Nice guys really can finish first.

While a positive statement, sometimes finishing first with women feels like an unattainable goal for the typical nice guy. For those who have trouble hookin’ up with the ladies, John Fate has written the book “The Nice Guys’ Guide to Getting Girls.”

Written based on observations of real “nice guys” interacting with women and the testimony of women themselves, “The Nice Guys’ Guide to Getting Girls” provides a very solid start for any man who has trouble flirting with the opposite sex.

The book outlines how to approach women in a variety of locations such as bars, parties and even airports. Suggestions such as “Avoid bars with an open floor plan” and “Meeting women in an airport works better in your hometown” are great for helping guys recognize good places to stake out.

To back up his suggestions, Fate retells lots of experiences he’s had speaking with women in detail. It is very interesting to hear how he handles situations, giving guidelines to the reader along the way.

Justin Marks is the spokesman of the Nice Guys Institute, where they study the best ways to get the attention of women. He says, “What sets our books from the other guys out there [is that] our books are observational. That makes it a very unique approach.”

Not only is it unique, but effective as well. Reading quotes from women telling what approaches turn them off or what attracts them to a guy really gives the book a sense of credibility.

For instance, while explaining why making eye contact with a girl is important Fate adds a quote from a woman, “Why do guys always stare at my breasts? Do they think we can’t tell? … Please don’t look down there, it’s such a turn-off!” Reading a quote like this drives home the point not to let your eyes wander.

Perhaps one of the most useful topics covered in the book is how to actually interact with women. An entire chapter is devoted to using body language to show your interest during a conversation with a girl.

Hints such as maintaining eye contact, nodding your head and simply facing the woman are given in addition to several other helpful tips. What’s better is that these suggestions are so universal that they can be used in any situation while talking to either gender.

Other topics in the book include online dating, how to not talk about yourself too much and how to give “great” oral sex once you have a female partner. Though the chapter on oral sex is very informative, there were two things blatantly odd about it.

First, it gives tips on exactly how to perform oral sex on a woman but rarely takes into account that either a girl does not want you to give her oral sex, or that different women might like different things. Second, the entire book — besides the oral sex chapter — is devoted to initiating a relationship with a girl and not what to do while in one, making the oral sex chapter seem out of place.

Another problem stems from the fact that “The Nice Guys’ Guide to Getting Girls” is actually a sequel. What seems like twenty times per chapter, Fate refers to his previous work “Make Every Girl Want You.”

He does this to refer to topics and concepts covered in his previous work.

While enough detail is provided in this book that it can stand alone as a resource to flirting, giving its precursor a read through would give more insight to Fate’s ideas.

Despite being a sequel that does not completely stand alone and the puzzlingly-included oral sex chapter, The Nice Guys’ Guide to Getting Girls is a very good read. It is written in a manner that is easy to understand and gives loads of information, stories, and testimonials. Its appendices alone are great, listing ideas for places to go on a date.

In fact, their most helpful appendix, a list of questions guys can use to carry a conversation with a girl, is on their website for free at www.TheNiceGuysGuide.com.

The credibility of a group of people observing what works and what does not, as opposed to one man simply retelling his personal story, is encouraging to anyone willing to try the methods this book describes. The methods, generally, are not hard in the first place and merely require a few changes of habit and an awareness of your surroundings. This combination of validity with ease makes The Nice Guys’ Guide to Getting Girls worth any single man’s time to check out.