Like his other exercises in opportunism (on power and war) Mr. Greene falls into that category of writer who leaps on people's insecurities by providing a "how-to" manual in checklist form. As if the art of generalship or political power or sexual conquest was as simple as assembling an Ikea bookshelf. All you need are the right instructions.

This will no more help you understand or become a Casanova than a "23 Laws of being a Fashion Model" will turn you into Heidi Klum. Save your money.

In a word, this is an exceptional work. A work like this is really outstanding, its got depth and a tremendous scope of indispensable knowledge.

Anyone serious about the seduction arts would benifit from adding this book to their collection. It is not a lite read, as it is pretty dense in both scope and breadth of knowledge but that just is what is nessacary to really understad the seduction process.

This is a book that one needs to - study - from, and the rewards will be many as you apply the knowledge in your interactions with others.

I really can't say enough good things about this exceptional work other then to recommend it highly to anyone who truly wants to understand the power of seduction and how the skill set has to be developed from a bedrock of accurate knowledge.

This book is that bedrock of knowledge. Just be sure to use all the knowledge and power gained with responsibility & intelligence.

Remember, knowledge used wisely is light, used selfishly it becomes self destruction. This is an outstanding book!!

* Aristotle *

From all the positive reviews, I was expecting a classic masterpiece to learning the "how-to" skills of seduction; instead, what I got were endless historical stories of seduction in play that bored the hell out of me, and I even skipped the first 200 pages to get to the goody part of hoping to learn the practical process of seduction, and to my non-surprise, more endless stories that didn't address the old-fashion "how-to". I didn't learn anything from this book besides the useless insights and theories, like I really care!

Frankly, this book is way overrated. For an almost 500 pages book, it could have been compressed into a 100 page practical book. This is not much of a self-help; there are better books out there and are easily applicable immediately after reading in learning seduction.

Good, detailed, long as hell. Like two books in one. Will take a long time to complete.

Robert Greene is a highly talented writer. He uses history and psychology to back up his overall philosophy. The Art of Seduction is interesting both for its many stories and for the alternative philosophy.

Every reader will learn much about themselves in these pages, even if they choose to repress the part of themselves that Mr. Greene is trying to set free from the restrictive morality imposed on us by others. As the author reminds us, morality is just another effective tactic used by people to achieve their own goals.

That being said, a bit of common sense should be used. This book is an excellent starting point; and a great way to stir up thoughts in your brain, but the end result has to come from your own inflection.

I highly recommend this and other Robert Greene titles to everybody that has ever been born, ever.