Yeah good call man. It's so tempting to start off by reading all the books and other material to get yourself 'prepared'. But it doesn't help at the start because you have no reference experiences to put a context behind it.

Some of the books say don't put women on a pedestal then give you the impression that if you're not a perfect man in all respects all the time you'll never get a woman or they'll dump you like a hot potato. Other one's can be ego driven and misogynistic or objectify women (targets / sets). This isn't a healthy worldview.

Women are human beings and as imperfect and fallible as guys are. They are all different. It's only by talking to a lot of women that you can learn how to gauge her level of attraction. What you do from then on is very dependant on your level of experience (competence) and what her level of attraction for you is. It takes time to develop that intuition.

To me pickup is for guys who don't want to do the common thing. They don't want to hold onto the first girl they meet that likes them, not because she's right for them, but just because they fear never meeting another one. They probably did that in the past and got burned and don't want it to keep happening.