Scan barcode
A review by jiujensu
The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker
1.0
He stresses intuition, so I have to say his Oprah recommendation, government and OJ trial told me this was going to be bad. The only reason I kept slogging away long after I wanted to stop reading in there first chapters was because it's frequently recommended in jiu-jiutsu or self-defense circles.
While there were a few interesting chapters, I do not recommend this at all. This could've been a zine with some of his checklists as cute infographics.
Some observations:
Too many cutsey little analogies crammed together.
Chapters 1-4 are mostly cringe.
Chapters 5-7 are not wholly trash. Meh.
Chapters 8, 9, and 14 is his wheelhouse - he knows something about celebrity stalking.
DV section (Chapters 10-11) was victim blamey.
Chapters 12, 13, and 15 are cringe and meh.
Whole thing is hindsight is 20/20, examining these incidents postmortem while encouraging you to apply the several lists he uses in office analyses in the moment. Okay, guy.
Generally feels like individual solutions to systemic problems in ineffective libertarian style - except where he talks about his cases.
The last page was a nice optimistic send off - he hopes we aren't afraid.
Those few chapters he spoke about his profession - cases he worked to predict a suspect's actions or thwart a stalker of an actress or Supreme Court justice were great. He abandoned his silly metaphor-heavy and rather condescending victim blaiming style and just told compelling stories.
I didn't find this terribly useful for the self-defense genre. Maybe that's because I'm reading it 26 years late? Didn't age well I guess.
Better reading:
Seconds Out: Women and Fighting https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55843975-seconds-out
Her Own Hero: The Origins of the Women's Self-Defense Movement https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32561213-her-own-hero
She's a Knockout! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22620322-she-s-a-knockout
Real Knockouts
https://www.amazon.com/Real-Knockouts-Physical-Feminism-Self-Defense/dp/0814755771?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=d663bbed-3f95-4cc1-82db-6c12fb340d46
While there were a few interesting chapters, I do not recommend this at all. This could've been a zine with some of his checklists as cute infographics.
Some observations:
Too many cutsey little analogies crammed together.
Chapters 1-4 are mostly cringe.
Chapters 5-7 are not wholly trash. Meh.
Chapters 8, 9, and 14 is his wheelhouse - he knows something about celebrity stalking.
DV section (Chapters 10-11) was victim blamey.
Chapters 12, 13, and 15 are cringe and meh.
Whole thing is hindsight is 20/20, examining these incidents postmortem while encouraging you to apply the several lists he uses in office analyses in the moment. Okay, guy.
Generally feels like individual solutions to systemic problems in ineffective libertarian style - except where he talks about his cases.
The last page was a nice optimistic send off - he hopes we aren't afraid.
Those few chapters he spoke about his profession - cases he worked to predict a suspect's actions or thwart a stalker of an actress or Supreme Court justice were great. He abandoned his silly metaphor-heavy and rather condescending victim blaiming style and just told compelling stories.
I didn't find this terribly useful for the self-defense genre. Maybe that's because I'm reading it 26 years late? Didn't age well I guess.
Better reading:
Seconds Out: Women and Fighting https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55843975-seconds-out
Her Own Hero: The Origins of the Women's Self-Defense Movement https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32561213-her-own-hero
She's a Knockout! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22620322-she-s-a-knockout
Real Knockouts
https://www.amazon.com/Real-Knockouts-Physical-Feminism-Self-Defense/dp/0814755771?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=d663bbed-3f95-4cc1-82db-6c12fb340d46