 Wanna get the hottest dating, lifestyle, editorials, articles, and interviews from AmpedAsia.com delivered to your e-mail or reader?
|
|
<< Back to Articles
Asian Rake: Required Reading List
Written by Asian Rake on January 19, 2009
Second Category: Highly Recommended
1. As a scientific account of what's behind social dynamics and why some people are more attuned to social dynamics, this is likely the most accessible book
available. Daniel Goleman's Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships shows how advances in neuroscience, psychology, and various other
fields have already unearthed a lot of the reasons for why community material actually works. http://www.amazon.com/Social-Intelligence-Science-Human-
Relationships/dp/055338449X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231361389&sr=1-1 Unlike the community ebooks, Goleman does not depend on facile appeals to
evolutionary accounts. He doesn't have to. Goleman's classic Emotional Intelligence is also quite good, though not as directly applicable to social dynamics
as his more recent work.
2. Cited repeatedly in Mystery's Venusian Arts Handbook back in 2004, Robert Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion has spawned a whole industry.
This has become a
classic in the attraction community. Cialdini is currently a Distinguished Graduate Research Professor at Arizona State University.
The six principles he elucidates in his book are all major concepts in the social arts: Reciprocation, Commitment and Consistency, Social Proof, Liking,
Authority, and Scarcity. His book not only helped advance thinking in social dynamics, it also changed the way I saw myself, my relationships, my career, and
my research in such fields as philosophy and religious studies.
3. Like Cialdini, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced like "chick sent me high") is another renowned professor who has turned his research into an entire
industry. His Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience explains what is behind the whole "being in state" teaching, which has become a hobby-horse of the
boys at Real Social Dynamics though curiously, they make no mention of Csikszentmihalyi's work. I read about his work in a philosophy class before encountering it in some of David
DeAngelo's DVD products.
This will help you understand why "being in state" is so powerful and the prime driver behind natural game, which has recently become such a contested term
in the community, with Real Social Dynamics, PUA Training, Charisma Arts, and just about everyone else trying to lay claim to it, bereaving it of any
significant meaning. Most have lost sight of the fact that Vin DiCarlo and Sebastian Drake were the first to come out with "natural game." Csikszentmihalyi
does a better job of explaining "being in state" better than neuro-linguistic programming.
But more importantly, Flow will explain how the experts achieve flow on a consistent basis, as well as the personality types of those most prone to flow
experiences. He also draws on literature and data from a wide variety of cultures, periods, and societies, including Daoist and Buddhist teachings.
If you can maximize your flow experiences, you will be a happier, more successful, and more fulfilled human being. What better reason do you need to pick
this up?
Interestingly, his son is a well-established scholar of early Chinese philosophy.
4. This list would be incomplete without some mention of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). The best general introduction I've found is Introducing NLP:
Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People by Joseph O'Connor and John Seymour. The writing can be dry and pedantic in places, but the knowledge is
invaluable. If you're interested in NLP, save a couple thousand dollars and take a course in it.
I prefer the more accessible NLP of Anthony Robbins. His Ultimate Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement helped take my inner game to the next level.
You might also want to
check out his Awaken the Giant Within, which covers the same material but in a different format.
5. And finally, I would be remiss if I left out some literature on evolutionary accounts of sex and relationships. Most attraction community ebooks appeal to
this exclusively for their academic understanding of social dynamics. I find this one-sidedness disappointing. As bemoaned by many academics, evolutionary
accounts are too ad hoc. You can pretty much come up with an evolutionary explanation for almost any perspective on social phenomena. Despite this, it is
good to know the research. The best book on this subject is Robin Baker's Sperm Wars: Infidelity, Sexual Conflict and Other Bedroom Battles.
The Red Queen: Sex and the
Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley is also quite good.
So there you have it. The Top Ten books that will change your life. I recommend you go through them in the order I've laid out. The first five deserve slow
and steady study, as well as repeated readings.
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Play on, The Asian Rake.
|
|
|
|
User Control Panel
Featured Columns
 |
Asian Rake
Dating and seduction tips for Asian men by the Asian rake.
|
 |
Hey Vanae!
Love, life, spiritual advice from dating and relationship expert, Vanae Tran.
|
|
Article Categories
Hot Articles
Links of Interest
|
