Review Detail

Update September 2011

This ebook has been upgraded to a 2nd edition - see here: The Popular Life 2nd edition.

A confrontational writing style

This book was originally called “Popular Prick” and had a very “in your face” writing style that made some readers uneasy. It has since been renamed “Popular Life”, but the prick-like style is still largely there. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as I found it quite amusing myself, and it may provide a much-needed kick in the pants for newbies.

Another potential issue with this book is the large amount of filler: too much time is wasted boasting about how great the advice is – and it’s not a big book to start with (less than 100 pages).

Still, if you can get past the confrontational style and the fluff, there are good ideas in here.

The book starts by emphasizing taking action; the importance of changing now, not tomorrow; many pages push you to wake up and stop selling yourself short. A good, necessary message that is repeated a bit too much, but the aggressiveness of the tone is particularly effective here.

Quote:

“If you don’t change right now (…) you’ll soon look into the mirror and realize you are old and your dreams have passed you by. Instead of dreaming about your future, you’ll dream of getting back to the youth you're wasting away right now."

Change your personality, start to fit in

The main thesis of the book is that you have to become compatible with society, and not the other way around. Many socially unsuccessful people, the idea goes, think fitting in is “uncool”, and that is one of the root of their problem. You have to drop any rebellious, intellectual attitude and stop thinking about yourself as somehow above others, because that won’t take you very far socially.

After developing for some length on the above, the book then gives tips for Personality Change. You will be familiar with most of them if you have read self-development books before: stop your negative self-talk, be positive about life, etc etc.

Then the author explains the basics of improving your social ability and social life: each new person/group is a new opportunity. You need to contribute (=talk) and not stay quiet, or you will be judged for not saying anything. What you say matters less than actually saying something. This section is probably the best of the book and the tips are very valuable.

Good, simple ideas, and a lot of motivating power

While far from amazing overall, this book does contain good ideas and has a lot of motivating power. Written by someone not connected to the “seduction community”, it is free of jargon and acronyms and easy for anyone to understand, and some of the tips are refreshing compared to what you usually hear.

However, this ebook is also more basic than most community products, and it is purely about being social and meeting people. While this will certainly lead to more options in your dating life, you won’t get any targeted advice on meeting women here.

If you are a beginner to the studying of dating skills, and you have a negative / pessimistic / introverted personality, you could enjoy this and benefit from it. More experienced/advanced guys should not bother.