The Art of Seduction
by Robert Greene
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert GreeneEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-10-07
ISBN: 0142001198
Number of pages: 467
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780142001196
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Art of Seduction
Book Review: Do you know his girlfriend helped him write it?!
Summary: 5 Stars
It greatly saddens me how many have misunderstood this book because I have encountered so many people who could really use it to enrich their own lives and the lives of those they might build connections with. I'm going to use this review to clear up some misconceptions of the book and give a few points of advice in using it.
There are some who read the Art of Seduction and immediately assume from the language Greene uses that it can only be used by someone who wants to gather conquests, or to sexually or emotionally exploit people and make them their playthings. Some may look at the term "victim" and associate it with someone who is victimized, whose life is greatly torn apart.
I'll start by pointing out a quote from the Acknowledgments section that many seemed to have missed: "First, I would like to thank Anna Biller for her countless contributions to this book: the research, the many discussions, her invaluable help with the text itself, and, last, but not least, her knowledge of the art of seduction, of which I have been the happy victim on numerous occasions." Greene still lives with his girlfriend. He talks about his own seduction in an interview which I've posted in the comments, which may also clear up some misunderstandings.
If you read the book carefully, especially the chapter on victim types, you'll recognize that when Greene uses the term "victim", he is referring to concepts of which exploitation can be a part, but helping enrich someone's life can also be. First, we are victims in the sense that, when we are seduced, our seducer opens a defining wound or wounds in our personality, such as dissatisfaction with our circumstances or something about us. We all have things we lack in our lives or desires we've repressed, even if we are afraid to admit it. The seducer fills this wound and we give into their seduction (if it is done right) because it is an uncontrollable desire. The term "target" refers to this as a reference to the metaphor of Cupid's arrow. Second, we are victims of a seduction in the sense that our old life is gradually left behind or destroyed as we come into a new life that our seducer leads us toward. Whether this new life is good or bad for us in the long run depends on our seducer and the type of need met.
Some also say that to follow the Art of Seduction, you are not being your authentic self; that you are acting out a kind of fake simulation of a fantasy figure for the seduced. To these people I would point out a concept in social psychology known as the Fundamental Attribution Error: in the initial impressions we get of others, we have a tendency to attribute the behaviors someone engages in to their overarching personality traits rather than to the circumstances of the situation. If you reveal intense or vulnerable sides of yourself soon off in a relationship, people will assume that is how you tend to be--they don't know enough about you to think otherwise. This is why being completely honest can backfire on you. In the seductive process, you are gradually revealing yourself. Now, it is true that in a love affair you are to some degree applying a fantasy aura to some of your traits, but this can be a pleasurable way to bring out the private side of your target which will help them to expand and enrich their life.
Why does Greene write as he does? Perhaps the following quote will shed some light on this issue: "The problem in writing such a book [The 48 Laws of Power], as I saw it then, was the massive amount of confusion surrounding the subject. Few people like to admit they are motivated by ambition or a hunger for power. That seems too ugly. If somehow they attain some success in life it is because of their goodness or talent, never because of any maneuvering or political gamesmanship. Many people are masters at passive aggression--disguising their grabs at power behind a benign or smiling façade.
All of this moralizing and denial creates a great deal of fog. To pierce this fog and get at the reality, I devised a method that has served me well in all of my subsequent writings: I would ignore people's words and justifications; instead, I would study their actions. To show what is timeless and universal in this hunger for power, I would look at the most illustrious people in history--all periods, all cultures--and ruthlessly dissect their successes and failures." [...]
There are some things we may find hard to acknowledge about love. The idea that being thrown about in emotional turmoil or getting emotionally rough treatment can engender confidence and a greater ability to engage with the world may be disturbing to some, but it can, as it did for Napoleon, and Nietzsche to some extent.
Greene may have also written in the way he did and given so many destructive examples because he wanted to caution people about the possible ruin we need to fight against in love. We need to be able to perceive when a seducer wants to exploit us rather than help us, and we need to know which of our desires can be self-destructive.
Greene deliberately avoids putting his personal philosophy on seduction in to the book. You can get some sense of it in a video interview, of which the following is an excerpt: [...]
"The thing in seduction is everybody that you're dealing with is an individual and your problem is you're bringing with you your baggage, your past, your stereotypes about who a man is or what a woman is like. The other sex is almost, Freud said, is like another country. You know you don't really understand them in any way, so you bring with you all of these stereotypes, these preconceptions and you just throw them on that person, and then you also have these lines that you learn from Robert Greene's book, all right, the Game or some other stupid thing like that, and then you know it's like you're not dealing with that person as who they are, and they know it and they feel it and it feels empty and mechanical, and so I preach it in The Art of Seduction is knowing that person, gathering intelligence on them. I hate to put it that way. Figuring out what makes them tick, who they are, what they're needs are, what they're missing in life, what they want. [...] If you're able to make that person feel like an individual and that they are wanted and desired for who they are then you're going to seduce them whether your try boldness or whatever it is. So it's more like individualizing the people you're trying to seduce or reach in life."
Now I'll talk about a few points of advice I have in using the book. First, it's useful to try to interpret the overriding principles or methods in the stories, which sometimes have a meaning that is at first obscure. This might be done by taking notes, in which you might also outline and summarize the text. Second, carefully study the victim types chapter and look for examples of each type throughout the text to understand yourself and the people you find seductive; they are made most clear in Phase 3. Some of our lacks can lead us to withdraw and be self-destructive, while others can lead us to enrich our lives, such as becoming more confident, opening up ourselves more, or confronting parts of life that we may have been afraid to. These aren't all clear at first. Third, the steps in each phase of the seductive process aren't all that step-by-step; there's a lot of going back and forth and mixing among the steps. In addition, certain steps are only useful with certain personality types. Lastly, as a previous reviewer mentioned, it is useful to look at other books on social development to effectively apply the principles of the book. Some subjects to look into are conversation skills, humor, conflict management, storytelling, body language, and behavioral modification. In addition, study books and magazines on topics you are interested in and that your target or your target's group may be interested in. It can also be useful to read about the seducers or victims you identify with in the Art of Seduction.
Summary of The Art of Seduction
This mesmerizing exploration of the most subtle, elusive, and effective form of power is a masterful analysis of civilization's greatest seducers, from Cleopatra to JFK, as well as the classic literature of seduction from Freud to Kierkegaard and Ovid to Casanova. Robert Greene once again identifies the rules of a timeless, amoral game and explores how to cast a spell, break down resistance, and, ultimately, compel a target to surrender. Presenting the timeless profiles of each type of seducer and the twenty-four maneuvers that will guide you step by step in the game of seduction, The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer of persuasion that reveals the timeless power of this age-old art.Psychology & Counseling Books
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