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The Rational Male

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The Rational Male is a rational and pragmatic approach to intergender dynamics and the social and psychological underpinnings of intergender relations. The book is the compiled, ten-year core writing of author/blogger Rollo Tomassi from therationalmale.com.

Rollo Tomassi is one of the leading voices in the globally growing, male-focused online consortium known as the "Manosphere". Outlined are the concepts of positive masculinity, the feminine imperative, plate theory, operative social conventions and the core psychological theory behind Game awareness and "red pill" ideology. Tomassi explains and outlines the principles of intergender social dynamics and foundational reasoning behind them.

300 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2013

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Rollo Tomassi

18 books470 followers

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5 stars
3,780 (51%)
4 stars
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3 stars
942 (12%)
2 stars
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1 star
293 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 606 reviews
Profile Image for Ori Drory.
11 reviews9 followers
July 28, 2017
I revisited my review on this book and I am giving it 2 stars.

It's a book that promotes unhealthy relationships. It never talks about a healthy relationship with yourself. It only talks about how you can use the external world of women to boost your ego to a point where you can feel secure in your skin.

It doesn't teach you a thing or two about becoming a healthy human being.

edit: Since this review is being read I would like to spread some awareness. I read this book 3 years ago and since then a lot of learning about relationships have ensued.

We men are deprived from emotional support from a very young age. As little boys we stop getting smiled at, we stop being treated as kids with the phrase;"man up, big boys don't cry" this can happen as early as age 5 or 6. A time in which we are still very dependant on emotional support.

this creates an emotional black hole of un-met needs and desires of emotions. That's why we sometimes crave women so much, because they have a more healthy emotional system. they get support from their girlfriends, they get smiled at more often, and listened to.

whereas we men, to console each Other we help each Other with numbing the pressing pain of that void by, for example, Alcohol, or watching sports.

This book is so bad in that it tells you to go and get all the women so that you finally may think you're enough. That you may finally feel 'alpha'. Yet In that journey there is only strife. It's a place where women will not feel safe around you, nor men. Nor will you ever feel safe around them, because It's a single winners game, which means everyone else is a loser. And lest you want to be in the loser group you always have to be on edge.

A book like this basicly keeps you in a forever loop trying to fill that void by covering it up with layers of tricks and manipulations. External world adaptations for your internal problem.

But that's not what eventually gives anyone a healthy and sustainable relationship.

This emotional black hole problem is universal in all men. (A few exceptions here and there) All of us have experienced this lack. Women haven't experienced this and so they cannot hear us, or share our vision on this.

A more healthy approach is to take care of your emotional black hole with other men. Because they will understand you. Take the time to really listen to your brothers and open up. Soften, hug, cry. And when a brother does that, give him a safe space from understanding. It's crucial to not try this with women around because they do just simply NOT understand what It's like.

When you have taken care of your emotional needs you can meet a woman on equal grounds. Your 'needyness' dissolves instantly and you'll be able to fully embrace your inner masculine side because It's supported by your own inner feminine.

It will stop the need for us all to always chase and want women's attention. It will make you a man who's attractive, whole and grounded. A force to be reckoned with.
Profile Image for Gerry Beane.
57 reviews26 followers
March 6, 2018
There are very few books that once I start reading I refuse to finish; this is one. An acquaintance loaned me this particular book when I expressed an interest in philosophy. Apparently our ideas of the meaning of philosophy are a bit different. The author's primary hypothesis is that it is important, no necessary, that men maintain a position of power in male/female intimate relationships. This book is a poorly camouflaged version of "how to get women in your bed - and keep them there". It reminded me of the obnoxious character played by Tom Cruise in the film Magnolia in which he leads high-priced seminars for (losers) men on how to pick up women. This type of approach when presented to impressionable young college age men will merely continue to support the sexist conditions of today's society. Too bad I can't give zero stars.

Addendum: The couple of guys who responded to my review actually proved a number of my points. Their sophomoric responses epitomize the pretensions of the book. For example “Cemore”, (perhaps an homage to Seymour Butts of porn director “fame”? - his hero?) his first response in his “blistering” takedown of my review is to LOL me. Then he immediately asks how many women I have been with; as if that determines my right to rate this piece of garbage being foisted off as dating advice for young men. Then, of course, to establish HIS superior “alphaness” to me, he claims to have “been dating some of the most beautiful women there are in the last 18 years”. Wow! He really put me in my place with that statement. But, in reference to whether a man should ever ask a woman what restaurant she would prefer for dinner - hint women HATE being asked their opinions - he really “drives it home” (a phrase I’m sure he’ll especially appreciate) by saying “It’s not sexist if it’s true”. OMG! I couldn’t believe someone would have this opinion in the 21st century, let alone commit it to print in a public forum! It is more appropriate written on the wall of a cave! He goes on to say “Women don’t want control if [sic] nor the power in a relationship.” He goes on to say “...and I’ve read it all.” referring to there being no proof in existence that women want any kind of power. This, he says, “put the nail in my beta coffin for good” alluding to his now alpha maleness after having read “The Rational Male”. I would suggest some further readings for him if I thought it would do any good - it won’t.
The other chauvinist review was pulled by the author so I am unable to respond to it. But suffice it to say that it rambled on in a similarly junior-high-school-hormone-fueled rant.
44 reviews1 follower
February 10, 2017
Tomassi's writing is essentially an imitation of what he thinks academic language sounds like. He appears to have bought into the myth that the use of jargon adds legitimacy or some form of enhanced truth to the subject matter being spoken of (either that, or he is cleverly exploiting the myth on whatever depressed males are buying into this).

At the end of the day, he has constructed an elaborate fiction of a world that doesn't exist, and convinced people they must engage and do battle with the fictionalized women within it. I suspect that the result is a small segment of emotionally vulnerable males attempting to manipulate (or successfully manipulating) a small segment of emotionally vulnerable females, while carrying the belief that this microcosm represents some sort of bigger picture about how the rest of the world behaves.

I didn't realize 'pseudo-sociology' or 'pseudo-anthropology' was a thing until my curiosity got me to slog through some of this endurance-test masquerading as insight. I think the saddest part of all this is that Tomassi speaks of adult married life as if he is some sort of authority despite probably never having participated in it, while his very young followers are destined to develop very strange ideas about the opposite sex.
Profile Image for Austin Dobrik.
11 reviews11 followers
October 20, 2014
Probably one of the most interesting texts on gender relations and sexual strategy. Ever since I read The Game I have been interested in "seduction" but generally I thought the methods were strange or crass.

This book lays out why the initial PUA movement was able to have success but also digs a level deeper and tries to explain why many women act the way they do when choosing partners. I would highly recommend to all of my male friends who want a different perspective on dating in the 21st century
Profile Image for Wesley.
31 reviews
November 6, 2013
Content is great; it's very thought provoking, to the point of headache-inducing. I think all men in America should read this book and get familiar with the concepts within. That being said, it really could use more editing. There are a couple typographical errors, and this book would greatly benefit from a glossary and index.
4 reviews1 follower
May 2, 2017
A reviewer over at Amazon said it better than I ever could.

"The Rational Male is an easy to digest set of essays that essentially tune men into the real dynamics of the sexual marketplace, and the cultural/political forces surrounding it. It's easy to see when reading it that the author's primary intent is to educate the average guy about his potential, options, leverage and best strategies when interacting with women. It's particularly valuable because it does an excellent job of explaining women's sexual and relationship strategies, and some of the most common social conventions used to leverage guys into acting against their own best interest in their relationships without them even realizing it.

If you read and appreciated books like Men on Strike by Dr Helen Smith or The Myth of Male Power by Warren Farrell, you will probably enjoy this book as well, because although they cover different subjects they frequently touch on similar themes.

Some of the most interesting writing for me was on the topics of female hypergamy, the nature of Alpha and Beta men, the typical guys belief in relational equity, women hitting the wall, and the changing power dynamics between men and women as they age. It's all easy to understand and digest, whilst still prompting the reader to think in a variety of directions about the connections and consequences of the ideas put forth. In short, it's stimulating and energetic writing and I've never come across anything quite like it before.

