When Gavin de Becker was a small child, he was constantly in danger of unexpected violence. His mother was addicted to heroin, and some of the men she became intimate with were raging alcoholics. Unlike normal families, his caregivers had a tendency to use deadly weapons versus one another in the midst of their arguments; on one occasion, his mother even threatened to kill the entire family by burning the house down while they slept. Danger was everywhere, and young Gavin undertook the role of protector for his sisters. Having a genius IQ, and yet being unable to do anything to change the situation he was in, young Gavin began to analyze the situation, and soon discovered patterns amidst the chaos. Certain "indicators" tended to precede violent acts with uncanny frequency, and as he got older, he saw that these indicators could be applied to other situations as well.

Gavin de Becker has devoted his life to finding patterns and identifying precursors to violent behavior. He has used his lifetime of research to build a highly successful "Threat Assessment" business, and has a quasi-psychic ability to predict future acts of violence with startling accuracy. He is considered by many to be the foremost expert on criminal threat assessment in the world.

The Gift of Fear is an introduction to the fine art of threat assessment, and details the process by which subtle signs of danger stimulate one’s subconscious mind into giving the conscious mind a warning by way of one’s "intuition." Mister de Becker shows us that when something "just doesn’t feel right," it usually means that something is wrong, and the "feeling" should not be ignored. This "introductory" lesson could be considered the definitive work because, to the best of our knowledge, nothing even remotely like it (at least on this scale) has ever seen print before.

Not only does de Becker provide us with details of the intuitive process, lists of "danger signs," and numerous case studies; but he also focuses on the details of specific threats, such as: stranger assaults, anonymous threats, workplace violence, domestic violence, stalkers, homicidal children, and celebrity assassins. Without a doubt, this is the best book available on advanced awareness techniques regarding indicators of impending violence. Irregardless of your experience level, you are guaranteed to learn something new from this book. Due to this information’s inestimable value, The Gift of Fear is number two on our short list of "Required Reading." You need this book in your library.

A few brief excerpts from this masterful work follow:

"The human violence we abhor and fear the most, that which we call "random" and "senseless," is neither. It always has purpose and meaning, to the perpetrator, at least. We may not choose to explore or understand that purpose, but it is there, and as long as we label it "senseless," we’ll not make sense of it . . . You will see that even esoteric types of violence have detectable patterns and warning signs. You’ll also see that the more mundane types of violence between angry intimates, are as knowable as affection between intimates (in fact, the violence has fewer varieties than the love)." (p. 15)

"Author Diane Ackerman says, ". . . When we see an object, the whole peninsula of our senses wakes up to appraise the new sight. All the brain’s shopkeepers consider it from their point of view, all the civil servants, all the accountants, all the students, all the farmers, all the mechanics." We could add the soldiers and guards to Ackerman’s list, for it is they who evaluate the context in which things occur, the appropriateness and significance of literally everything we sense. These soldiers and guards separate the merely unusual from the significantly unusual. They weight the time of day, day of the week, loudness of the sound, quickness of the movement, flavor of the scent, smoothness of the surface, the entire mosaic of each moment. They discard the irrelevant and value the meaningful. They recognize the survival signals we don’t even (consciously) know are signals." (p. 27)

"I’ve seen many times that after the shock of violence has begun to heal, victims will be carried in their minds back to that hallway or parking lot, back to the sights, smells, and sounds, back to the time when they still had choices, before they fell under someone’s malevolent control, before they realized the gift of fear. Often they will say about some particular detail, "I realize this now, but I didn’t know it then." Of course, if it is in their heads now, so was it then. What they mean is that they only now accept the significance. This has taught me that the intuitive process works, though often not as well as its principal competitor, the denial process." (p. 41)

"Charm is another overrated ability. Note that I called it an ability, not an inherent feature of one’s personality. Charm is almost always a directed instrument, which, like rapport building, has a motive. To charm us is to compel, to control by allure or attraction. Think of charm as a verb, not a trait. If you consciously tell yourself, "This person is trying to charm me," as opposed to "This person is charming," you’ll be able to see around it." (p. 56)

"Declining to hear "no" is a signal that someone is either seeking control or refusing to relinquish it. With strangers, even those with the best intentions, never, ever relent on the issue of "no," because it sets the stage for more efforts to control. If you let someone talk you out of the word "no," you might as well wear a sign that reads, "You are in charge.""

"The ability to act in spite of conscience or empathy is one characteristic associated with psychopaths. Robert D. Hare’s insightful book Without Conscience identifies several other features. Such people are:

Glib and superficial

Egocentric and grandiose

Lacking remorse or guilt

Deceitful and manipulative

Impulsive

In need of excitement

Lacking responsibility

Emotionally shallow" (p. 81)

The information contained in this book can save a life. Although it can be a little dry at times, it is interesting reading. Mister de Becker really knows his shit, although we disagree with him on his position on gun control. This book has been released in a paperback version as well, so you can easily purchase several as Gifts for friends and family.