Ok, this was the first time I tried applying some of this PUA stuff on anyone. I was at a book store and saw this girl reading a book while sitting down on one of those rolling stool things. After ignoring the 3 second rule a million times, I approached her, while she was reading and asked her for some book recommendations. I gave myself a false time constraint saying that I had to head back to my friends in a minute (wasn't lying about that)

She was very very shy. At first she said she wasn't good at recommending books so I asked her what she was reading. She told me, I showed her my book, as my friend recommended it to me and I asked her if she recommended it too. She did not know either way.

That is where I thanked her for her time and left....defeated.

Any advice?

Well If you was trying to pick her up the best thing to do here is to get a little action omg like shy girls are very easy to flirt with, but in this case what you could have done is try to get to know her like for ex...Try to find out what books you both enjoy instead of asking her for your opinion you could have come up with something you both have in common and then flirt with her a little make her giggle her and there and wala!

If I have a conversation with a girl and I like her, I just tell her she's cool and tell her to give me her number so I can call her the next time I'm in town or whatever. You weren't defeated because the conversation wasn't exciting, it's because you didn't feel like the conversation was good enough for her to justify giving you her number. Or something along those lines anyway. I hear this quite a lot, and the bottom line is that you can get her number nomatter what you just talked about or for how long. Period. You have nothing to lose by handing her your phone and doing it and you'll be kicking your own ass later on if you don't.

I see guys trying to keep the conversation going and digging for information, and the girl becomes passive. You don't need to find common ground to get her number because as long as you carry yourself well she'll be happy with the prospect of getting to know you when you both have the time. Let me give you a recent example... on friday I was out with my friend, I spotted this hot blonde girl with a short skirt on. She wasn't perfect but I'd give her a 7, maybe an 8. Anyway, he sat down and I started walking alongside her, and said hi as I passed by. The conversation went pretty much as follows:

me: Hi, how are ya?
SJ: (puzzled look, half smile) I'm... good!
me: (big smile) Good stuff, hey do you know anywhere in here we can pay for a coffee by card cos we've been wandering around for like 10 minutes and nowhere accepts cards.
(by this stage I had slowed to a stop and was leaning back a little while she talked)
SJ: Blah blah...
me: Alright thanks... hey you know what, you're fucking cool.
SJ: (laughing a little) Um, thanks?
me: That's alright! Hey I'm not really around here too much but yeah, I kinda left my friend sitting over there so gimme your number and I'll call you up next time I'm down here, I'll take you out or something.
SJ: Yeah ok, so what are you guys at tonight?

So there you have it. I talked to her about our plans and stuff, it was her friends birthday and she told me where they were going and that we could come along if we wanted to. I said that was cool and I'd give her a call if we were heading over there so she could meet us outside. Told her she was cool again and got her to give me a hug, and moved along.

Think about that interaction, I mean what was hard about that? This took like 2 minutes tops, I asked her a basic question to get her talking and went straight for what I wanted before letting her get back to what she was doing. There's no point in pussyfooting around and digging the hole deeper for yourself. The best thing about interactions like this is that the girl rarely has guys coming up to her during the day... if she does, they approach in groups which is more than likely intimidating to her, or their approach is just plain bad. So, while the conversation is still strong or after she's answered what you wanted to know just tell her she's cool and that you should hang out the next time you're in the area. I do this all the time and I still get a rush every time I get what I'm after, I feel all full of energy and it's amazing. I want you to feel that rush for yourself so next time fucking go after what you want and don't mess around. It'll give you the drive to do it again and again and you'll be on top of your game pretty much all the time because you'll feel powerful as hell. Try it!