What do you think?
Rate this book
The Four Man Plan: A Romantic Science
Are you Fabulous and Single? Very, Very Single?
Do you secretly suspect that you suck at love?
Author and actress Cindy Lu knew for a long time that she sucked at love. For years, she dated one wrong guy after another until she decided to use her math skills to fix her romantic life. The result is The Four Man Plan—a brilliant system for finding love that combines the certainties of math and human behavior into a sure-fire formula for finding Mr. Right. The secret? Always be dating four men at any given time.
“But I can’t find one man, let alone four!” Fear not. Lu gives you everything you need to round up the candidates and assess how they measure up. Based on a carefully developed system of postulates and practices—including the “Disney Theorem” and the “Wait for Sex Index”—her step-by-step process takes the guesswork and heartache out of dating and lets men compete for your affections while you enjoy the ride. The result is a Dating Revolution where women protect each other and take charge of their love lives; where men rediscover the joys of chivalry; and where you end up with the ultimate One man to save your seat, rub your feet, and grill your meat into happily ever after.
Do you secretly suspect that you suck at love?
Author and actress Cindy Lu knew for a long time that she sucked at love. For years, she dated one wrong guy after another until she decided to use her math skills to fix her romantic life. The result is The Four Man Plan—a brilliant system for finding love that combines the certainties of math and human behavior into a sure-fire formula for finding Mr. Right. The secret? Always be dating four men at any given time.
“But I can’t find one man, let alone four!” Fear not. Lu gives you everything you need to round up the candidates and assess how they measure up. Based on a carefully developed system of postulates and practices—including the “Disney Theorem” and the “Wait for Sex Index”—her step-by-step process takes the guesswork and heartache out of dating and lets men compete for your affections while you enjoy the ride. The result is a Dating Revolution where women protect each other and take charge of their love lives; where men rediscover the joys of chivalry; and where you end up with the ultimate One man to save your seat, rub your feet, and grill your meat into happily ever after.
- GenresNonfiction
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
30 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
February 17, 2008
A friend introduced me to the idea behind this book so I had to pick up a copy just to see what the heck she was talking about. I couldn't put it down once I started reading it and interestingly enough, I realized that I've been implementing The Four-Man Plan (with slight modifications) my entire dating career.
Cindy Lu's no scientist. She's not a doctor and she's not a math whiz, either. But one thing that can be said for her is that she is courageous in talking so openly about her past relationships, the mistakes she made along the way, and sharing her discovery that the best way to form a healthy relationship is to be honest, open, and willing to forgive yourself first.
This book will speak to women of all ages and stages: from those of us who have been married before and want to rediscover dating - and how it's done these days - to those who have always been single and no longer wish to be alone.
Put your feet up and enjoy your beverage of choice when reading this book. You'll laugh out loud, find yourself nodding in agreement and asking yourself why you ever dated what's-his-name, all while discovering a new way to look at love and relationships with this outrageously inventive way to enjoy dating once again.
Cindy Lu's no scientist. She's not a doctor and she's not a math whiz, either. But one thing that can be said for her is that she is courageous in talking so openly about her past relationships, the mistakes she made along the way, and sharing her discovery that the best way to form a healthy relationship is to be honest, open, and willing to forgive yourself first.
This book will speak to women of all ages and stages: from those of us who have been married before and want to rediscover dating - and how it's done these days - to those who have always been single and no longer wish to be alone.
Put your feet up and enjoy your beverage of choice when reading this book. You'll laugh out loud, find yourself nodding in agreement and asking yourself why you ever dated what's-his-name, all while discovering a new way to look at love and relationships with this outrageously inventive way to enjoy dating once again.
September 6, 2011
Miss Lu does and excellent job of helping us ladies look in the mirror without getting mired in too much self introspective gazing or running out of the room in terror.
Her humor and honesty in relating her own search-for-the-door-in-a-pitch-black-room experiences in the journey to her own brand of co-committed bliss let me relax and have a little fun at my own expense.
Her no nonsense approach to helping you learn the skills you have been sorely lacking is practical and structured in a way to ensure that you won't allow yourself to drown in the self-pity-pool-of-reflection.
I must admit that what I learned to do through this book is a huge part of how my work as a Courtesan came into form.
If you have yet to read it ladies, don't wait another minute, click the link below:
The For Man Plan by Cindy Lu
Her humor and honesty in relating her own search-for-the-door-in-a-pitch-black-room experiences in the journey to her own brand of co-committed bliss let me relax and have a little fun at my own expense.
Her no nonsense approach to helping you learn the skills you have been sorely lacking is practical and structured in a way to ensure that you won't allow yourself to drown in the self-pity-pool-of-reflection.
I must admit that what I learned to do through this book is a huge part of how my work as a Courtesan came into form.
If you have yet to read it ladies, don't wait another minute, click the link below:
The For Man Plan by Cindy Lu
March 19, 2008
i borrowed this from renee and it's pretty entertaining...the author has a kinda kicky style; she's really funny and she's been around so her point of view is realistic and authentic...i mean, i'm not dating more because of it but i'm thinking about it so that must count for something, right? ok, maybe not...
March 27, 2010
my friend went on and on about this book for aaaaaages before I gave in and promised to read it ... and while it's not really my thing - the message is clear & positive ... the principles make sense ... and it also helped me to see into a few blindspots ... next time I'll listen to my friend sooner
August 10, 2016
This book is so entertaining. I really enjoyed reading it. It's a quick and easy read - definitely a good read! Now I haven't tried the "plan", but it makes so much sense I'd be surprised if it doesn't work for a majority of women.
