I read the game about halfway through my first year of college because I was floundering socially and was getting really anxious about approaching people in general, because of so many failed interactions and dwindling friendships. I didn't have someone to help me figure it all out, so I looked online and found this book, which seemed like a guide to being more outgoing & having better social interactions.
Most PUAs tend to spout a lot of bullshit, but a decent amount of solid general advice tends to trickle out as well for socially awkward guys who have no clue what to do & get too anxious about approaching people.. Doesnt the book start off by telling you to groom yourself? I know for sure that at some point he's talking about buying clothes that fit, the basics of shaving and cutting your hair regularly, and showering. All of this is fucking fantastic advice for the typical basemeny dweller.
One of my biggest gripes about the things people home-in on when talking shit about PUAs is that they all misunderstand the point of the given advice by taking it to extremes.
Two quick examples off the top of my head: 1) peacocking. I want to say that mystery coined the term (maybe not, but i dont care to find out, and that douche is perfect for this example) by taking to an extreme the concept of developing your own style. Nobody can argue that having a sense of style is attractive, and what quicker way to identify if someone is your 'type' (rocker, emo, cowboy, frat boy, ect.) than visually? If you like emo girls and the emo scene, dressing the part is leagues better than showing up in the sneakers & cargo shorts your mom bought you 3 years ago. shocking, right? Come Mystery, and suddenly guys think they NEED to dress over-the-top to draw attention. Yikes.
2) negging. When you keep in mind the target audience (guys who are VERY likely to try to win over a girl by endlessly praising them), its kind of important to emphasize the need to break up the stream of compliments they compulsively throw at women, and change the tone a bit by employing some playful banter, which often involves pointing out something negative. Somewhere along the line, morons read way too far into it and interpereted this as trying to destroy the person's self-esteem so that they feel a need to validate themselves to you. Again, yikes.