cover image Marry Me: Three Professional Men Reveal How to Get Mr. Right to Pop the Question

Marry Me: Three Professional Men Reveal How to Get Mr. Right to Pop the Question

Bradley Gerstman. William Morrow & Company, $22.95 (255pp) ISBN 978-0-06-019539-7

The lawyer, accountant and doctor, respectively, who penned the 1998 dating guide What Men Want are back with another irresistible title, ready to one-up The Rules once again. Now that two out of three of them have embarked on long-term relationships (one is married and one engaged, while the other is still looking for ""Ms. Right""), their thoughts have turned to the specific attributes and behaviors of the women who made two of them consider giving up sex with others. Contending that ""most men are addicted to conquering many women"" (and presuming that these guys are great catches and that women are dying to marry them), they propose to share the privileged information that women need in order for potential husbands to categorize them as ""marriage material"" rather than ""good for now girls."" Encouraging women readers to ""think of us as your best guy friends,"" Gerstman, Pizzo and Seldes offer some vintage 1950s advice: don't push ""the relationship talk""; don't propose to him; let him pay for everything in public; and ""if it were ever a question of making a sacrifice when it came to work, [let him know] you would be happy to let a career opportunity go to benefit his professional standing."" Their advice can also be condescending (women just don't know how hard men work and how important their careers are to them) and even insulting (a chart illustrating the exact number of lovers it is permissible for a woman to have had at various ages), but these three mediagenic guys have proven appeal and an act that's well-groomed for the morning shows. (Oct.)