KEY POINTS:
Right fellas, never let it be said I don't help you out.
I am about to tell you the definitive secret to wooing a woman.
Be interesting.
Actually, it's not my secret. It's that of professional pick up artist Erik Von Markovik aka 'Mystery'.
"Be interesting and women will be interested in
you."
Apparently, people pay good money to find out this secret and other helpful hints, such as "the idea is to not creep them [women] out".
I, on the other hand, garnered this wisdom from watching the first season of reality show The Pick Up Artist.
The very fact there is an entire television series based on the art of picking up, shows what big business this has become.
Mystery isn't the only one getting in on the action. Journalist Neil Strauss made a mint out of exposing the pick up community with his book The Game.
He also picked up a few girls along the way.
Many of you will already know about these guys and probably have an opinion on them.
For a long time, I refused to write about "the art of picking up" as I vehemently object to the idea of deliberately manipulating women into a shag.
But then someone left a comment on my blog, which got me thinking.
Richard wrote: "To the girl who talked about The Game-reading losers. Ever thought that some guys are just so shy that they might read such books to help them with that?"
Perhaps he has a point.
Speaking to a friend, Tim, who has read the book and employed the techniques with some success, he pointed out that Strauss' book is not actually intended to get men laid.
It is about trying to achieve happiness in life.
While some men may use the techniques described in the book to pick up lots of women, that is, apparently, not the point.
But, I argued, how is anyone going to be happy if they are pretending to be someone they're not?
To which he explained that the techniques are merely conversation starters, to get men past that first awkward meeting and on to a second date.
After that, you let your real self shine through.
I'm still not 100 per cent sold on the idea but it if helps shy guys like Richard, then maybe it's not so bad.
Unfortunately, I would argue, the real secret to picking up is confidence. And somehow I doubt any book can help you with that.
So, what I want to know is, has anyone tried these "techniques" and just how successful were you?
