I am one of the subscribers to the Neil Strauss mailing list, and just a few minutes ago I read one of his latest e-mails talking about how the media has been portraying pick up artists. With the exception of The Pick Up Artist in its first and second seasons on VH1, much of the media has portrayed pick up in a very negative light. And Neil Strauss remarks “this kind of pisses me off.” I don’t blame him.

Neil Strauss is the New York Times best selling author of The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists. In the book, he candidly and vividly describes his journey from being a writer for Rolling Stone to transforming himself into one of the world’s most renowned pick up artists. Neil Strauss, also known by his pick up name Style, is now one of the foremost authorities on the art of the pick up. Of course, his writing career and success in the public light has definitely given him, and his buddy Mystery, a hand in launching themselves into the spotlight.

The fact that the show on VH1 has had such a positive message really has to do with Mystery being at the helm of the project. No doubt, the producers of the show made sure to stick to the pattern at the end of every episode when one of the contestants gets eliminated to say “this is not about picking up girls, it’s about building a life.” In fact, it truly is. Neil Strauss made the argument in his recent newsletter that pick up “socializes men” and the more social people are, the less anti-social behavior we will have.

In terms of who is the best pick up artist in the world is, I am under the personal opinion that Neil Strauss, aka Style, is no doubt the world’s best, for one simple reason – he knows he is not. His attitude to learning about social dynamics, romance, and dating is to not follow one teaching source and claim it as superior to all others as the marketing of each of these programs would like you to do. Instead, learn from all different sources you possibly can and figure out what works best for you.

Some people might want to follow the earliest known major pick up guru, Ross Jefferies, to the extent of dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s, while others may want to be loyal to Mystery, or David DeAngelo. Style chooses to follow an eclectic viewpoint.

But back to my original point: this is a developed field, and could even argued as being an area of fringe psychology almost the same as NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). Under my understanding of pick up as a psychology student currently working his way toward a bachelors degree at the University of Houston, some of the most major breakthroughs involving social dynamics made in our time have been made by people like Mystery and the rest of the “seduction community.” Pick up is about helping others to understand the initial triggers and mechanisms of attraction at a social level; pick up is not for losers or violent criminals.

Alas, however, Neil Strauss does not just stop at being the author of the most well known book in the pick up community, he also has his own online training program (one that I imagine would draw from all the best methodologies) at his website, Stylelife Academy. Check it out at StyleLife.com.