Neil Strauss
Encyclopedia
Neil Darrow Strauss also known by the pen name
s Style and Chris Powles, is an American and Kittitian
author
, journalist
and ghostwriter
. He is best known for his best-selling book The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
, where he describes his experiences in the seduction community
in an effort to become a "pick-up artist." He is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone
and also writes regularly for The New York Times
.
. While in school he began his career writing for Ear, an avant-garde magazine, and editing his first book, Radiotext(e), an anthology of radio-related writings for the postmodern publisher Semiotext(e)
. He moved on to the Village Voice, where he did everything from copy-editing to fact-checking before becoming a regular reporter and critic. He was invited by Jon Pareles
to become a music critic at The New York Times
where he wrote the Pop Life column and front-page stories on Wal-Mart’s
CD-editing policies, music censorship, radio payola
, and the lost wax figures of country-music stars.
He was then invited by Jann Wenner
to become a contributing editor at Rolling Stone where he wrote cover stories on Kurt Cobain
, Madonna
, Tom Cruise
, Orlando Bloom
, the Wu-Tang Clan
, Gwen Stefani
, Stephen Colbert
, and Marilyn Manson
.
He won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his coverage of Kurt Cobain
's suicide for Rolling Stone and his profile of Eric Clapton
in The New York Times Arts & Leisure section. Strauss also contributed to Esquire
, Maxim
, Spin
, Entertainment Weekly
, Details
, and The Source
in addition to writing liner notes for albums by Nirvana
and others. He has also appeared in Beck
's music video Sexx Laws
which also featured Jack Black
, and he made a brief appearence as a cancer patient in episode 4, season six of Curb Your Enthusiasm
.
's memoirs, Strauss joined a sub-culture of pick-up artists known as the seduction community
, publishing an article in the New York Times about his experiences in 2004. In 2005, he published The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
(Regan Books, 2005), a book about his transformation into "Style", a pickup artist under the tutelage of Mystery. In addition to documenting his experiences with pickup artists like Mystery, Steve P, Rasputin (Hypnotica) and Ross Jeffries
, it also describes his seductive interactions with celebrities including Britney Spears
, Tom Cruise
, and Courtney Love
. Strauss writes of his distrust of pickup artists "Tyler Durden
" and "Papa", the co-founders of Real Social Dynamics.
The book made a month-long appearance in the New York Times bestsellers list
in September–October 2005, and reached the #1 position on Amazon.com
immediately after its release in the United States. Strauss appeared on various TV shows, including The View and ABC Primetime, and he participated in many book signings. It was optioned to be made into a film by Spyglass Entertainment
, with Chris Weitz
adapting and producing.
After publishing the book, Strauss temporarily retired as a pickup artist and settled with a longtime girlfriend Lisa Leveridge, who played guitar in Courtney Love
's all-female band The Chelsea.
An article in the Sunday Mirror, suggested that Leveridge broke up with Strauss in February 2006 to date Robbie Williams
. Strauss denied the Williams rumor, but confirmed his breakup with Leveridge on his mailing list a few months later.
His follow-up book, a controversial graphic novel How to Make Money Like a Porn Star
, came out in 2006 on September 26. By 2006 Neil Strauss also came out with "Shoot", a short film about becoming a rockstar that he co-wrote, directed and performed in. That same year, in collaboration with Dave Navarro and Entourage
writer Cliff Dorfman, he created a one-hour TV drama The Product for FX. In 2007, he released a follow-up to The Game, Rules of the Game
, a two-book boxed set.
Strauss has continued to be involved with pickup artistry through his dating coaching company Stylelife Academy. Stylelife was founded in 2007 and whilst most of the coaching is done by employed coaches other than himself, Strauss does make appearances at yearly conferences and in some video products sold by the company.
Strauss's book, Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life
(Harper, 2009), for which he spent three years amongst survivalists, tax-dodgers, billionaire businessmen, and the government itself, was hailed by Rolling Stone as an "escape plan" for the current world crisis. It entered the New York Times bestseller list at #3. The rights to the movie were picked up by Columbia, with Robert Downey Jr. attached as a producer and likely star. In 2010, Strauss received the James Joyce Award from the Literary & Historical Society of University College Dublin.