It takes great courage to write a book like this in today's PC culture, but it felt to me as though the author really had the best interests of the average guy in mind when he wrote it. I also felt he was very honest in his communication. I really appreciated that, and I'm recommending this book to all my guy friends. Keep up the great work Rollo, looking forward to the next one." - Maya
Profile Image for Jeff Finley.
Author 5 books50 followers
January 24, 2016
I finally read some stuff from The Red Pill without getting triggered. Before I would cringe at all their acronyms and apparently anger-based discussion around male-female relationships. But the more I learn and the more I heal my own inner alpha-male, I can see the truth and humanity behind what the "manosphere" has to say.

The Rational Male is a seminal book if you want to understand where a lot of men are coming from these days. The "positive masculinity" movement is a reaction against Feminist culture (or what they call the Feminine Imperitive, or "girl-world", that has left many men feeling like they are demonized for being men. This book, along with The Red Pill and other Manosphere material is like the boys locker room or a surrogate father figure trying to coach men without catering to the voice of the feminine.

What you get is discussion, theory, and philosophy behind attraction, relationships, love, desire, and personal growth. This book will trigger you. It will reflect back to you your own judgments. You will probably hate it. And that's exactly why I think you should pay attention. What you hate says a lot about you. How can we all come to a more holistic understanding of each other? How can we build better relationships and partnerships between men and women? This book doesn't exactly offer a solution, but does provide a very masculine perspective in a world where feminine traits are becoming more dominant. I believe in the end we will become more balanced humans, and this is just part of the story of our evolution.
Profile Image for Kit Warren.
29 reviews
August 17, 2017
A lot of interesting points, some true, mostly pseudoscience dressed up as fact to give hope to women-hating blokes who don't actually know any women by enforcing ideas that women have been against them this entire time and the only way they'll ever have successful relationships with them is by figuring out their 'tricks'.

The book has a wholly conspiratorial style (which the writer acknowledges in all fairness) with wisdom such as this gem; "as with most things women, what seems like the most deductive solution is often a cleverly disguised trap" and he even goes as far as to say "men exist to facilitate a feminine reality". I don't see how anyone in their right mind could see this as anything but delusional.

In any case, a well written book with some fascinating ideas but consisting of 20% biological facts and 80% anecdotal pseudoscience which I believe, if you were to take everything in this book as gospel, would leave you far from the ideal of 'rational male'.
Profile Image for Aleksandar.
84 reviews
June 4, 2016
Few books make you a better person. This book belongs to that elite category.

This book is essentially a collection of essays that explains why our society functions the way it does, down to the very minutiae we take for granted. The topics it covers are vast, and controversial, but it's all here. Everything from the dynamics of human relationships, sexual strategies, how to go about improving yourself (and why it matters), to how the reality we live in has a very obvious female-centric bias. The latter is particularly a salient point once you begin reading between the lines. For example, have you ever seen a positive masculine character in a sitcom? Homer Simpson seems to be the archetype, while women are the ones that have to put up with these doofuses.

Be warned, though, you can't ever unread something like this. And once you do, you won't be able to go back to seeing the world as you once did before.

I've been reading Rollo's blog for years now, so having a collection of his essays in a hard copy feels great. If you're a fan of his works, I recommend ordering a personal copy. If not, I still recommend reading as the points made are very likely things you've never thought about before.
Profile Image for Sergiy.
47 reviews12 followers
November 23, 2018
Reading this book I was new to PUA topic and the psychology about it. Although the book is over wordy and doesn't always go straight to the point, I had lots of eye opening "Aha!" moments. A lot of concepts directly intersects with RSD teachings, but they are named differently (i.e. RSD - abundance, Rollo Tomassi - Plate Theory, same concepts, different names). And the one thing I remember the most from this book is "Hypergamy doesn't care..." joke.

Author describes todays world as a Matrix and by writing this book he was trying to "unplug" modern men from it. Dirty work.

In todays world most men are fallen into what Rollo calls "Feminine Imperative" - the concept which describes why most men lack masculinity in their life, why they are getting punished for it, and why they are playing different roles: White Knights, Savors, Providers, and Nice Guys. As a man from the very beginning, as a child, we are conditioned to support feminine role - and I agree with it, I had a lot of evidences about it in my own life. We take as truth different myths, conditioned by society: the ONE, Let's Just Be Friends, Just Be Yourself, there is always someone for everyone. We are conditioned to this stuff to that point where we can't even notice it. And now you have a choice. Like in the movie Matrix: take a red pill for eye opening by reading this book or take a blue pill and continue living in ignorance by skipping it.

