide’s conceptual examples.

The broadest movement in seduction today follows an anthropological and evolutionary approach (drawing conclusions and basing behaviors on evolutionary theory). We know that the schools themselves are not mutually exclusive, but one of the main factors of this approach is the application of overall courtship structure that seduction will follow. Mystery IS the innovator of the structured approach, while other methodology recognises and utilises component structure, Mystery Method has set stages and rules and gambits for each.

The M3 model is Mystery Method’s structure, it’s concepts are again broadly introduced with the science behind the method. Mystery Method has a lot of depth, the discerning reader will not agree with everything that is in here, especially as much of the science surrounding our evolutionary past and present motivations forms a changing landscape (barely but still moving). But, it isn’t really essential to criticise the specifics – the practical applications themselves fit a dynamic model of evolution. In other words, the reasons behind the method may fluctuate, but the practice based on real-world application remains constant, effective and fits a variety of models to explain human mating.

Perhaps The Venusian Arts Handbook looks to explain the explanation too much. It is, of course, a book on seduction, we get about half way into the book before there is any real method to talk of.

The breakdown of the model. The M3 model is thoroughly explained (with all the background you’ve read up to this point on why it is the way it is, it makes good sense). The stages from approaching through comfort to seduction are all there and well illustrated. And standard Mystery concepts on social proof, the 3 second rule etc. are all there.

When we get to the techniques that fill out the model, we find them very well explained and always punctuated with a clear example. A word on the examples themselves: All are standard material by guys like Style and Maddash – all are still applicable, you wont find them going out of date any time soon, but unless this is your first foray into seduction technology material then you will probably have seen some before. The examples are there for the reason that they are amongst the best examples of the techniques explained, and you can use them but they mainly reveal the principles for the reader to re-create.

The book carries on in this vein, including articles and examples of gambits and illustrations to build a full picture of the Mystery Method system. Included: neg theory; IOIs; DHVs; group theory; multiple thread technique; and much more besides.

Summary: This is an introductory manual. It takes its reader through many of the theories behind pickup and seduction, through the M3 model and its various techniques. It makes the Venusian Arts a practical thing for its readers. Most importantly though it is an introductory manual to Mystery Method. There isn’t anyone (who is interested in learning the skills of seduction) who wouldn’t benefit from knowing the techniques of Mystery Method. And if you want to learn Mystery Method it is all in here.

Some things, like Style’s articles are repeats of examples that you most likely will have come across, but they remain solid examples. The real stuff doesn’t really kick off until you get to the second half of the book. For all the quality you find in this manual it is particularly drawn out, but again not much that isn’t relevant in one way or another.

A word on the price. It is expensive at $68.00, relative to the $40.00 of the majority of seduction texts. It is full of information and it is professionally laid out, is it worth it? The breadth of knowledge available in seduction books is about usefulness. In The Venusian Art’s 200 odd pages the system is useful and well laid out.

There are books that are poorly constructed, contain misplaced information, are full of filler material that overall don’t help. Those could be available for a piece of gum and cost too much. There are some long books that contain very little information, and there are some very short books that are full of useful knowledge. The Venusian Arts Handbook is very good, some parts of it are over long. Like all information (including seduction technology), it is worth what you are willing to pay. I’ve marked it down a bit on value because, relative to other good books reviewed here it costs much more, and relative to the best of those on quality – it is on a par for information and application merit. It is a strong candidate for being the best, complete system, at an extra cost.

Ratings: Content Examples Practical Application For The Money
Overall:

Update: The ‘Venusian Arts Handbook’ was essentially repackaged as The Mystery Method: How To Get Beautiful Women Into Bed.

I have looked at the new book and can safely say that although some things have been re-written, the differences are small enough that the review above applies to everything in this book, all except for the price. The Mystery Method book is available in hardcover from Amazon at only $11.97. Or for readers in the UK – from Amazon.co.uk at £8.44, Bargain!

Dynamic Sex Life

I first got a look at ‘Dynamic Sex Life’ in late 2004, and this review originally dates from March 2005. The book is available from www.dynamicsexlife.com and it comes with 4 hours of audio mp3 of Gunwitch talking you through the main points. ‘Dymanic Sex Life’ retails at $39.95.

Gunwitch, author of the ‘Dynamic Sex Life’ eBook, is a popular figure in the seduction community. He has a blunt honesty and straight-talking style that most often cuts to the chase.

The Format. It is a book about getting the sex life you want i.e. it is a book of the methods to get the girls you want in the sack. I say this because it occurs to me that the title might be mistaken as a sexual techniques manual. Gun divides his book into three sections: The fairly straightforward ‘Foundations’ ‘Advanced’ and ‘Mastery’.

The Foundations. Gunwitch’s foundations are all about re-framing. Giving you a clear understanding of the reality of the male-female dynamic. How the dating game is often falsely perpetrated by the media, by well-meaning friends and family, by the dreadful bookstore dating self-help books. If you live in this world, Gunwitch helps pull you out. A lot of this stuff might seem basic, but it is not always obvious, and Gun’s take on social conditioning raises many good points.

A part of the foundation section is concerned with looks, fashion and style. Good point: As it comes under the auspices of re-framing, its premise is to answer the questions guys have (and are presented with daily – again media involvement) surrounding the importance of these things. Bad point: it evolves into basic fashion advice which feels misplaced.

At the tail end of the foundations comes some basic conversational techniques and ideas for actual in-field work.

The Advanced. The advanced section contains Gun’s ideas on masculinity to add to your frame. The RAP* system is introduced, a good model for seduction. Concepts involving things like rapport and sexual state are discussed, and all in all it starts to build a nice system of how to go out, meet and seduce the women of your choice.

*On RAP. This is one of the cornerstones of the Gunwitch method, it is a model of a belief set, a good one that can actually make a difference in real situations.

A quick critical aside: Maybe one of the symptoms of having read many books on seduction, is the dread with which I approach the early section often labelled ‘My Story’. Gun doesn’t label it, but it’s there – the story of the day I decided to get my shit together. There are compelling, inspirational stories out there, it is about time that seduction experts realized that “the day I said enough is enough” is not in that category. Perhaps this is being too critical, this is a pedantic point aimed at a number of pick-up experts and not specifically Gunwitch. If you think that a little background understanding is nice then so be it: Well, for me, my motivation – like so many – was heartbreak.

For me it began in the Fall of 2002…

Enough.

Mastery. Gunwitch introduces the mastery section stating that the techniques taught in it are the cherry on top and that it is not NEEDED to get the sex life that you want. I like this, it is true that much material of seduction is of an advanced psychological nature and can be thought of as advanced toys – this does not detract from the usefulness or benefit of them, but lest we get carried away that much of seduction is in the basics. So what toys does Gun have for us. Some conceptual ideas, some ways of doing things – The Star; The Unicorn; The Vibe; T.E.A.M.S strategy plus others. And expansion on the RAP ideas.

Summary. A book for the conditioned man, as a good introduction AND a system (although not quite systematic) to follow. Gunwitch’s book is recommended as a text that will make real difference if coming from a point of starting out or with intermediate success, it presents the ideas that exponentially increase a successfully applied seduction.

Ratings: Ideas/Concepts Presentation Practical Application
Overall: