I got a book in the mail today; The Natural Art of Seduction, by Richard "Gambler" La Ruina. My Mom opened it (she ordered something in my name and we thought it'd be that, so I told her to open it) ...she then laughs at me as if I'm weird. I'm pretty comfortable with learning this stuff, but it has got me thinking... am I a weirdo? How would you feel in this situation? I mean seriously, don't try to sound all alpha like nothing bothers you... if it would. How would you feel, and how would you respond? I said "Oh I forgot all about that, I'm glad that finally came. Can't wait to read it" like "well if it doesn't creep me out, it won't bother other people either" rather than "OMG JUSTIFY IT QUICK"

I did feel weird though. I felt like my porn stash had just been found. She thinks I'm kind of weird for having self help books like How to Win Friends and Influence People... so imagine how a PUA book will go down? Whole family will probably get to hear about this, chode cousin included. Their "banter" is annoying. I'm the smart guy of the family, so I usually shut down anything like that and flip it back on them, but I still feel like I've been discovered as being a weirdo.

In MY mind it's like "Yea I want to improve myself, and I'm interested to learn even more about how a womans mind works... so what? You wouldn't judge somebody for wanting to improve other areas of their life; it'd be perfectly acceptable if it was a highway code book, or a book on algebraic expressions or some other shit" ...but my beta self is still a little ashamed.

I've painted my Mom to be a horrible person here, but she's not, I'd have reacted exactly the same 4-5 years ago if a friend had this book.

Sorry for the rambling.

_________________
I grew out of the dumb shit I used to say on here. Most of my posts don't represent who I am today at all.

if you feel uncomfortable about that, then you have inner issues.

Thanks... kind of. You said exactly what I said, just in less words

_________________
I grew out of the dumb shit I used to say on here. Most of my posts don't represent who I am today at all.

why you asked if you already knew the answer?

Some of my friends know that I'm into this. Of course I don't go around and tell everyone "Hey, did you know I'm a PUA?" That'd be just stupid, but I'm totally cool with telling this to people in the apropriate circumstances. Some are skeptical about it or have second thoughts, but at the end of the day:

I'm getting laid.
I'm improving.
I won't let anything hold me back, especially not other people's opinion.

Even my girlfriend knows all about this, she thinks it's great that I'm here on the forums and help other guys with their problems, and doesn't give a shit about what kind of person I could have been a couple of years ago when I started it, way before we met. She's a clever girl, knows that I'm not a pretender.

Also, about your mom's reaction. She probably has 0 clue about what this really is or what it means to you, I'm sure she'd understand otherwise.

_________________
"Bros before hoes"

Relationship guide: extended-relationship-guide-vt170687.html

http://wayoftheplayer.com/become-a-player/instinct

There have been books on seduction for a LONG time. Literally hundreds of years.

I would imagine her thought on it, is it's more like a normal book, than like crazy pickup stuff like Mystery(and she'd be correct).

_________________
RSDTyler

Thanks, that's the best angle to look at it from. I like that. This girl I'm currently... meeting. She knows all about PUA, says it's manipulation and blah blah (admits it's down to jealousy and insecurity that I'm going to go and use it all on other girls lol)

Thanks to the others for your replies

_________________
I grew out of the dumb shit I used to say on here. Most of my posts don't represent who I am today at all.

ENOUGH SAID.

Follow your heart and your gut. You are separating yourself from the bored and boring masses. Self development is where it's at. Keep it up.

I wouldn't be really embarrassed but I just wouldn't be stupid to let someone know that I know about PUA material.

_________________
Control your own destiny, you are a genius...

I was featured in Brad's weekly mPUA Forum email for 14/08/15: http://i.imgur.com/Axh5r1D.jpg

Why not? If you wanted to get better at playing the piano... would you hide all of the material that you used to learn, in the hopes that people would think you're just a natural?

_________________
I grew out of the dumb shit I used to say on here. Most of my posts don't represent who I am today at all.

If the piano book also contained chapters about how to have sex with my dog and why nursing homes are a great place to steal food from, yes, I probably would.

There's so much weird PUA stuff, I would not want to say "I read this" because they're most likely to think I'm following most of it, instead of rejecting %90 of it.

_________________
RSDTyler

Most people won't understand that you're trying to improve yourself.

I had a guy I worked with walk into my office on me reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People"... You'd think I got caught watching porn in a church the way those guys reacted to it.

On the other hand... Don't read "pick up" books. Those are actually pretty weird

Geez, what kind of PUA books do you guys read? A couple of years ago when I was starting out I really used to be the "read all do nothing" kind of guy(which was a big waste of time btw), but I don't remember many weird things in any of them, maybe except for MM because that whole neg theory, routines, constructed DHV stories and rating women based on how good they look stuff was weird, but other than that I really don't remember much that was freaky.

_________________
"Bros before hoes"

Relationship guide: extended-relationship-guide-vt170687.html

http://wayoftheplayer.com/become-a-player/instinct

Lol. Most pickup books are weird. Most of pickup is weird. This site for me has a banner that says "Learn how to bang 5 girls in a day" or some bs. Gamblers book cover looks like a romance novel. Isn't Gambler the guy who's method includes touching boobs secretly and pussy kino at the bar or something? To a person not in pickup, 99% of the material is gonna sound and look weird as hell. If your mom read MM, she'd read "who lies more" and think wow how weird. If she read RSD she'd read "I like salad"..."Nimbus" "Ekhart Tolle" and she'd think wow...really weird. It's all weird guys, accept the fact that most people would find devoting your time to figuring out how to sleep with chicks as WEIRD. Just do whatever works for you, learn, practice and when your friends ask "wow, you've changed" you can say you read X, y or z. But people knowing your studying pickup before you begin to improve would only hold you back.