The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence

For my second read in November I read, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin De Becker.  This is a non-fiction book written by an expert on predicting violent behavior.  The Gift of Fear discusses many real life examples of violence in our culture and how being able to listen to your own intuition can help you recognize when you or someone you know are in real danger.

I'm not sure how I stumbled upon this book, but I did enjoy reading it.  Much like The Sociopath Next Door, it had thorough research, statistics and case studies (my favorite part!).  De Becker is apparently very well known and has worked with many high profile clients over the years, so his real life examples were really intriguing.

You might be thinking you aren't worried about learning "survival signals", however I bet you will find some of the information in this book to be very useful.  It discusses how to recognize people/situations that would pose a real threat to you, but what I really gained from it was how to understand my own intuition.  If you have "just had a feeling about someone" or had something frighten you but you "didn't know why", after reading this book you'll realize if you look back a little harder, the signs for why you felt that way were there. 

I would definitely recommend reading this book.  It is interesting, informative and I believe can help you better understand some of your own feelings of fear, worry and anxiety.  The only thing I didn't care for was the author is a little self promoting (since like I mentioned he is a well known expert and he currently has a firm who advises people on possible violent threats) but it can be overlooked since his book is well worth reading.