A Very Lonely Planet: Love, Sex, and the Single Guy

By Ryan Bigge

Traces the history and psychology of the Single Guy, navigating the often misguided search for love, companionship, and presumed eternal happiness. A fresh and hilarious male confessional that makes the Single Guy's search for romance a little less agonizing.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155152094X
• ISBN13: 9781551520940
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
• Length: 185 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Bigge, Bigge, Bigge Can't you See

Biggie, Biggie Biggie can't you see, sometimes your words just hypnotize me. I just finished reading a Very Lonely Planet and was impressed by Canadian Ryan Bigge's authors wit and insight. Ryan Biggie has obviously gone below the radar and delved into the underworld of modern man.The most rewarding part of the book is the description of the Astute Brute. The Astute Brute hates AC/DC etc. He actually reads the articles in Playboy. The Astute Brute is sissier product child of the 50's Barbeque man. A delicate balance somewhere between Noam Chomsky and John Wayne. Isn't it that the Astute Brute just doesn't have proper guidance from "top" authority figures. That is, actors such as John Wayne or prominent generals such as Dwight Eisehhower. China and other Asian countries have done this to great avail. We need proper prototypes...prototypes that allow us to get to work and function with a degree of harmony. Some reason that used to be the "King". I mean what man doesn't really want to yell and scream in his tiny environs...no matter how far down that is suppressed. On a personal level, I can't help but but feel that this whole project is an attempt, on some sub-conscious level to push women further away from him. Isn't the worst thing that a man can do is actually heed the call of women to be nice and proper? This author, like myself, seems to be beyond the point of no return. Women notoriously used to say, we want a nice guy, but I if you acted that way how many would call you up on it? The author seems to be screaming out his frustrations on this point. Personally, I learned that lesson the hard way. I was told that these men need it too bad and better watch your excessive use adjectives son. Isn't what women really want is someone who displays some sort of tribal sign that denotes them as part of the line? One point I would have like to seen elaborated on is the concept of "Real Men". What is a real man in modern Canadian society and how does he fair on the playing field? Better yet...why is it that men do not become real men. What are the forces that deter them from this? What causes intelligent men to go underground? Is it hyperreal images that make them inferior? It is this reviewers belief that it is pluralistic nature of modern Canada that frowns upon any form tribal male behaviour. Which is to bad because we all need to get the led out. So many men are lost in the shuffle and their violence and abuse against women reflect that. Some gems of his wit include..."how the nerds fame went 404" or his description of "Single-itis"...(single men retreat into specialites because it feels good to be amaster of something!) and finally the younger brother of love...luv. In addition his descriptions of certain types of men are very revealing. I noticed his book is set for publication in Australia. To be honest, it probably won't fly as Australia seems to be the last bastion of malehood. Oh to be a miner in Queensland. I have seen so many friends

The Lonely 1

Ryan Bigge has penned the ultimate guide to the slacker guy who will not -- cannot -- muster the courage to ask a girl out, get laid or make a relationship fly. Written more as a faux socialogical essay, Bigge astutely skewers the post-modern male through this book's 180-odd pages. It's a very fast read, and a very funny one. Some might say Bigge's tone is somewhat whiny, but it's a satricial kind of whiny -- a perfect tone for this book. (I've met Bigge, and he's actually more the shy, inverted type than book nerd.)My only carp is that the book might have had a wee bit more resonance if the author had offered a little *more* personal insight, or had sprinkled his mishaps in the dating world a little more liberally throughout. Instead, there's a few pages dedicated to his dud dates near the start of the book, and a few anecdotes in chunks here and there. Which is fine, but the book might have had a bit more emotional heft if the observations turned inwards insead of outward -- or was presented in a more linear way. In fact, the most successful parts of the book are Bigge's recounting of a blind date from hell in New York and his guest stint on a dating/cooking show, but they seem out of place or out of order somehow. Still, a very lonely planet is a *very* funny book. And a worthwhile read regardless if you're a female trying to figure guys out, or a guy trying to figure yourself out.

Witty book about guys-like-me

Despite a few typos in my copy (like 'ideaologies', 'recomment'), I do very strongly recommend this book for twenty-somethings like me who feel lost in the 3rd Millennium world of dating. Bigge (courageously) lets it all hang out, and conceptualizes the "Astute Brute", a man who is astute enough to read Playboy for the articles and brute enough to something 'truly excellent' in front of a beautiful woman. He goes through a brief (and excellent) history of advice guides for men, and comes up with his own advice, which he, as a true self-conscious twenty-something would, advocates you ignore. Humourous (because it's true) are his dating escapades, like his week-long blind date in New York, and his experience on a 'cooking-for-love' TV show. Recommented (uh, I mean, recommended).