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Spotting Danger Before It Spots You: Build Situational Awareness To Stay Safe
Spotting danger before it happens is a skill that can be developed and may even save your life.
Understand the threat Build situational awareness Develop personal defenses A mother dropping her teenager off at the mall, a young man leaving home for college, a family about to head out on their first trip overseas. What do all of these people have in common? They all have a vested interest in their personal security and the wellbeing of those they love. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, there were an estimated 1.25 million violent crimes committed in the United States in 2018.
Make no mistake; in a world filled with crime and violence, you are your own last line of defense.
Continuing on the path of The Gift of Fear (Gavin deBecker), Spotting Danger Before It Spots You, author Gary Quesenberry breaks down the basic techniques necessary to help you develop good situational awareness and increase your levels of personal safety. Gary calls upon his extensive background as a Federal Air Marshal and defensive tactics instructor to explain these methods in simple terms that will greatly improve your general understanding of how, when and where violence occurs. He will then take the next critical step—providing you with the tools you need to properly identify and evade danger before it ever has a chance to materialize.
You will learn
The common traits of predatory behavior How to conduct a personal “safety check” How to develop strong awareness skills What to do when you spot potential trouble Staying safe and living life free of worry and fear “Today more than ever, it is imperative that we pay close attention to our surroundings and learn how to interpret what’s happening around us. Tragic events can often be both predictable and preventable.” — Federal Air Marshal Gary Quesenberry
Understand the threat Build situational awareness Develop personal defenses A mother dropping her teenager off at the mall, a young man leaving home for college, a family about to head out on their first trip overseas. What do all of these people have in common? They all have a vested interest in their personal security and the wellbeing of those they love. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, there were an estimated 1.25 million violent crimes committed in the United States in 2018.
Make no mistake; in a world filled with crime and violence, you are your own last line of defense.
Continuing on the path of The Gift of Fear (Gavin deBecker), Spotting Danger Before It Spots You, author Gary Quesenberry breaks down the basic techniques necessary to help you develop good situational awareness and increase your levels of personal safety. Gary calls upon his extensive background as a Federal Air Marshal and defensive tactics instructor to explain these methods in simple terms that will greatly improve your general understanding of how, when and where violence occurs. He will then take the next critical step—providing you with the tools you need to properly identify and evade danger before it ever has a chance to materialize.
You will learn
The common traits of predatory behavior How to conduct a personal “safety check” How to develop strong awareness skills What to do when you spot potential trouble Staying safe and living life free of worry and fear “Today more than ever, it is imperative that we pay close attention to our surroundings and learn how to interpret what’s happening around us. Tragic events can often be both predictable and preventable.” — Federal Air Marshal Gary Quesenberry
161 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 1, 2020
92 people are currently reading
302 people want to read
About the author
Gary Quesenberry
9 books8 followersGary Quesenberry was born in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where his parents taught him the value of hard work, patriotism, and commitment to family. His passion for the outdoors and patriotic spirit led him to enlist in the United States Army at the age of seventeen, where he served in the 7th and 24th Infantry Divisions as an artilleryman. Gary is also a veteran of Operation Desert Storm. Shortly after leaving the Army, Gary began his law enforcement career with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He served as a correctional officer and Special Operations Response Team (SORT) member in FCI Beckley, West Virginia, and United States Penitentiary, Atwater, California. After the events of September 11th, 2001, Gary left the Bureau of Prisons to become a Federal Air Marshal. There, he traveled the world in the service of his country and devoted his time to studying the areas of violence and predatory behavior.
Gary has been featured on the History Channel’s hit television series Top Shot - Season 3 and Top Shot All-Stars. Now he's a situational awareness expert on the nationally syndicated show iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas. He has an extensive background in both domestic and foreign counter-terror training and has worked in both the private and corporate sectors to help educate others on the importance of situational awareness, and personal safety.
Gary has been featured on the History Channel’s hit television series Top Shot - Season 3 and Top Shot All-Stars. Now he's a situational awareness expert on the nationally syndicated show iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas. He has an extensive background in both domestic and foreign counter-terror training and has worked in both the private and corporate sectors to help educate others on the importance of situational awareness, and personal safety.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 29, 2025
A clear, organized, and informative easy read. Provides tips to improve your own personal safety. An excellent reference for situational awareness that should be shared with loved ones.
July 28, 2025
Very informative. This book is full of important, useful information. I think everyone should read it!
May 28, 2021
“Spotting Danger Before it Spots You” gives the opportunity to gain wisdom regarding self protection. Quesenberry provides simple and concise steps to adjust behaviors from personal and professional expertise. He provides easy to use tools to adjust your state of awareness as well as showing how minor to major lifestyle changes affect states of awareness. Personal safety is vital in current times and the book’s tools can be applied to every walk of life in everyday environments. This should be shared with one and all to realize our vulnerabilities and learn how to become a “hard target”, I highly recommend.
August 22, 2022
I read this book right after I finished Gavin de Becker's "The Gift of Fear" for the 2nd time. This was a perfect follow up to that book and took a really deep dive into "tells", motivations and opportunities from the criminal perspective. That's what I want to know more of and this book brought this information fully into the light for me. It's not meant to frighten you or make you fearfull of how you live your life, but expose how some behaviors are critical to be cautious of in the age of rampant crime and lack of accountability.
Just Stay Safe. #ssdgm
Just Stay Safe. #ssdgm
May 29, 2020
An interesting book on situational awareness. Very timely in this world crisis. I learned a lot about how to be more aware of my surroundings and what to do when danger spots you. The author explains how to recognize common traits of predatory behavior, teaches you how to conduct a personal safety check, and most importantly know what to do. Thank you Gary for writing this book and sharing your experiences. It's a keeper for your library.
June 28, 2020
A surprisingly creatively written Tactical guide
This genre of book is definitely not my first choice I would pick. I originally read this book as a favor to my cousin, Gary. I was surprised with how well written and his way of explaining tactical information was so easialy voiced. The book could easily be used as a textbook, but has enough of Gary's personality to make it a leisure time boom choice. The ways he writes and explains this clearly displays his knowledge and experience both from his Army training and his days as a Federal Air Marshall. When describing situations and how he approaches them, you can tell that he hasn't just talked the talk, but he has walked the walk. Knowing that he has really been through everything he discusses in the book, gives the information he is passing along more value in my opinion. I can easily see this as textbook and he is teaching new recruits this information. Yet with the way he wrote it, the book has personality that makes it way more captivating than a textbook. I usually try not to read books like this one because they tend to be a bit more like a lecture than a book, but once I got past the introduce and first page, I really didn't want to put the book down. Gary wrote this book in way that passed a lot of information out to the reader, nut not in a boring way. I could easily picture his scenerios and see the practically of his described methods. I am very glad I did get a chance to read this book. I love it when a book surprises the reader, and get them so hooked on the book that they don't want to put it down until they have finished it completely.
This genre of book is definitely not my first choice I would pick. I originally read this book as a favor to my cousin, Gary. I was surprised with how well written and his way of explaining tactical information was so easialy voiced. The book could easily be used as a textbook, but has enough of Gary's personality to make it a leisure time boom choice. The ways he writes and explains this clearly displays his knowledge and experience both from his Army training and his days as a Federal Air Marshall. When describing situations and how he approaches them, you can tell that he hasn't just talked the talk, but he has walked the walk. Knowing that he has really been through everything he discusses in the book, gives the information he is passing along more value in my opinion. I can easily see this as textbook and he is teaching new recruits this information. Yet with the way he wrote it, the book has personality that makes it way more captivating than a textbook. I usually try not to read books like this one because they tend to be a bit more like a lecture than a book, but once I got past the introduce and first page, I really didn't want to put the book down. Gary wrote this book in way that passed a lot of information out to the reader, nut not in a boring way. I could easily picture his scenerios and see the practically of his described methods. I am very glad I did get a chance to read this book. I love it when a book surprises the reader, and get them so hooked on the book that they don't want to put it down until they have finished it completely.
