The Tactical Guide to Women: How Men Can Manage Risk in Dating and Marriage

The books was overall good. I enjoyed that in the chapters, he would explicitly outline the guidance he was providing to the reader.He provided sources after some of his more direct claims, and this allows the reader to examine his references directly.I am rather ambivalent about the book's length. However, the book is brief enough and outlines precisely what you need without providing an excessive amount of fluff, so I'm not sure how much more needed to be said.Some things he outlines are important; how you should embrace your masculinity, learn to understand your woman, learn how seemingly admirable traits can devolve into pet peeves once relationships progress out of the honeymoon phase and breed resentment, and most importantly to recognize when you should get professional help.He provides some relatable stories of previous encounters he has had, personally, as well as situations experienced by other clients. These stories serve to help the reader be introspective about similar situations they have previously faced; possibly shed light on unproductive behaviors.It was an interesting read that wasn't overly technical.

The book is a quick, funny, engaging read. Shawn Smith is full of fun turns of phrase and anecdotes. The title is a bit infelicitous. It suggests a smarmy book on pick-up artistry. The subtitle - "How Men Can Manage Risk in Dating and Marriage" - accurately portrays the content, which is standard self-help relationship psychology from a straight man's point of view. I appreciate the book's engagement with the psychological literature - many self help books eschew statistically grounded measurements of human behavior.I particularly value the book for its pro-male, pro-female stance. Smith is able to discuss important risks of dating and marriage for men - diastrously asymmetric legal outcomes in divorce; inaccurate societal assumptions about domestic violence - from a positive, relationship-affirming point of view. He takes on these inequities and toxic feminist worldviews without the angry, bitter, misogynist tack typical of the Men's Rights Activist or Red Pill communities. Smith makes it clear that unabashed masculinity is something healthy heterosexual women seek and cherish in men; this message is lost in more "politically correct" self-help books, to the detriment of men misled into trying to auto-feminize their way to success in love.Unfortunately I didn't find the core of this book - Smith's concept of a "bright triad" of clarity, maturity, and stability in high quality women - to be particularly convincing. I found the material to be a mishmash of general relationship skills and some gee-whiz material on women suffering from mental illness, addiction, or personality disorders. Maybe better editing would have made this categorization of traits more clear. (At a lower level, the copyediting in the book is not great. Duplicated sentences, missing words, and extra words are frequent.) But I fear that the concept itself may just not be that strong. On the topic of general relationship skills, I found Gottman and Silver's _The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work_ to be more cogently organized and a wonderful read for men and women alike.My own interest in this book stemmed from my relationship history - getting ready to return to dating after two relationships in a row where I poured energy into fine young women who coolly resisted commitment. I came away disappointed. Before buying this, I read Robert Glover's _No More Mr Nice Guy_. It was revelatory to the point of being devastating in unpacking my own contribution to these failures. Glover does not say much on how to pick women well, so I wanted to know Smith's take on selecting for women with an appetite for commitment. Smith has nothing to say on the matter, and in fact, I struggle to pin down where these ex-girlfriends go wrong on his bright triad rubric. Furthermore, I was hoping for advice on gleaning information about compatibility on a few-date "tactical" timescale. Smith suggests waiting a year beyond the initial 12-18 month honeymoon period to emotionally evaluate a prospective partner before making hard-to-reverse commitments. I was disappointed to read that, as 2.5 year heartbreaking roads to nowhere are exactly what I'm looking to head off at the time of writing. A couple more of those and I'll be squarely middle-aged and never-married. If your past resembles mine - a history of failing to find commitment rather than jumping into it with disastrous partners - I enthusiastically recommend Glover. Glover at least pushes the reader to be a "good ender," e.g. to break up quickly and decisively when there seems to be a poor fit. That advice is far more tactical than anything here.All told, this book is not bad, but I feel it does not live up to its promise.

The book uses credible evidence and long term experience to offer all men who struggle with romantic women in relationships. Real insights from a guy who knows the rules to live by with a good woman, and ways to discern early if she might work out long term. Knowledge here helps inform better choices in a woman to love.

This should be mandatory reading for any man looking to be with a woman. Wonderfully balanced to help men understand and properly vet a potential life partner. Looking back I made so many mistakes that I didn’t realize were mistakes until being burned badly and trying to learn, not repeat. Any guy, any age, read this book.

All good phrasing tends to go the way of cliche. Irregardless, I'm going to use a cliched phrase and say that this book is "required reading for all men". There's simply no other way to put it. It's possibly the most impactful book I've read in the past 5 years.The title may suggest otherwise, but for me the biggest takeaway from this book was the segment dedicated to figuring out and unapologetically communicating your values and mission in life. The book identified the patterns that caused my previous relationships to fail and outlined how to avoid the same results in the future.There were many "lightbulb moments" and there has been a dramatic positive shift in how I relate to women since reading.This is not a book of half cooked pickup tactics or cynical theorising loosely informed by evolutionary psychology. It's an even handed and humanistic approach to improving yourself and how you relate to others. Optimistic individuals with a capacity for introspection and self transformation will get a lot of value from this.

I am a man in my early 30s who is interested in developing a lifelong monogamous relationship with a woman and having a family. This book gave me exactly what I needed to read to better discern which women I'm dating will make good life long partners. I really appreciate his message to focus on the positive and his language of abundance concerning virtuous women. It helps so much that he focuses on the positive, which is in stark contrast to similar books on the topic. I also recommend this man's YouTube channel for informative content.Shawn, thank you for doing me and so many other men such as solid in writing this book. I'm sure it will make a huge difference in my life.

From the title of this book, you might think it's another of those books written to show you how to get girls into bed ... ie. how to act like an Alpha male even though you are a Beta.Nope. It's MUCH better than that. (Nothing wrong with the former kind of book -- both sides need such guides in the War Between the Sexes.) This book shows men how to avoid getting into entangling, damaging relationships with the wrong kind of woman, and how to have a lasting relationship -- i.e. a stable marriage -- with the right kind. (And of course I'm over-simplifying if it appears that I am saying, or the author is saying, that there are only two kinds of women.) Both kinds of advice are valuable: if you're already married, Dr Smith gives you good advice on how to avoid being a male jerk. (He also has written things for couples, and for women.)He's clearly had a lot of clinical experience, and the book has many examples from his practice. A great book for someone about to enter the War mentioned above. Wish I'd read such a book sixty years ago.

I saw this book as a suggestion , and expected it to be red-pill related. This book's is awfull, just telling stories about problematic couples and mentions what the writer believes that their problems were.There's no point in telling thousands of stories about other couples, this is not an objective book, and the writer doesn't go straight to the point.If you are a male reader interested in reading something that will lead you to higher improvement, don't buy this book, go buy Rollo Tomassi's books, that's a much better deal.

This field is littered with desperate idiots like a lot within the 'Red Pill' community. Feeding off genuine male frustration and vulnerability. This book however is not of that ilk. The author is a serious professional with good sound advice and insight. Worth your money and time.

I enjoyed this book and the concise way the material is presented. I think it offers great insight for dating, pre marriage and post marriage advice for men with a non gynocentric perspective of perpetual wife pleasing.The book is highlights the important of masculinity and the need for men to embrace that part of themselves to make relationships truly work.I highly recommend for people interested in intergender dynamics and relationships

all of itand then againand againand then go back and read it againand then keep checking it as a reference guide each time you want to analyze a specific encounter with a woman.just. gold!ignore this advice if you want to bankrupt your life.