After getting past the cheesy title and cover, the actual content in
this book is quite comprehensive. Its organization and approach to self-defense
is similar to GMA seminars and collegiate courses. As a collegiate instructor,
there are certain points that I might stress more or less based on differences
of opinions, but the underlying theory and framework is sound. The material
is well laidout and progressive, and it discusses many important topics
but unfortunately not in much detail. Thus, it is a very good beginners
book, but offers very little insight to the self-defense expert, save
for possibly a few statistics and such. Then again, many proclaimed experts
never address some of the issues covered in this book, so perhaps everyone
should read on.
Most important are the sections that deal with the events leading up
to the actual use of violence. The general awareness portion includes
descriptions of the types of violent crimes and the dynamics involved,
the typical victim, and the typical perpetrator. The discussion of sexual
assault, including the pattern or process the sexual predator uses to
select a target, may be of particular interest. The assessment section
deals with the verbal and physical cues that might indicate violence is
about to occur, and also deals with internal assessment of the strengths
and weaknesses of the student, which is an important subject that many
people overlook or take for granted. The de-escalation section inter-relates
to the assessment section and pertains to reading the antagonist, self-assessing
your verbal and non-verbal cues, and trying to gain rapport with the aggressor.
it also makes some very important distinctions between de-escalating a
potentially violent (but non-sexual) situation and de-escalating a sexual
assault. It covers other important concepts of self-defense that are regrettably
not often covered in the typical martial arts/self defense seminar (but
certainly needs to be) including the duty to retreat and the use of appropriate
level of force, although this book at times may err on the side of caution
in this regard. Most of the material is well-researched and backed with
statistics, although some of it is a bit dated now, and I might argue
with a few things -for example, the book consistently understates the
amount and/or percentage of acquaintance rape (in my opinion). Another
benefit is that the bibliography does provide students with the potential
to follow up or more in depth subject matter to pursue if interested.
The book provides role-playing possibilities and also a checklist and
scoring system for the student to evaluate performance and progress in
the aforementioned areas. The role-plays would be valuable only if taken
seriously and performed well -a difficult challenge to beginning students,
especially the half-hearted ones. Similarly, the checklist and rating
scale is in theory a unique piece of feedback, but only if taken seriously.
But at least checklist format helps provide focus on the key criteria
of the skills. A comparable success rating adopted for the physical skills
section is even less valuable since it is more or less a tally of repetitions.
The skills sections discuss some basic strikes, kicks, and defenses
against a limited number of holds and chokes from both the front and rear.
Stylistic differences in technique will most likely arise, but the techniques
are fairly conservative and simple. The instruction in the execution of
techniques is decent, and of particular value is the common mistakes section,
which helps to explain and reinforce the correction of some of the mistakes
most likely to be encountered (again, stylistic differences may assign
different weights to the importance of specific corrections.) The biggest
problem is that the techniques are largely scripted and do not emphasize
free-flowing thought. The techniques will probably work in the given scenario,
but subtle differences that change the scenario (and the defense’s chance
of success accordingly) are not well accounted for. The techniques are
taught and built upon in a progression. A good idea, but at times the
progressions are almost remedial. That, coupled with the writing style,
suggests that the book is formatted to junior high or high school, not
college level, even though much of the conceptual material within the
format is perhaps a little more advanced.
While this book is fairly comprehensive in dealing not only with physical aspects but
also legalities, awareness and assessment, and de-escalation, a few considerations
were left out, preventing it from being an even better book. It fails to mention the
psychological limitations students might have, even when instructing on how to bury a
finger in the opponent’s eye. It also never mentions any consideration of weapons
(for both the attacker and/or the defender.) While this is certainly a complex matter
and probably beyond the scope of this book, perhaps some caveats were still merited.
While this book is not going to become the bible of self-defense, it
does have several good, unique ideas. It covers most elements of self-defense,
including some that many of the so-called martial arts/self defense experts
fail to appreciate. It is a great place to start and a good supplement
to a quality self-defense course. The beginning self defense student can’t
go wrong with analyzing this book, and even some of the more experienced
martial artists who have not been exposed to some of the non-physical
elements of self defense can gain some very valuable knowledge and skills.
NOTE: This review is separate and should not be confused with Teaching
Self Defense: Steps to Success.
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