There is a lot of hate for mystery on this board because certain high-ranking members get stuck on one element of his style and simply can't see past that; mainly that he dressed like some sort of circus clown raver magician. However, even though mystery didn't originate any of the ideas he laid into place he was the first person to codify all the disparate elements of the human seduction process into a simple, replicable formula. Almost anything you can read about on this board can be traced back to his original formulas. Take one of the biggest mystery haters on this board, gmanifesto, and look at his 'innovations' and see how they relate to mystery's previous observations:
"suit game" = peacocking
"the greatest opener of all time" = opening and isolation
"having venues on lockdown' = social proof, demonstrations of higher value, being a leader of men
Now, the game has evolved somewhat past the need for memorized routines and openers to a more natural life improvement sort of game; in essence actually becoming higher value instead of 'faking it til you make it' sort of mystery style but I still believe MM is a good place to start for someone who is sincerely socially awkward. If you are a 30 year old computer nerd virgin who plays WOW 18 hours a day and want to get started in game, gmanifesto style and actually being high value simply is not a viable option. I'm not saying that goal isn't something to be strived towards, because it totally is, it's just not a viable starting option. Getting out there, hitting the pavement, talking to people and working out your kinks in the field IS. You learn more from that than from buying a suit and going James Bond in a bar. Just saying. And even mystery preached actually becoming high value as the end game of 'faking it til you make it', which always was just a jumping board into becoming socially adept.
And to address the one aspect of mystery that a lot of people seem to get hung up, the way he dressed; if you
actually read what mystery has written on the subject of peacocking, he advises students not to dress like he does, he says he dresses this way so he can get a barrage of shit tests early on, pass them, and immediately build a stratospheric level of attraction and move to the comfort/rapport stage. He does this mostly because he is a teacher and has students watching him all the time, these are extremely important lessons for people that can't even talk to other human beings. His actual advice for students is, basically, stand out from the crowd you are in, if you are in a college bar where everyone is wearing shorts, dress really nice, and if you're are in a venue where everyone is dressed to the nines, dress down a little bit and always wear at least one interesting item because it gives you something for the girl to comment on or for you to talk about. Mystery never advised his students to dress as he did, it was simply a teaching mechanism.
From someone most of us have a great deal of respect for, Roissy,
"Anyways, how did I miss this? Scientists actually reviewed Mystery’s accelerated seduction blueprint, and what they discovered will surely wither further the already diminutive hearts of manboobs, freaks, monsters, feminists, losers, dweebs, omegas, white knights, traditionalists and slithery “academics” pretending to be feminists in order to score hipster chick poon: The concepts underlying game strategies are factually grounded, and game works!"
http://heartiste.wordpress.com/2013/01/0...ame-works/
"Mystery Method is still the bible of pickup. Read this one first because it will introduce you in layman’s terms to the evolutionary wisdom that underlies the seduction of women, and very quickly moves on to real, practical techniques that you can immediately apply in field. Mystery Method isn’t the final word on pickup, and it has some flaws in its focus on opening large groups in nightclubs that might put off more introverted men, but it continues to be one of the best reference manuals out there."
http://heartiste.wordpress.com/2010/03/2...resources/