Product Description

One of the few real self-protection guides on the market today, this book will teach you first and foremost how to avoid violent situations. But should you find yourself in one, it will also show you how to control yourself and your emotions so you can function on a physical level to defend yourself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78645 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 253 pages

About the Author
Geoff Thompson’s incredible journey has transformed him from a bullied weakling to a best-selling writer, columnist, ambassador for the Martial Arts, BAFTA winner and the hardest club doorman in the country. He has published over twenty-five books, several of which detail his nine years as a nightclub doorman and include the best-selling autobiography Watch my Back. Geoff is also the author of a popular series of self-help books. Geoff’s work has been translated into seven different languages. Summersdale published his debut novel, Red Mist, in September 2003.

Customer Reviews

The information in this book may save your life.
This is a very special book. Second only to Peter Consterdine's "Streetwise: Manual of Personal Security and Self Defence" in terms of giving you all around and essential information on self protection, this book is an absolute 'must have'.

Whilst "Streetwise" gives you almost everything you need, this book complements it perfectly and supplies the few missing pieces necessary to round out the picture. The author, Geoff Thompson, has a background as a doorman, and has put in a great deal of effort to study and learn both the 'street' skills of combat and the academic and intellectual tools to understand violent situations.

Combining elements of academic psychology with interview evidence from a range of violent criminals, from muggers to rapists, even murderers, Thompson shows the mindset and attack rituals of these criminals. This vital information combined with the simple but not simplistic self protection ideas that Thompson explains enable you to fully understand how to firstly, avoid and evade trouble and dangerous situations, and secondly, how to stand a chance of dealing with a potential assailant that you have been unable to escape from.

This is no fools advice though. Thompson does not attempt to fill your head with unworkable super techniques. His advice is based on his own experience that the simple and 'scruffy' stuff is what works. Indeed it is all you will be capable of doing if you are caught in a situation where it is all kicking off, and far from being the coward's way, Thompson proves that running away is by far the better option.

The best thing about the book though is Thompson's discussion on the law as regards self defence. This will prove to be a real eye opener to many readers and certainly forces you to adopt realistic attitudes to the world. Make no mistake, YOU are responsible for your own self protection, not the police and the courts, and Thompson does an excellent job of getting this across.

In essence, this book with it's focus on giving an insight into the mindset of the violent offender, and it's excellent approach to making you sit up and take responsibility for your own self protection and defence, forms the perfect companion for the all around information contained in Peter Consterdine's "Streetwise". Get hold of both and give them some serious study and you will be much safer and wiser.

How to win a fight (by not being there...)
Most other self-defense books emphasize which fighting techniques to use in a particular situation. This book teaches how to avoid to get in that situation in the first place, and how to react to aggressive statements like "What are you looking at!". It even informs you what to tell the Law in case you won the fight...

If you're reading this, you need this book
'Dead or Alive' is simply the best book on the subject of self-defence. Every relevant area of self defence is covered extensively, and backed up with anecdotes and examples of real life incidents. Further more, the book offers a fascinating insight into the mind of criminals. The information in this book is priceless. If you have any interest in keeping yourself safe in the real world, you need this book. If you have no reason to believe you need any knowledge of practical self defence, you need this book. If you have no idea what self defence entails, what it is, you need this book. even if you feel you would be helpless in a dangerous situation, this is THE book which will help you. The importance of protecting oneself is made clear from as little as a glance at the 'blurb' on the back of the cover, and the information inside is essential for anyone who doesn't want to become a crime statistic. This is an essential purchase for everyone and anyone.

Reviewed by: The Holographic Scott James