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Gift of Fear | 
 enlarge | Author: Gavin De Becker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Category: Book
Buy Used: $8.50
Used (6) from $8.50
Rating:  313 reviews
Sales Rank: 665673
Format: Import
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
ISBN: 0747536910
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.8582
EAN: 9780747536918
ASIN: 0747536910
Publication Date: 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 308 more reviews...
 So So reading January 9, 2009
This book was reccomended to me by a friend and I really looked forward to reading it. I found that the ideas of the author on being aware of our surroundings and using instincts and intuition to stay safe are very valid. I was hoping for more case studies and real-life examples of how people have either suceeded or failed regarding the use of, or not, these tactics. This book so far has read more like a text book than a book that holds my interest. I admit I have not finished it, but but it down. I will go back to it and hope to find what I am looking for.
 A Book Can Merit 5 Stars Even If It's Flawed January 7, 2009
Nearly ten years after its publication, The Gift of Fear rightly has a slate of Amazon reviews probably longer than the book. Valid criticism is available in every "star" category. Sometimes, however, a book transcends even its gripping thesis; The Gift of Fear does this.
It does so by a subtle repetition of the incontrovertible fact: Evil exists. De Becker's easy-to-read style drives home this reality. Even if--as the book's nastiest reviews point out--at points its message seems self-interested ("the reader needs professional guidance in order to protect herself; hire us"), so what? Do artisans or experts in other fields, who write How To books, never lead readers to infer sometimes professional help is mandatory? Psychologists do it all the time!
What I particularly admired about The Gift of Fear isn't its "You might have acted differently if you had been armed with what I'll tell you" stuff. It was De Becker's unflinching belief in Evil and Evil's many guises. That he ignores what one negative reviewer mincingly points out: pride often leads to victimization, is not the book's issue.
Of course pride leads to victimization. Innocence leads to victimization. Hindsight--a fool's or an innocent's--is always 20/20. Should De Becker not have written this unapologetic analysis of the wicked mind because potential victims might be stupid, lazy, or even wicked themselves?
The book's final message is like Cat Steven's song: "Baby, Baby, It's a Wild World." Will crime victims yet to be victimized prevent crimes from happening to them if they read it? Maybe not. Crimes of the magnitude De Becker details aren't committed by idiots. But if The Gift of Fear keeps one single woman from opening the door to a handsome "repairman"; if it makes one father suspicious of a son's overly polite and talkative best friend; if it gives one co-ed an intuition that leaving a party with a "personality guy" might not be a good idea, then it will be more than worth reading. It will have saved a life.
 MATRIARCH PURCHASE January 6, 2009
I MADE THIS PURCHASE FOR BOTH MY DAUGHTER AND MY GRAND-DAUGHTER TO AID IN THEIR PERSONAL SAFETY. I USED IT AS A STOCKING STUFFER AT CHRISTMAS, MY GRAND-DAUGHTER ASKED HOW DID I KNOW SHE HAD WANTED THE GIFT OF FEAR AND I TOLD HER "GREAT MINDS TRAVEL THE SAME PATH". YOU CANNOT SEND YOUR LOVED ONES OUT UNPREPARED AND I FEEL AS IF THE INFORMATION THIS BOOK CONTAINS OFFERS SOME INSIGHT INTO HOW YOU CAN FEEL MORE SECURE IN TODAY'S HIGH CRIME ENVIRONMENT. OH, I AM READING IT ALSO, AS AN ELDER I NEED TO PREPARE MYSELF FOR THOSE WHO PREY!!
Required reading December 21, 2008
I purchased this book for both my own daughter and for a niece, after I read it. These single women are each living in distant states in a metropolitan area. After reading it myself, having seen the author speak on Oprah, I knew it would be a great self awarenesst book. Both young women expressed gratitude for such a wise book investment as the author shares practical approaches to living life independently but SAFELYY.
Well that was interesting. December 6, 2008
I very much enjoyed the book, and learned a great deal from it. A psychologist friend of mine, however, wasn't as taken with it as I was. He says it justifies women being terrified of every man and turning vicious on nice guys who just want to help out. Keep in mind, however, that this is precisely what the book is trying to stop. The point and purpose is to teach women when to listen to their fears and when to calm down and realize that there's nothing to be afraid of at the moment.
In short, as a woman I highly recommend this book.
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