Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Label: Dell Pub Co
Manufacturer: Dell Pub Co
Printing Date: 2004
Publishing house: Dell Pub Co
Sale Popularity Level: 897914
Studio: Dell Pub Co
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Rated by buyers 
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An enjoyable work, well written, easy to read and informative. Certainly suggested reading for anyone, professional or otherwise, with a concern or interest in avoiding or predicting violent behavior. I rank it right up there as required reading along with Massad Ayoob's "The Truth About Self Protection" as an industry primer. There is, however, a noticeable bias, or so it seemed to me, by De Becker against a person's right to self defense, and certainly he has some fairly liberal views as to firearms. I found that odd, in that his perceptive insights into predicting violent behavior seem to have taken on an almost overly-sympathetic view towards the perpetrator.
Rated by buyers 
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That's the central message of the book, and one that may save your life if you listen to it.
Through this book, de Becker has convinced me that most violence can be predicted. He goes through a great many common situations in which violence happens in the U.S., from encounters with strangers, workplace violence to domestic violence and date stalking. In each situation, he describes the indicators of likely violence. Some of these indicators are so often overlooked and rationalized away by the people involved. My favorite one is called: "Refusal to take no for an answer." It can be as trivial as the new date persisting in offering you a drink. Although trivial, such incidents are very telling about his tendency toward violence.
De Becker also discusses a characteristic in many people that blunts out their intuition to actual dangers: unwarranted anxiety. Due to media and social conditioning and other influences, those people feel fear or anxiety in situations that do not pose actual dangers. Such unwarranted anxiety makes them confused and oblivious to the real signals from their intuition. De Becker offers ways for people to overcome that curse and live a life relatively free from fear and anxiety.
In short, I would highly recommend this book. It is one of the few books should be read by everyone (both men and women).
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