April 18, 2008
has improved my life ten fold.
July 9, 2008
Just really entertaining with some really smart advice on dating. Really does put the fun back in dating (especially if you like to doodle!)
April 22, 2012
Hilarious! And language is questionable, she is frank, candid, modern woman. This is NOT Ms. Manners on dating. Im not sure if I can handle dating more than one man at a time, but I see her point.
April 21, 2018
I really did not expect to like this book, but I love quantifying the partner-finding process to improve one’s chances of compatibility and happiness so I gave it a go and persevered even when it told me things I didn’t want to hear. I’m glad I did because it’s such a good balance of fun, funny, clever and insightful. Even though I absolutely don’t have the mathematical mind to be doing graphs in my spare time, I’ve taken away a lot of lessons and it’s definitely had a significant impact on the way I’ll date going forward.
September 30, 2024
Extremely practical and realistic approach. Yes the style/tone is playful and ridiculous at times, and it worked super well for me in terms of getting me to accept the underlying arguments. I haven't tried making little sketches yet, and I learned a ton from this method to inform my collection of relational strategies and romantic illusions.
January 16, 2026
Good concepts for focusing on dating with intention rather than emotional attachment. Didn’t agree with everything she stated for the rules and some of the humor felt a little too much/childish at times.
December 13, 2013
My journey with this book begins about 7.5 years ago. I had just finished college, moved home, and become very excited about a discount theatre website called Goldstar Events. I bought theatre tickets left and right, and among the tickets I bought were comp tickets for a one woman comedy show called The Four Man Plan. The show was a hilarious tromp through the performer's history of terrible relationships and her decision to use math to whip her dating life into shape. The show was hilarious, but at the time I was at the beginning of what would become an 8 year relationship, so I had little use for its content.
Fast-forward to 2013. My 8 year relationship ends (amicably - no need to feel bad for me) and I find myself single after 3 consecutive long term relationships for the first time, essentially, since age 16. I realized I had a million questions about dating and no idea how to start, until one day my ex, who is still my friend, said, "hey, remember that show we saw?" I wanted answers, so I bought the book.
I will say this: the show was funnier than the book. The text simply can't hold up to Cindy Lu's stage presence and delivery. And using a very simple mathematical diagramming system, it goes through, step by step, how to ethically and enjoyably juggle dating multiple people and meet nice ones. There are some rules, such as any guy who isn't mean, dishonest, etc gets a second date. (This serves to focus you on strengths of a first date rather than judgements.)
I don't know that I'll end up following The Plan, but this book was definitely a great resource in terms of validating that it's ok to not jump straight to monogamy, and also in terms of demystifying the dating process a little bit.
Fast-forward to 2013. My 8 year relationship ends (amicably - no need to feel bad for me) and I find myself single after 3 consecutive long term relationships for the first time, essentially, since age 16. I realized I had a million questions about dating and no idea how to start, until one day my ex, who is still my friend, said, "hey, remember that show we saw?" I wanted answers, so I bought the book.
I will say this: the show was funnier than the book. The text simply can't hold up to Cindy Lu's stage presence and delivery. And using a very simple mathematical diagramming system, it goes through, step by step, how to ethically and enjoyably juggle dating multiple people and meet nice ones. There are some rules, such as any guy who isn't mean, dishonest, etc gets a second date. (This serves to focus you on strengths of a first date rather than judgements.)
I don't know that I'll end up following The Plan, but this book was definitely a great resource in terms of validating that it's ok to not jump straight to monogamy, and also in terms of demystifying the dating process a little bit.
March 4, 2010
There's some good stuff in this book about respect and finding oneself, but for the most part it's weighed down in (what I find) a highly improbable math-based dating formula and a crass sense of humor that didn't especially strike my funny bone. It was a quick, entertaining read but not necessarily in a way I enjoyed or found too terribly helpful. A very odd little book.
I did, however, really like her focus on the right dating partner(s) being "honest, loving and willing" and her explanation of what these three characteristics mean to her. Important stuff, there.
I did, however, really like her focus on the right dating partner(s) being "honest, loving and willing" and her explanation of what these three characteristics mean to her. Important stuff, there.
November 25, 2012
I was previewing this book for my teenage daughter. What a shock I got after the language and information in just first paragraph! There is some good advise in this book but it is definitely not appropriate for a teenager to read! The author is very outspoken and blunt. She gives way too much private info about how many men she's slept with. It's kind of disgusting to read about it all. Even though my daughter is not sleeping around, the book did reinforce my opinion that she should not have just one boyfriend, especially in high school.
February 16, 2014
I bought this book not knowing that it is a date book. haha! i thought the cover was cute and i didn't finish eading the back print so i assumed it was a chick lit. Although it was not what i thought it was, it was a very fun read. I love the author's wits and i found myself laughing at some point and I JUST LOVE THIS BOOK. :)
March 13, 2008
Funny how making something so seemingly serious (turning dating into a mathamatical equation complete with theories, postulates and principles) can make it into something light and funny. Worth a boring, rainy day or a day by the pool for those looking for a slightly different approach.
December 31, 2008
i should probably think harder about why this was purchased for me...
August 24, 2010
worked for me :-)
April 19, 2011
I loved Cindy! I have encouraged many others to follow the 4 man plan.
December 4, 2011
Hilarious and practical.
March 1, 2013
This book changed my life and the way I looked at relationships, for the better!
January 30, 2015
Not working for me:(
May 20, 2015
I am happily married because of this
book!
book!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews