This book written by Rory Miller titled, “Self Defense: Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected” is a good introduction to self defense with a few pitfalls. One important aspect you should know right off the bat is that this book doesn’t go into a lot of detail about techniques and movement. However, it dives into the psychological turmoil and dynamics caused by violent encounters.
It is important to keep in mind when it comes to the topic of self defense it can be a subjective and highly debatable. What defines self defense to one person or style of martial arts can be considered useless to another. So, we will cover which side of the debate this book ends up on in this review.
Self Defense Book Details:
- Copyright Date: May 16, 2011
- Pages: 242 (paperback)
- Author: Rory Miller
The unique feature of Miller’s book is that he covers not only some of the physical aspects of self defense but also the mental aspect like how far are you willing to go to protect your own life? Would you kill someone else to protect your own? These can be good questions to find the answers to before you ever get into a situation where you will have to find out the answer. Many of the examples used in the book are from Miller’s life as a correction officer which are entertaining and help illustrate his points.
This Book Focuses on 7 Steps For Preparation
- Legal and Ethical Implications of Violence
- Violence Dynamics – A student must be able to recognize an attack and know what kind it is.
- Avoidance – Includes escapes and evading a bad situation or attacker
- Counter Ambush – This begins to get into drills and techniques
- Breaking the Freeze – What happens right after you get attacked.
- The Fight Itself – In the book it is more conceptual then actual techniques
- Aftermath – Legal, psychological, and medical implications.
Who This Book Is For & Who It’s Not For
This book isn’t for someone who want to learn self defense techniques and drills. Although there are a few in this book there are many other books that go into a much great detail with better images like Rorie’s other Book Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision Making Under Threat of Violence.
However, if you are just getting into self defense then this book will be perfect for you. Also, if you like to think of self defense from a psychological or sociological perceptive this book will certainly be entertaining.
Where you can buy this book:
“If you have read this book or any book for that matter and would like to right a review let me know in the comments section below.”
Some Related Books At Amazon:
MMA Book Reviews
