Danger & Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity

by Mike Cernovich

Danger & Play will show you how to become a more dominant man, develop a dominate mindset, lose fat, gain muscle, succeed in business, and meet women.

Mike Cernovich is considered one of the most controversial men on the Internet, as he tells the truth without fear of offending the politically correct or weak-minded. Cernovich has been attacked by Gawker, Newsweek, and other anti-men publications. MSNBC had a guest on to discuss Cernovich’s “offensive” views on how men want to live.

Danger & Play, Cernovich’s flagship website, has been read by millions of people worldwide and his book Gorilla Mindset became an immediate best seller.

In Danger & Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity, you’ll learn how to eliminate slave emotions like guilt and shame. You will begin – perhaps for the first time ever – living life on your terms.

Be forewarned. While you will agree with one essay, you will disagree with another. No one agrees with everything Cernovich writes, which is a point of pride for him.

Cernovich does not write for the slow or the weak. He writes for independent men (and even some women) who aren’t afraid to have their ideas about the world challenged.

Find out what millions of others have learned by reading Danger & Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity by Mike Cernovich.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self Help, Personal Development

254 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 30, 2015

Reviews

[Emma Sea]

Oh, dear god.

"Even a self-proclaimed “strong, independent woman” wants to be tamed . . . Women want to submit to a man. Or did you not notice that 50 Shades of Grey sold over 50 million copies?"

[Benjamin Wallace]

Someone recommended this book to me and I can't remember who it was. But I need to try and remember so I can get them the help they need.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

It would have been ridiculously funny if the writer was not dead serious.

[Bas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's basically a bunch of blog posts. Some are better than others.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good material, but the book is ruined by sexualised material in certain chapters that the author ought to have omitted.

[Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Urgh, this book, this man...

Everything he wrote is complete bullshit and the fun part is that it's basically a collection of his blog posts, so you pay for shit that you can read online for free anyways.

It's full of misogynistic crap, such as how it's normal for a woman to be subservient to a man et cetera.
There are many reasons not to read it, and many more not to like it.

[Tsvetelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read both 'Gorilla Mindset' and this, I can conclude that while 'Gorilla Mindset' is the more polished product, I personally prefer the more hard-core nature of Essays. Both offer Mike's view on how one can improve themselves in various areas of life, including health, fitness, business, relationship and most importantly - mindset.
Cannot wait for the next book 'Audacity'

[Robert Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike is a master of framing. The book is jam packed with useful frames and mindset tips. It’s a good mix of popular self help ideas and Mike’s original thoughts. The short essays make this book easy to pick up and put down.

[Frederick Hammill · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had a distinct anti-Christian tint to them. I wouldn’t recommend that men of faith read this or consider its principles sound.

[Jimmy Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This man's philosophies are everything that's wrong with society today. His definitions of masculinity are skewed at best, bordering on pathological. His masculine aspirations are essentially the devolution of man. I can picture him sitting amongst his friends engaging in competition to see who amongst them could pass the longest and loudest fart. He's arrogant, boorish and conceited. He speaks without giving any thought to the responsibility he has to his readers, many of whom are likely young, impressionable men. At one point he even suggests a steroid cycle a seasoned professional bodybuilder wouldn't touch.
There are far better books available to readers on the subject of masculinity. Written by far better men who have been battle tested and have more than mere anecdotal personal ideologies on the subject of being a good man. Not a sociopath with a narcissistic personality disorder.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in 2015. The kindle version was littered with errors. Apart from that, it's just run of the mill selfhelp. Really nothing that fascinating about it. What's more, it's creepy he chose this as his first book to write, given his profession in the legal field. I don't think Cernovich is a 'psy-op' but he most certainly is a grifter, and was trying to pivot into men's issues to find his voice, knowing that rallying lost men is easier and more lucrative than writing a legal analysis.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of transcribed podcasts, It had some good points about bodybuilding and nutrition, and positive mental attitude. The player/PUA sections weren't of as much interest to me.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am typically a fan of the male 'self-help' and 'redpill' space, but I could not get past the first few chapters of this book. Honestly utter terrible.
Once Mike started talking about 'neck nibbling', it was the final straw. Myself as a guy who has never really struggled with women (attracting them), reading his 'advice' on how to interact with women was painful.
Who knows, maybe it's just an American thing.
Save yourself the time and read The Rational Male by Rollo Tomassi, or The Unplugged Alpha by Rich Cooper.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, Motivating Collection

As a follow up to Mike's "Gorilla Mindset", he released this collection of blog posts and podcast transcripts from his Danger and Play blog. Some of them are early works, and it shows. I haven't been reading D&P since the beginning, so this collection was useful to me in catching up.

Mike covers several subject areas, including health, business, mindset, and so on. Most are quick, easy reads. Very motivating.

[Dany Vicente · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike goes here in a deep level of men's improvement and he is not afraid of telling hard stuff. He explained in detail why the society is turning weaker and also he shows how to improve from that social conditioning that we are subjects.

[Bugzmanov · Rating 3 out of 5]

tasty junk food for the mind. yam

[Ioannis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of the author's best posts and concepts