By Patrick Thompson
In a new type of writing where “blogging” is taken a bit more serious, more and more authors are providing sites that are becoming more popular each day. “Fraternity” books or “Frat Lit” are the newest bestseller, including books from authors such as Tucker Max, Maddox, and Neil Strauss, which deal with things from picking up women to hot sauce.
Tucker Max’s blog (
www.tuckermax.com) includes a list of stories of Max’s life from his days at University of Chicago to graduating from Duke Law. While most would find his stories morally reprehensible, younger generations find them hilarious and sadly a role model to aspire to become. Max’s stories range from drunken episodes which leave others completely baffled, to embarrassing moments that most would rather never bring up again. Tucker Max shows what a horrible human he may be, but the underlying moral to all his stories, is that he is himself. Max has recently released a New York Bestselling book which chronicles most of his stories, entitled “I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell”. It can be found at any major bookstore or online.
“Maddox” (
www.thebestpageintheuniverse.com) is an author, who like Max, started off with a small blog and has turned it into a best selling book. Maddox’s site is somewhat cleaner than Max’s as he blogs about rants and raves more than sexual experiences. On a simple rant about Orbitz and how they “stole” $94, Maddox completed a letter that appeals to more than 1 million viewers, who are now also boycotting Orbitz. Maddox’s newest venture is his best selling book entitled “The Alphabet of Manliness”, which chronicles the history of man through each letter in the alphabet. Maddox is somewhat cleaner than Max, but nonetheless hilarious.
Neil Strauss started high school at one of the most prestigious schools, graduated college, and pursued a successful career at the New York Times and Rolling Stone. So why would such a successful journalist decide to write a book about picking up women? Because books like this, “Frat Lit”, are in, and that is what will sell. Strauss, with a much cleaner sense of writing and far less disgusting, takes on different nightclub scenes with the help of many “professionals”, who help teach how to become mysterious enough to pick up women. In his book “The Game” Strauss shows many different techniques by professional pickup artists. The book is a definite read for all those who enjoy “upping” their lady skills.
Men or women may find some of these sites/books disgusting, but some will still find them hilarious. Maddox responds to the question in his book: “Is book only for men?”, he responds with a simple “I would say that it is only for men in the same way that lesbian porn sites on the Internet are only for women.” It is this type of thinking that has made these authors so successful. When dedicated his book, Maddox dedicates it “to the love of my life, my soul mate, and the greatest person in the world: Me.” Subtitles like this, make these books what they are, which is truly hilarious.
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