But he goes even further by exploring different buffers that we use nowadays: texting, social media, porn and he even give advice not get married until you are 35. And I liked it. The idea is that at that age, growth oriented men reach peaks in their careers or establish own business, they have the highest social status in their entire life, they are not too young or too old, and they are still healthy at that point, that's why they are more valuable to women and are able to select the best possible spouse for living at old ages.

This book is very close to "The Way of the Superior Man" by David Deida. Rollo also talks about the idea why "Women must be only a compliment to a man's life, never the focus of it", and why men firstly should follow their own purpose. But by adding concept about Hypergamy - when a woman seeks a man of higher status than herself for marriage, it gives you a different perspective on your behavior with opposite sex.

The Iron Rules of Tomassi
#1 - Frame is everything. Always be aware of the subconscious balance of who's frame in which you are operating. Always control the Frame, but resist giving the impression that you are
#2 - Never, under pain of death, honestly or dishonestly reveal the number of women you've slept with or explain any detail of your sexual experiences with them to a current lover
#3 - Any woman makes you wait for sex, or by her actions implies she is making you wait for sex; the sex is NEVER worth the wait
#4 - Never under any circumstance live with a woman you aren't married to or are not planning to marry in within 6 months
#5 - Never allow a woman to be in control of the birth. Use condoms
#6 - Women are fundamentally incapable of loving a man in the way that a man expects to be loved by a woman
#7 - It is always time and effort better spent developing relations with new, fresh, prospective women that it will ever be in attempting to reconstruct a failed relationship
#8 - Always let a woman figure out why she wont fuck you, never do it for her
#9 - Never seriously self-deprecate with a woman you intend to be intimate with

Main takeaways:
- Women get the men they deserve
- Attention is the main currency in woman's life
- Woman's behavior is the only gauge of her intent
- SMV graph, women's peak at 23 years, men't peak at 37
- There is no such thing as long distance relationships. The only reason why men are considering it due to a lack of other options
- It is men who are the real romantics, not women, but it is the society conditioning that stands that women who are the romantic ones
- Women are dream killers. Not because they have an agenda to be so, but because men will all too willingly sacrifice their ambitions for a steady supply of pussy and the responsibilities that women attach to this

Favorite quotes:
'Apologizing for a lack of Game isn't Game'
'Genuine Desire cannot be negotiated'
'When a woman wants to fuck you she will find a way to fuck you'
'Women want a man who other men want to be or, and other women want to fuck'
'Women don't want a man to cheat, but they love a Man who could cheat'
'Nothing is more threating yet simultaneously attractive to a woman than a man who is aware of his own value to women'
5 reviews
September 28, 2017
After reading 64 percent of it..I quit reading for a day or so...I was in the state for two days where I do not talk want to talk to anybody. Just to be in silence...where the thoughts of books bombarding in my mind...I was stunned...shocked..and for the first time...I had different perspective of inter-gender dynamics...I laughed still felt regret that I was the used to be the plugged-in guy..before reading this book...I was not able to eat..not able to sleep in peace..not able to focus on other things or daily tasks...continuously for two days..do not even feel like talking to my friends in the evening get together...THIS BOOK HAS OPENED MY EYES!! AND I AM LUCKY THAT I READ IT IN MY 20s...and I used to be a beta for 8 to 10 years of my life...and now I am no more beta...I Love the idea of first having the emotional stability and then entering the GAME..instead of other way around...I THANK ROLLO FOR SAVING A LOT OF MY TIME, MONEY AND ENERGY....!! that I might have spent a lot on my future girlfriends in return for my access to their intimacies....by being BETA nature...Thanks for helping me in AWAKING MY ALPHA (which was long ago buried in my childhood) AGAIN!!!

THIS BOOK HAS LIFE LONG EFFECT ON ME..!! LEARNINGS FROM THIS BOOKS WHICH I NOW TAKE INTO ACCOUNT FOR MY WHOLE LIFE..........!!!

(I took me around 8 to 10 days to read this book fully.)
Profile Image for David.
2 reviews6 followers
April 14, 2019
https://seriology.home.blog/2017/08/2...

If you want the single best introduction to the concept of the Red Pill, look no further than The Rational Male (2013) by Rollo Tomassi. The description below from Amazon is an apt summary of what this book is about and I will not attempt to steal Mr. Tomassi’s thunder by rewording his explanation.

“The Rational Male is a rational and pragmatic approach to intergender dynamics and the social and psychological underpinnings of intergender relations. The book is the compiled, ten-year core writing of author/blogger Rollo Tomassi from therationalmale.com. Rollo Tomassi is one of the leading voices in the globally growing, male-focused online consortium known as the “Manosphere.” Outlined are the concepts of positive masculinity, the feminine imperative, plate theory, operative social conventions, and the core psychological theory behind Game awareness and “red pill” ideology. Tomassi explains and outlines the principles of intergender social dynamics and foundational reasoning behind them.”

Tomassi is a southern California native who spent much of his twenties as a Los Angeles-based rock musician, which afforded him ample opportunity with a variety of women to lay (no pun intended) the foundations for this book on intergender relations in the feminized, post-modern, 21st-century West.

It bears mentioning that Tomassi has been a happily married man since his late twenties with at least one daughter. I point this out to show that this is not some angry, alpha-wannabe, misogynist jerkboy letting off steam to get back at all the women who have ever rejected his romantic advances. For what it’s worth, Tomassi also holds two bachelor degrees―one of which is in psychology.

This book is in no way some lame pick-up artist (PUA) manual for the desperate, female-challenged man. There is a fair amount of scientific, evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology behind the main concepts Tomassi returns to time and time again: the feminine imperative, female hypergamy, plate theory, competition anxiety etc.

It is worth noting that the book is really a compilation of the material Tomassi considers the best of his first year blogging at therationalmale.com. You can read most of the book on his blog, but the idea of reading close to the equivalent of 300 pages staring at a computer or phone screen held no appeal for me.

I won’t start elaborating in detail on the main ideas in The Rational Male or the Red Pill approach to women and life. I invite you, dear reader, to explore this broad, fascinating, and increasingly popular subject on your own. Suffice to say, that Tomassi’s entire effort is to better understand what truly drive men and women as they pursue relation(ship)s with one another. The idealized veneer of modern romance is stripped away to expose the fundamental motivations of each sex―motivations rooted predominantly in biology and, to some extent, cultural conditioning.

This anti-feminist book will assuredly make men more cynical about romance and relationships and will lead to throngs of shrieking, enraged women denouncing Tomassi’s discoveries and observations on the calculating, self-serving female nature. I also came away with a feeling of sadness and hopelessness, which could have been somewhat mitigated had Tomassi expanded upon how he has found lasting happiness in his marriage.

However, my main gripe with the book has to be the sloppy editing. The text is littered with typos, punctuation and grammatical errors, and formatting issues (e.g. very small typeface, two chapters numbered 10, inconsistent paragraph indentations etc.). I had to laugh when Tomassi mentions his editor at some point in the book.

The other problem I have is how Tomassi has a tendency to divide men into assertive, successful, masculine alphas or weak, loser, pushover betas. There is considerably more variety on the male spectrum in addition to these two simplistic extremes, and Vox Day has laid out a more reasonable and realistic socio-sexual hierarchy.

Overall, this interesting and thoroughly original book deserves four stars for the original content (not to mention highly inventive lingo), but the shoddy editing and substandard layout bring it down to three out of five stars for me. The Rational Male is most definitely worth reading and will certainly change and―I would argue―improve your understanding of women, dating, and relationships.

Best Quotes from the Book:

A man is as confident and valuable as his options.

First principle of power: when you have power, always feign powerlessness.

Attention is the coin of the realm of female society.

Sexuality is a woman’s first, best agency and even the homeliest women know this.

Women should only ever be a compliment to a man’s life, never the focus of it.

The genders were meant to be complimentary, not adversarial.

In any relationship, the person with the most power is the one who needs the other the least.

Rejection is better than regret.

Power is the degree over which you control your own life.

