Review of "Why Can't I Use a Smiley Face"

"Why Can't I Use a Smiley Face" is the latest installment of Roosh's series that charts his exploits across the world as he gallivants, country to country, studying how to pick up women in said countries.  For those of you follow Roosh or live vicariously through him it would be describe as another, though lengthier chapter, of his Bang series, and will not be let down. However, if you are looking for a stand alone book, say like Dead Bat in Paraguay, this is not the book.  Ergo if you are new to Roosh or don't really have an interest in his adventures, this book will disappoint. 

The book is essentially the "homecoming" chapter of Roosh.  After 2 years in the field he returns to America, specifically his home town of Washington DC and chronicles his day to day life and experiences.  These experiences certainly include him going on attempting to pick up girls in DC's nightlight, but also his observations of family, friends, society in general, as well as some familial resistance to his chosen path in life.

Of particular interest is reading his various Bang guides of different countries and then comparing his foreign experiences to domestic ones.  Most notably getting uncalled-for assaulted by women twice (slapped and punched) whereas to the best of my recollection no woman ever touched him outside the US.  Other unacceptable events result in quite a damning testimony to the perpetually decreasing and unacceptable quality and caliber of young American women (though this is in the DC area only), though this was not the intention of his book.  Regardless, the difficulty, rudeness, and just outright unacceptable behavior he experiences going out in DC shows Roosh he no longer has a home field advantage and that he is better at away games, leading him to an important decision.

The overall lesson of the book, however, is one of "player fatigue."  Keep in mind by this time Roosh has been overseas doing something no other person has done, and though successful, and though a very interesting career, inevitably he gets burnt out.  The burn out comes in three forms.  The first is the physical and psychological demands of world travel that would fatigue anybody.  The second is that he achieves his goal, foisting the Alexander the Great quote of "When he saw the breadth of his domain he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer" on him.  The chase or the novelty no longer appeals to him and he starts searching for a new mission, a new meaning in life.  The third form is he starts to realize the costs of playerhood.  Get all the play you want, you STILL have to go out, you STILL have to spend time, and you STILL have to spend money. The particularly poor results of his D.C. outtings not only made his recent domestic investments a waste, but they also planted the seeds of "opportunity cost" in his mind. 

"Why Can't I Use a Smiley Face" can be found in both paperback and Kindle for $8 and $3 respectively.  It is a very short read (took me about 1.5 hours) and worth the cheap price, especially if you're looking for something to tide you over during a flight OR if you are a regular follower of Roosh.  I will, however, warn you the first few paragraphs are unnecessarily crass and lewd.  Getting past that you should have a decent read.