Neil Strauss's latest book entitled Everyone Loves You When You're Dead: Journeys Into Fame and Madness was also a New York Times bestseller. Released March 15, 2011, the book is a compilation of more than 200 celebrity vignettes conducted throughout Strauss's career as a pop culture journalist.
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
s Style and Chris Powles, is an American and Kittitian
Saint Kitts and Nevis
The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis , located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population....
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and ghostwriter
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
. He is best known for his best-selling book The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pick-up Artists is a non-fictional book written by investigative reporter Neil Strauss as a chronicle of his journey and encounters in the seduction community.The book was featured on the New York Times Bestseller List for two months after its release in...
, where he describes his experiences in the seduction community
Seduction community
The seduction community is a subculture of men, primarily communicating on the Internet, who strive for better sexual success/access with women. Members of the community often call themselves pickup artists . It exists mostly through Internet newsletters, marketing The seduction community is a...
in an effort to become a "pick-up artist." He is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
and also writes regularly for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Education and initial career
After graduating from high school at the Latin School of Chicago, Strauss attended Vassar CollegeVassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
. While in school he began his career writing for Ear, an avant-garde magazine, and editing his first book, Radiotext(e), an anthology of radio-related writings for the postmodern publisher Semiotext(e)
Semiotext(e)
Semiotext is an American independent publisher. It is widely credited for having introduced so-called "French Theory" to North America through its magazine issues and Foreign Agents series. In 2000, the MIT Press began distributing Semiotext, taking it over from the anarchist publishing collective...
. He moved on to the Village Voice, where he did everything from copy-editing to fact-checking before becoming a regular reporter and critic. He was invited by Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
to become a music critic at The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
where he wrote the Pop Life column and front-page stories on Wal-Mart’s
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
CD-editing policies, music censorship, radio payola
Payola
Payola, in the American music industry, is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S...
, and the lost wax figures of country-music stars.
He was then invited by Jann Wenner
Jann Wenner
Jann Simon Wenner is the co-founder and publisher of the music and politics biweekly Rolling Stone, as well as the owner of Men's Journal and Us Weekly magazines.-Childhood:...
to become a contributing editor at Rolling Stone where he wrote cover stories on Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
, Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood...
, the Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...
, Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
, Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
, and Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
.
He won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his coverage of Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
's suicide for Rolling Stone and his profile of Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
in The New York Times Arts & Leisure section. Strauss also contributed to Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
, Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
, Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, Details
Details (magazine)
Details is an American monthly men's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications, founded in 1982. Though primarily a magazine devoted to fashion and lifestyle, Details also features reports on relevant social and political issues.-History:...
, and The Source
The Source (magazine)
The Source is a United States-based, monthly full-color magazine covering hip-hop music, politics, and culture, founded in 1988. It is the world's second longest running rap periodical, behind United Kingdom-based publication Hip Hop Connection. The Source was founded as a newsletter in 1988...
in addition to writing liner notes for albums by Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
and others. He has also appeared in Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
's music video Sexx Laws
Sexx Laws
"Sexx Laws" is a song by Beck, from the 1999 album Midnite Vultures. It was released as the lead single from the album in October 1999. Musically, the song is an unusual combination of brassy funk with bluegrass-styled banjo and pedal steel guitar on the choruses and instrumental break, as well as...
which also featured Jack Black
Jack Black
Jack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...
, and he made a brief appearence as a cancer patient in episode 4, season six of Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
.
The Game and the seduction community
After leaving The New York Times to ghostwrite Jenna JamesonJenna Jameson
Jenna Jameson is an American entrepreneur and former pornographic actress, who has been called the world's most famous adult-entertainment performer and "The Queen of Porn."...
's memoirs, Strauss joined a sub-culture of pick-up artists known as the seduction community
Seduction community
The seduction community is a subculture of men, primarily communicating on the Internet, who strive for better sexual success/access with women. Members of the community often call themselves pickup artists . It exists mostly through Internet newsletters, marketing The seduction community is a...
, publishing an article in the New York Times about his experiences in 2004. In 2005, he published The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pick-up Artists is a non-fictional book written by investigative reporter Neil Strauss as a chronicle of his journey and encounters in the seduction community.The book was featured on the New York Times Bestseller List for two months after its release in...
(Regan Books, 2005), a book about his transformation into "Style", a pickup artist under the tutelage of Mystery. In addition to documenting his experiences with pickup artists like Mystery, Steve P, Rasputin (Hypnotica) and Ross Jeffries
Ross Jeffries
Ross Jeffries is a former comedy writer and the creator of "Speed Seduction," a set of personal development writings and seminars that draw on Neuro-linguistic Programming and hypnotic techniques...
, it also describes his seductive interactions with celebrities including Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
, and Courtney Love
Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...
. Strauss writes of his distrust of pickup artists "Tyler Durden
Owen Cook
Owen Cook is an entrepreneur, author and dating advisor. He is the figurehead of Real Social Dynamics, a company that specializes in teaching men how to establish a sexual relationship with women.-Background:Owen Cook graduated with a degree in philosophy from Queen's University in Kingston...
" and "Papa", the co-founders of Real Social Dynamics.
The book made a month-long appearance in the New York Times bestsellers list
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
in September–October 2005, and reached the #1 position on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
immediately after its release in the United States. Strauss appeared on various TV shows, including The View and ABC Primetime, and he participated in many book signings. It was optioned to be made into a film by Spyglass Entertainment
Spyglass Entertainment
Spyglass Entertainment is an American film production company, co-founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum in 1998. The studio was founded with an investment from European media conglomerates Kirch Group and Mediaset, and a five-year distribution deal with The Walt Disney Company...
, with Chris Weitz
Chris Weitz
Christopher John "Chris" Weitz is an American producer, writer, director and actor. He is best known for his work with his brother, Paul Weitz, on the comedy films American Pie and About a Boy, as well as directing the film adaptation of the novel The Golden Compass and the film adaptation of New...
adapting and producing.
After publishing the book, Strauss temporarily retired as a pickup artist and settled with a longtime girlfriend Lisa Leveridge, who played guitar in Courtney Love
Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...
's all-female band The Chelsea.
An article in the Sunday Mirror, suggested that Leveridge broke up with Strauss in February 2006 to date Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
. Strauss denied the Williams rumor, but confirmed his breakup with Leveridge on his mailing list a few months later.
His follow-up book, a controversial graphic novel How to Make Money Like a Porn Star
How to Make Money Like a Porn Star
How to Make Money Like a Porn Star is the first graphic novel published by ReganBooks/HarperCollins, written by New York Times bestselling author Neil Strauss and illustrated by artist Bernard Chang...
, came out in 2006 on September 26. By 2006 Neil Strauss also came out with "Shoot", a short film about becoming a rockstar that he co-wrote, directed and performed in. That same year, in collaboration with Dave Navarro and Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
writer Cliff Dorfman, he created a one-hour TV drama The Product for FX. In 2007, he released a follow-up to The Game, Rules of the Game
Rules of the Game (Neil Strauss)
Rules of the Game is a how-to book published in 2007 by American writer Neil Strauss. A follow-up to his autobiographical work The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, Rules of the Game was also a New York Times Best-Seller....
, a two-book boxed set.
Strauss has continued to be involved with pickup artistry through his dating coaching company Stylelife Academy. Stylelife was founded in 2007 and whilst most of the coaching is done by employed coaches other than himself, Strauss does make appearances at yearly conferences and in some video products sold by the company.
Emergency and subsequent writing
On March 4, 2009, The New York Times wrote that Strauss (along with rock biographer Anthony Bozza) had started his own publishing company, Igniter, as a subimprint of HarperCollins. Igniter's first title, the Times reported, will be "The World According to Bozo the Clown."Strauss's book, Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life
Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life
Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life is a 2009 book on survivalist preparedness by Neil Strauss. In the book, the author gains citizenship of the island nation of St...
(Harper, 2009), for which he spent three years amongst survivalists, tax-dodgers, billionaire businessmen, and the government itself, was hailed by Rolling Stone as an "escape plan" for the current world crisis. It entered the New York Times bestseller list at #3. The rights to the movie were picked up by Columbia, with Robert Downey Jr. attached as a producer and likely star. In 2010, Strauss received the James Joyce Award from the Literary & Historical Society of University College Dublin.
Neil Strauss's latest book entitled Everyone Loves You When You're Dead: Journeys Into Fame and Madness was also a New York Times bestseller. Released March 15, 2011, the book is a compilation of more than 200 celebrity vignettes conducted throughout Strauss's career as a pop culture journalist.