Our great danger in this life is not that we aim too high and fail, but that we aim too low and succeed.

Nothing is as simultaneously fear inspiring and arousing for women as a man she suspects is self-aware of his own value.

A cardinal truth of the universe is that genuine desire cannot be negotiated.

Women always have the prerogative to change their minds. Men must be resolute.

Don’t wish things were easier, wish you were better.

Never under any circumstance live with a woman you aren’t married to or are not planning to marry within six months.

Women are fundamentally incapable of loving a man in the way that a man expects to be loved by a woman.

Men believe that love matters for the sake of it. Women love opportunistically.

Men are romantics pretending to be realists; women are realists pretending to be romantics.
53 reviews2 followers
February 18, 2024
I picked up this book not realizing it was for the PUA crowd. These blowhards remind me a lot of the advanced stats geeks who are ruining sports fandom--reducing the sublime to integers in a spreadsheet. This is likely an effective guide to giving the appearance of being a man, if only in the sense that accumulating sexual partners is the most socially expedient way to do so. The author makes some good observations, but pushes MGTOW hedonism as a vaccine for the feminist plague. All these wannabe alpha clowns are unwittingly feeding into the military-catlady complex with their pump-and-dump escapades. You know every girl who gets tricked into bed by a man in mirrored pants will guilt-shame her respectable friends into doing the same. This is a tragedy of the commons scenario whereby Roosh V's gain is society's loss. In short, people should be aware of "intergender dynamics" while understanding Rollo Tomassi and his ilk belong in stocks in the public square.
Profile Image for Sean.
355 reviews48 followers
November 17, 2017
Rollo is a manlet beta that doesn't lift but that said this book isn't terrible, just feels like a long blog post written by an internet blogger (which it is). All the "truths" and "red pill wisdom" are just regurgitations that have been written before by better men. One of the lines he writes in here is that "we are who we say we are" which is stupid as fuck. Rollo talks a big game online but you see pictures of him at beta convention aka 21 and he looks like a pussy.

The first rule of anything red pilled is to lift. And if a guy doesn't lift then he's useless. Also he's married and only produced one kid, very beta.
Profile Image for Nasos Psarrakos.
89 reviews12 followers
April 11, 2016
One of the most entertaining, and great books I have read in my life.

Rollo Tomassi, grew on me. He shows such a perspective of manliness in today's world, that no man should live without this knowledge. It's just fundamental.

I am totally looking forward to read his second book "Preventive Medicine"
33 reviews
November 5, 2018
Probably the worst book I ever read. Reads like a conspiracy theory blog post, backed up with pseudoscience. If one abstracts away the bad writing skills, it is interesting anyway (like any divergent view on the world is in principle interesting).
Profile Image for Phil Sykora.
197 reviews75 followers
December 11, 2015
There are definitely some interesting ideas in here, but what detracts from those ideas are the constant typos, misspellings, and unnecessary, occasionally misused jargon that occur every few pages or at least every chapter (one example: the "Afterward" at the end of the book). Small things can ruin an author's authority. You can imagine that's pretty damn important considering they come from the same root.

Also, I'm let down by the lack of raw scientific data to back up Tomassi's claims. Instead, he spends a lot of time tearing down each and every argument that could possibly oppose his main assertion that the "female imperative"/Feminism controls sexual dynamics, most notably by romanticizing serial monogamy and hypergamy. He does this in much the same way that a cult leader publicly and preemptively devalues his possible detractors in order to inspire unquestioned obedience (i.e. in even writing a critical review I must be a beta male AFC who is so hopelessly brainwashed by feminine social conditioning I have no hopes of ever reaching true self-actualization or, to borrow Tomassi's/The Matrix's metaphor, take "the red pill"). See what I did there?

Don't believe me? Case in point: Iron Rule of Tomassi #6 ("Women are utterly incapable of loving a man in the way that a man expects to be loved"). He says his rule "accurately expresses a pervasive nihilism that Men must either confront and accept, or be driven insane in denial for the rest of their lives when they fail to come to terms with the disillusionment." This line of thinking underlies most of his claims. It's Tomassi's way or the highway.

Of course if I even so much as ask, "Where's the evidence?", if I demand more than anecdotes and speculation, I'm a "plugged-in beta" holding onto a "Disneyesque ideal." No reader should put up with that type of evasion.

