STORIES ABOUT SEX AND OBSERVATIONS ON WOMEN

A semi-autobiographical work offering men advice on sex and life.

Bradley has a lot to share with his fellow straight men, but he doesn’t want to “show you how to manipulate women because that is an ignorant, bullshit goal.” Instead, he intends to impart knowledge gleaned from his experiences with sex and similar topics to help the reader become a “high-quality male.” Much of this wisdom has been tempered by “years of hard drug use and frequent violence.” Chronicling his time overseas in the U.S. military to periods of crack use in Texas, the pages depict exotic dancers, a prostitute, and hostile run-ins with the spouses of married women. Most chapters are short; one of the longest details how to behave in strip clubs. Other practical advice includes the importance of staying in shape and leaving someone who cheats. The author encourages honesty when dating; the idea of being disingenuous in order to get sex “makes you a despicable asshole motherfucker.” With chapters such as “The Secret of Titties,” the work garners an adult rating. Yet despite statements like, “I later ran into the crackhead she was fucking, and he was really scared of violence from me,” there are softer moments. The author writes tenderly of a woman he loved who had to have both her shoulders replaced. He mentions helping her clean herself and other not-so-sexy chores, writing, “I did these things because I loved her.” An earnestness shines through even the moments of self-congratulation (at one point, apparently, every exotic dancer in Texas was yearning for his physical touch). The hard-won pride in the person he’s become sometimes reads as arrogance, which dampens the message. But Bradley’s eagerness to coach other men is never in doubt.

A helpful, if brutally honest and sometimes big-headed, treatise on manhood and relationships.