How to Live Safely in a Dangerous World, by Simon Romain

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n the back cover of: "How to Live Safely in a Dangerous World", the author Simon Romain writes something that in my view is essential to point out: "Always bear in mind that self-defence is not martial art, nor is it unarmed combat. Self-defence is really a First Aid Kit (..), and (..) Avoiding trouble in self-defence terms does not mean lying low and limiting your lifestyle. All you have to do is to be alert and take those few basic precautions. Fighting is always a last resort, because the result is never certain; and if we do fight, we have the responsibility to use our knowledge only to get us out of trouble - not for revenge or retribution."

Hear, hear - profound truth if you ask me! And if you didn't ask, I said it anyhow :-) There is a grave mix-up of things as soon as the concepts of "effective self-defense", or "what works in reality" are brought forward. Martial arts may work as physical self-defense, but the issue of self-defense and functionality has so many other sides to it. This book discusses many of these sides, and does so in a great way. Just the fact that the author avoids fancy kicks and knife defenses suitable only for people with a fully fledged death-wish, is enough for this boy to say yo!

The self-defense techniques are simple and straightforward - nothing fancy at all - and that's the whole point. Anything fancy is difficult when your fine motor skills goes out the window. And difficult, complicated things will break down when you need them the most.

The high point of this book is still the other things apart from the physical techniques. We're talking about awareness, avoidance, body language, stress, fear and the like. A great bonus about this book is that it is written in a light, sometimes humorous tone - despite the serious nature of the theme. Very well done!

You can find this book on Abebooks - at least from time to time. As you understand the book has my recommandations. You can get it cheaply, and the content as well as form is great.

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