For the most part, though, it's an interesting read. Some of that scientific data might not be in the book because it doesn't exist yet. Books like these with followings this large are what inspires those studies to be done. Sometimes. I'm being hopeful.

I just get a little pissed off when I spend money on a book and the author didn't even bother to hire a proofreader.

Still, when Tomassi takes a woman's unrealistic dating profile and "masculinizes" it in order to illustrate the relative social acceptability of overblown female standards vs. male standards, that's interesting. "One of the best ways to illustrate how insaturated feminization has become in society is to flip the gender script on certain gender-specific dynamics." The best part occurs when Tomassi starts receiving messages from women on the dating site informing him that his standards are too high, like that's somehow their duty even though most of them said they weren't interested in him anyway.
7 reviews
September 1, 2015
There is nothing more humbling than realizing everything you were taught and believed in is false. That is what this book represents to me and to so many people who have discovered the Manosphere, The Red Pill, and Men Going Their Own Way movements.

This book summarizes and contextualizes the terms often used in the community, offers guidelines in which to navigate gender interactions, highlights both the societal and biological influences in the sexual marketplace, and provides advice as to how a man can improve their SMV.

Every man should read this book and every parent should gift this to their son. Knowledge is half the battle and this book provides it in spades. Easily in my top 5 favorite books and my favorite non-fiction by far.
November 5, 2018
Greetings to all humans and all form of life in this endless world!
This is my first review ever written in English so I am sorry for all the potential mistakes and feel free to comment them in the comment section. I did not write in English since high school and that would mean long six years have passed by without me writing anything in English.
This was my first ever fully read book on Kindle and I can say that I have developed an ONE-itis with my Kindle.
If only I read this book in my high school. It is a truly well of information about masculinity and male-female relationships. This is not just a stupid PUA (pick up artist) book, this is a deep analysis of this feministic totalitarian world. It uncovers the lies that were said to us men by our families, schools and the media about romantic relationships, female nature, male nature, what do men and women really want in life. Our global society is today so sick that it openly and proudly advocates for transgender insanity, childless life and no what so ever religious or spiritual meaning to life, to the world. Tomassi does not go in religious and spiritual waters so in that way the biggest critic to this book is that is purely materialistic (in an Aristotelian/philosophic way) just like its feministic counterpart. But nonetheless it is really accurate and red pilled in a sense that we live in this fallen world where you must learn and fight to survive and to strive. We in the Balkans have a (I would say a red pill) saying that goes like this; every man is to another man a wolf.
This book should be read by every man. The main reason for that is that it unravels female hypergamy. Women do not have the same sense of love as men do, they love opportunistically and that does not mean that they are evil. Its just the way things are. Women will never marry or be in a long relationship with a man if he is under her position in the dominance hierarchy and that usually means if he earns less money than her. This is not morally evil nor morally good. It is natural. Tomassi has been for thirty years in a marriage and has a couple of children so he is not some frustrated guy who wants to attack women. Jordan Peterson says the same thing.
If only I took the red pill in my high school years... But better ever than never.
The most red pill moment was when Tomassi explains why is it so easy for women to start a new relationship with another guy after their break up; it is because for thousands of years women have been experiencing to witness the death of their husbands and children after another tribe/group/nation of men murdered them. Women because of evolution had to move on quickly and forget about their children and ex men that they lost. That is also the reason why women are less likely to develop mental illness because they are stronger in situations dealing with stress.
Tomassi explains how feminism is such a totalitarian mindset that it influences state laws which always favor women.
To destroy all the evils of liberalism and feminism we must first and foremost be proud to be men. To be a man is to have a gift.
And do not think that I am some kind of stupid conservative or nationalist. Oh no my readers. I break every cage.
Hasta luego!
P.S.
If you find anything grammatical incorrect please let me know in the comments!
Profile Image for erjan avid reader.
221 reviews36 followers
August 10, 2016
This book has so many interesting points that i will review it section by section:

Oneitis - very detailed explanation of how oneitis is social construct and how it influences men behavior.

Alphamale - that part i did not get completely, english is not my first language, so i could not get the main point; it seems rollo advocates that alphaness is already built-in every boy, we simply unlearn it and instead start acting the misguided way the society forces us into. It is unclear if alphaness is mindset alone or both mindset& genes(nature vs nurture)

Every man has some concept of game - however poor it is, even most pathetic betas have it; only it is inefficient and based on many insecurities. This statement was well delivered to readers!

----------------------------------------------------
I did not fully understand all of the material in the book. I would say, the book is too analytical, it s not 'how-to' guide!

This book is more about society beliefs installed by feminism into mindset of men. How it happened and how even women operate with it. It is a very deep account into AFC mindset and the mechanics of it. Rollo has great analytical skills - for most feminist beliefs he is right !

Hypergamy - very honest and brutal, it is a very important statement - 'no matter how much you invest into relations, your wife with 4 kids fully supported still can go for better man'. I have my own personal examples.

Short term(fuck the alpha with good genetic) strategy & Long term (find a good beta husband to bring money) - i already read about this in another book by Oleg Novoselov; and it is exactly the same point:

when a woman's value is high(20-25), she is most attractive, she is looking for highly competitive alpha guy - to get good genetic(but not good provider for kids)
when woman value goes down, she hits the wall after 30-35; she starts looking for good provider, good husband who will care better for kids.

and she can still bounce between 2 strategies after the wall- if circumstances allow!

The best situation for a woman is to get good genetic & get good stable provider afterwards! But very often one man is not combination of both. This is the mechanics & motivation of cheating with alpha -> living with good beta stable husband happens.

Reading this book was hard for me.










Profile Image for Lolo.
191 reviews1 follower
January 19, 2024
Okay. I’ve started this book before, but never got past the first chapter. Recently it came back to me and decided to give it another chance.

This book is amazing. It speaks about some hard earned truths about masculinity and relationships. As a reader I’m what the book mentions as Average Frustrated Chump (AFC). It means that you’re frustrated because, for whatever reason, you haven’t learned how to behave like a man and express you positive masculinity.

This is not a psychology book. It’s not a pick up artist book. It’s a practical advice book on relationships. The ideas stem from a collective of men discussing about man’s place in the modern world and their relationships with women. You might get provoked by some ideas but I consider this a plus.

This book is life changing for me and I plan to read it multiple times.

If you grew up with an absent father, if you grew up around women, it you’re friends with a lot of women, if you didn’t have masculine role models growing up, then you need to read this book. The ideas expressed in this book will blow your mind.
82 reviews6 followers
March 15, 2018
Book had an intriguing title, so I picked it up. But I had no idea this was PUA anti-fem literature. Author makes some pragmatic and interesting points about the male disadvantages in the canonical western relationship culture, as well as some internalized feminine social constructs unconsciously controlling male desires, but it goes way overboard to the point of being misogynistic. It's dated thinking that breeds young and impressionable men into disingenuous, chauvinistic, "hard" males unable to be vulnerable with loved ones.
1,201 reviews
Read
October 15, 2017
I've been reading a lot of this pseudo philosophy to try and understand men and holy shit lmao

The main reason I'm logging it here is bc I found a pdf version that split it into 2000 pages and I need to remember I literally read through that much.
Profile Image for Tom.
57 reviews13 followers
April 7, 2015
One of the most important books I will ever read. I would recommend this to everyone, but especially men.
Profile Image for Juvoni.
98 reviews103 followers
October 31, 2017
The Rational Male seems to mix bro science and game with pseudo-evolutionary psychological examination of inter-gender relationships. The author focuses on the Alpha & Beta male dichotomy and how the feminization of men has created more Betas to somehow serve the feminine imperative and framing of relationships. I disagree with much of the author's points, but in an effort to expose myself to more controversial areas to stress test and or reflect upon my values, I persisted through this book. Much of the book seems to be based on weak foundations, artfully written to sound academic. However, there was a handful of eye-opening point of views that provided me some value from reading despite disagreeing with much of the book. In particular, I enjoyed the author's dismissal of the concept of a Soul Mate, which he references as “ONEitis”, power dynamics and dependency, positive and learning views towards rejection, focus on commitment and respect towards oneself, seeking out genuine interest and controlling the frame in which you operate.
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