Neil Strauss

And so it was that Mystery and I found ourselves out on New Year's Eve

You are being led

Eric Weber, whose book How to Pick Up Girls

For the rest of the drive back to his apartment

honest, and hiding

I returned home one Sunday night from San Diego to find a message

Yet, at the same time, living for experiences also means wanting the novelty and adventure of dating different women.

After approaching the group, he continued, the key is to ignore the woman you desire while winning over her friends-especially the men and anyone else likely to cockblock. If the target is attractive and used to men fawning all over her, the pickup artist must intrigue her by pretending to be unaffected by her charm. This is accomplished through the use of what he called a neg.

Neither compliment nor insult, a neg is something in between-an accidental insult or backhanded compliment. The purpose of a neg is to lower a woman’s self esteem while actively displaying a lack of interest in her-by telling her she has lipstick on her teeth, for example, or offering her a piece of gum after she speaks.

Besides confidence and a smile, we learned, the other characteristics of an alpha male were being well-groomed, possessing a sense of humor, connecting with people, and being seen as the social center of a room.

I have an opener for you to use,” he said to me. An opener is a prepared script used to start a conversation with a group of strangers; it’s the first thing anyone who wants to meet women must be armed with. “Say this when you see a group with a girl you like. ”Hey, it looks like the party’s over here.“ Then turn to the girl you want and add, ”If I wasn’t gay, you’d be so mine.“”