January 28, 2024
This was recommended by my self defence teacher. It's brief, easy to read, above all, right to the point. I liked that this book did not overinflate the risk danger in everyday life. It didn't make me feel paranoid. It was ground and provided excellent information on being observant of your surroundings and how to prepare mentally for the unexpected.
May 29, 2025
A good book for helping me protect myself from danger while working, or living live. Spotting Danger Before it Spots You provides advice, but also guided exercises to increase your situational awareness. Worth a read or listen.
October 25, 2022
Eye opening
A great read with relevant instructions to put your awareness into practice. Build your observational skills and increase personal safety.
A great read with relevant instructions to put your awareness into practice. Build your observational skills and increase personal safety.
July 1, 2023
Every woman should read this. The book is not dense on information but you can definitely learn a few valuable things
February 24, 2024
It was okay. Nowhere near as informative as Gavin DeGraw’s, The Gift of Fear.
Edit: Gavin DeBecker. NOT DeGraw.🤦♀️😂😂
Edit: Gavin DeBecker. NOT DeGraw.🤦♀️😂😂
September 28, 2024
kick ass book
Awesome book and must have for all readers of any age. Valuable information. I love this book so much! And am excited to read the authors other books.
Awesome book and must have for all readers of any age. Valuable information. I love this book so much! And am excited to read the authors other books.
October 19, 2024
Situational awareness is such an essential skill! Good read.
February 6, 2025
Insightful!
March 31, 2024
This is a short, practical how-to guide that normal people can understand and implement.
Sometimes other discussions on the topic of situational awareness and personal security veer towards the impractical. It's fine (terrific, even) to spend decades mastering the intricacies of Krav Maga and tactical firearms, but for a lot of people those are not realistic or attractive options. Also, most of us are not in rational fear of attack by squads of black helicopters filled with angry communist ninjas.
We just want to be safe in normal, day to day life.
Enter this book, which introduces readers to actionable, scalable steps that everyone, at any age and physical ability level, can apply to greatly enhance their personal safety in most situations and with very little effort. For most of us living in the US, for example, simply keeping our heads up and moving with a purpose in public spaces automatically makes us less appealing as a target to the common types of criminals.
This book is clear, to the point, and doesn't waste time. It distills the advanced training that someone like the author (a former Federal Air Marshal) would receive into easy steps available to regular people, and it does this in just a few hours. Do yourself a favor and read it.
Sometimes other discussions on the topic of situational awareness and personal security veer towards the impractical. It's fine (terrific, even) to spend decades mastering the intricacies of Krav Maga and tactical firearms, but for a lot of people those are not realistic or attractive options. Also, most of us are not in rational fear of attack by squads of black helicopters filled with angry communist ninjas.
We just want to be safe in normal, day to day life.
Enter this book, which introduces readers to actionable, scalable steps that everyone, at any age and physical ability level, can apply to greatly enhance their personal safety in most situations and with very little effort. For most of us living in the US, for example, simply keeping our heads up and moving with a purpose in public spaces automatically makes us less appealing as a target to the common types of criminals.
This book is clear, to the point, and doesn't waste time. It distills the advanced training that someone like the author (a former Federal Air Marshal) would receive into easy steps available to regular people, and it does this in just a few hours. Do yourself a favor and read it.
December 28, 2025
A great practical and interesting guide to increasing spacial awareness. Self-defense doesn't have to include martial arts or weapons (albeit those are good skills to have), it begins with observation which alone could be enough to save your life or somebody else's. He includes specific exercises to use regularly while going about your business and.
"You will never rise to the occasion. You will only fall back on your training." -unknown
"You will never rise to the occasion. You will only fall back on your training." -unknown
July 3, 2022
Direct and easy book to read. The principles are presented in such a way to not illicit fear nor encourage readers to see a “criminal” behind every corner. Instead, the book directs readers inward to look at themselves and what steps they can take to slowly develop situational awareness naturally and a pace they are comfortable with.
August 23, 2025
100% recommend to any everyday citizen wanting to one up their personal security this is very helpful as someone who want to be in LE (law enforcement)
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews