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Sheep No More: The Art of Awareness and Attack Survival
Former US Navy SEAL and FBI Special Agent Jonathan T. Gilliam brings his unique professional perspective to teach you the art of awareness and attack survival by sharing unconventional warfare techniques and how to think like an attacker.
Fight back, because we are sheep no more ! This personal safety and security book comes armed to the teeth with empowering techniques so you can be your own expert at protecting your life.
Weekly, there are major threats, mass killings, terrorist attacks and even weather-related disasters—the list goes on. And this increasingly dangerous world includes more violent and deadly threats that are specifically targeting everyday civilians. You.
This is the definitive “safety bible” that links the leading expert on personal safety with civilians. For the first time, you can make educated predictions using the new key questions of “Who, Why, Where, When, and How” from the attacker’s point of view.
No one really expects violent situations to occur—but they do, and usually without advance warning or your control. End the guessing game of safety and security by following the techniques inside Sheep No More . Think like an attacker in order to build better defenses. Your life may depend on it.
Fight back, because we are sheep no more ! This personal safety and security book comes armed to the teeth with empowering techniques so you can be your own expert at protecting your life.
Weekly, there are major threats, mass killings, terrorist attacks and even weather-related disasters—the list goes on. And this increasingly dangerous world includes more violent and deadly threats that are specifically targeting everyday civilians. You.
This is the definitive “safety bible” that links the leading expert on personal safety with civilians. For the first time, you can make educated predictions using the new key questions of “Who, Why, Where, When, and How” from the attacker’s point of view.
No one really expects violent situations to occur—but they do, and usually without advance warning or your control. End the guessing game of safety and security by following the techniques inside Sheep No More . Think like an attacker in order to build better defenses. Your life may depend on it.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published May 31, 2022
353 people are currently reading
479 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
January 17, 2018
First off, I have a lot of respect for folks that lay their lives on the line for their fellow countrymen. This review does not reflect any disdain for the author or his message. I gave this book two stars because it is poorly written, plain and simple. This is "goodreads" afterall. Mr. Gilliam's message is an important one: pay attention to your surroundings, it might save your live. He further breaks it down in a deliberately simple way that basically says "think like your attacker, then switch to thinking like a defender, then go back and forth until you are very familiar with both sides." Again, very good advice, but I think Mr. Gilliam dumbed it down TOO much, and we are left with a real expert that is holding back on how to make that awareness more applicable. I think that the author would have done better to hire someone to help him write this book, because it would have probably been more useful and more enjoyable to read (that last part not being the point of the book, but it would certainly help). For the record, I would love to read a biography of the author. You get a sense from reading this book that the guy knows exactly what he is talking about (his qualifying credentials are impeccable) and I bet he has lived one hell of an interesting life.
February 3, 2020
Some good, common sense advice for keeping yourself and loved ones safe. The book cover is bizarre with the author's head being cut in two with an American flag.
December 13, 2021
Short Version: There is valuable advice in this book, but you have to dig for it. Many of the things that Gilliam calls "case studies" are anecdotes at best, and the editor at his publishing house was careless about enforcing agreement in number between subjects and verbs.
Long entertaining version:
Jonathan Gilliam's Sheep No More aims to be the "safety bible" that "links the leading expert on personal safety with civilians." That ambition is only partly realized. While Gilliam's book is a welcome addition to preparedness literature, its jargon-laden style and sloppy editing keep it from becoming the stellar resource that Gilliam hoped for. That failure lies more with the publisher than with the author himself, because the elves at Post Hill Press should have done a better job of pushing Gilliam past rookie mistakes in grammar and presentation.
It does not rob Sheep No More of its thunder to say that Gilliam's advice boils down to cultivating heightened awareness of your surroundings and learning to switch quickly between "attacker" and "defender" mindsets. You can do those things without martial arts training or a concealed-carry permit, but if you are not fluent in the jargon of security-speak, you might wonder why subheadings like "Populating the Target Equation" and "Vehicle Surveillance (Close)" were not flagged for rewrite. My guess is that Gilliam's experience intimidated the people working with his manuscript, else somebody would have pointed out that "populating the target equation" is much clearer when rephrased as "evaluating your own weaknesses."
Like other special forces operators who'd rather be doing something than explaining it to supervisors afterward, Gilliam's long career on the pointy end of public service imbues his writing with a gelatinous attention to the rules of engagement. He admits to hammering at the same points several times, but says that redundancy helps drive lessons home. What he does not see is the related problem of using more words than he needs to. For example, Gilliam predicted that Times Square would be targeted by a car bomber more than a year before that happened on May 1, 2010.
That was, in hindsight, an easy call for an FBI agent in New York doing threat assessments to make, but the bombing attempt surprised other people. Looking back at it, Gilliam writes that "what differentiated my threat assessments was that I had been paying close attention to the changing shift in tactics being used by Islamic attackers overseas." A confident editor might have helped him see that a shift is a change, and so that sentence has one word too many. Extra words here and there pass unnoticed until readers start to see how many there are. By then, Gilliam sounds like an impatient NCO briefing a dim-witted superior.
Gilliam has difficulty with agreement between subjects and verbs. Following successful consulting work for a hotel, he writes that "Not only had these three simple changes made real proactive differences in safety, it actually profited the company tremendously in the end." His copy editor should have noticed that after referring to "changes" collectively, you must then say that "they" profited the company.
Did the editor have an off day? It may have been an off week. Gilliam doesn't mention that the inspiration for his title comes from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, who famously divided society into sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs while summarizing his pioneering research into violence. That context would have been a nice addition.
Gilliam writes that "anyone experienced in nefarious tactics" can see through "security theatrics" and "are in no way deterred by them." Even a newly-minted graduate of Editing 101 would fix that to read "anyone...is not deterred." Ten pages later, in an anecdote about a friend who read an early draft of the manuscript, Gilliam recalls that "Her first comments after reading the draft was that the writing was good, but it seemed to be a bit repetitive." Had the sentence said "comments...were," the pat on the back about writing would look less like a sumo wrestler at a gymnastics meet.
As much as I wanted to ignore clumsy syntax like "Envision yourself as the person faced with this awareness situation and decides to come up with the plans of action," I found that I could not. Subject-verb agreement matters. Parallel structure matters. When those things are ship-shape, idiosyncratic word choice doesn't make me cringe. But when they aren't, and I read a sentence like "Really," her friends laughed, "you have a high-speed flashlight in your purse?" (p. 176), I ask myself why nobody thought to wonder what a "high-speed" flashlight was, or correct that malapropism so that people referred instead to a "high-powered" flashlight (which is probably what they said anyway).
In a slap at the premise of a best-selling 1997 book by Gavin De Becker, Gilliam writes that fear is not a gift, it's "an emotion that's sole purpose is to make you fight or flee in times of great stress and danger." That rejoinder suggests that Gilliam misunderstands De Becker, whose book praised intuition and treated fear as a symptom of that without denying its "fight or flight" purpose. An editor who'd read The Gift of Fear would have asked Gilliam to explain his scornful dismissal of De Becker. In this instance as in other parts of the manuscript, negligent oversight robs Sheep No More of strength it could have had, because Gilliam is every bit the expert he claims to be.
On the positive side of the ledger, off the hobby horse named "Grammar and Syntax," Sheep No More has solid advice about the safest way for any traveling family to go through airport security gates. Gilliam also offers a rousing pep talk about the futility of "learned helplessness," and checklists to help civilians try on both attacker and defender mindsets. He's an interesting man and a competent fill-in for talk radio host Sean Hannity. Too bad he got sub-standard support from his publishing team. While Sheep No More taught me a few useful strategies for self-defense, it was more exasperating than informative, and made me want to edit Gilliam's next manuscript.
Long entertaining version:
Jonathan Gilliam's Sheep No More aims to be the "safety bible" that "links the leading expert on personal safety with civilians." That ambition is only partly realized. While Gilliam's book is a welcome addition to preparedness literature, its jargon-laden style and sloppy editing keep it from becoming the stellar resource that Gilliam hoped for. That failure lies more with the publisher than with the author himself, because the elves at Post Hill Press should have done a better job of pushing Gilliam past rookie mistakes in grammar and presentation.
It does not rob Sheep No More of its thunder to say that Gilliam's advice boils down to cultivating heightened awareness of your surroundings and learning to switch quickly between "attacker" and "defender" mindsets. You can do those things without martial arts training or a concealed-carry permit, but if you are not fluent in the jargon of security-speak, you might wonder why subheadings like "Populating the Target Equation" and "Vehicle Surveillance (Close)" were not flagged for rewrite. My guess is that Gilliam's experience intimidated the people working with his manuscript, else somebody would have pointed out that "populating the target equation" is much clearer when rephrased as "evaluating your own weaknesses."
Like other special forces operators who'd rather be doing something than explaining it to supervisors afterward, Gilliam's long career on the pointy end of public service imbues his writing with a gelatinous attention to the rules of engagement. He admits to hammering at the same points several times, but says that redundancy helps drive lessons home. What he does not see is the related problem of using more words than he needs to. For example, Gilliam predicted that Times Square would be targeted by a car bomber more than a year before that happened on May 1, 2010.
That was, in hindsight, an easy call for an FBI agent in New York doing threat assessments to make, but the bombing attempt surprised other people. Looking back at it, Gilliam writes that "what differentiated my threat assessments was that I had been paying close attention to the changing shift in tactics being used by Islamic attackers overseas." A confident editor might have helped him see that a shift is a change, and so that sentence has one word too many. Extra words here and there pass unnoticed until readers start to see how many there are. By then, Gilliam sounds like an impatient NCO briefing a dim-witted superior.
Gilliam has difficulty with agreement between subjects and verbs. Following successful consulting work for a hotel, he writes that "Not only had these three simple changes made real proactive differences in safety, it actually profited the company tremendously in the end." His copy editor should have noticed that after referring to "changes" collectively, you must then say that "they" profited the company.
Did the editor have an off day? It may have been an off week. Gilliam doesn't mention that the inspiration for his title comes from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, who famously divided society into sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs while summarizing his pioneering research into violence. That context would have been a nice addition.
Gilliam writes that "anyone experienced in nefarious tactics" can see through "security theatrics" and "are in no way deterred by them." Even a newly-minted graduate of Editing 101 would fix that to read "anyone...is not deterred." Ten pages later, in an anecdote about a friend who read an early draft of the manuscript, Gilliam recalls that "Her first comments after reading the draft was that the writing was good, but it seemed to be a bit repetitive." Had the sentence said "comments...were," the pat on the back about writing would look less like a sumo wrestler at a gymnastics meet.
As much as I wanted to ignore clumsy syntax like "Envision yourself as the person faced with this awareness situation and decides to come up with the plans of action," I found that I could not. Subject-verb agreement matters. Parallel structure matters. When those things are ship-shape, idiosyncratic word choice doesn't make me cringe. But when they aren't, and I read a sentence like "Really," her friends laughed, "you have a high-speed flashlight in your purse?" (p. 176), I ask myself why nobody thought to wonder what a "high-speed" flashlight was, or correct that malapropism so that people referred instead to a "high-powered" flashlight (which is probably what they said anyway).
In a slap at the premise of a best-selling 1997 book by Gavin De Becker, Gilliam writes that fear is not a gift, it's "an emotion that's sole purpose is to make you fight or flee in times of great stress and danger." That rejoinder suggests that Gilliam misunderstands De Becker, whose book praised intuition and treated fear as a symptom of that without denying its "fight or flight" purpose. An editor who'd read The Gift of Fear would have asked Gilliam to explain his scornful dismissal of De Becker. In this instance as in other parts of the manuscript, negligent oversight robs Sheep No More of strength it could have had, because Gilliam is every bit the expert he claims to be.
On the positive side of the ledger, off the hobby horse named "Grammar and Syntax," Sheep No More has solid advice about the safest way for any traveling family to go through airport security gates. Gilliam also offers a rousing pep talk about the futility of "learned helplessness," and checklists to help civilians try on both attacker and defender mindsets. He's an interesting man and a competent fill-in for talk radio host Sean Hannity. Too bad he got sub-standard support from his publishing team. While Sheep No More taught me a few useful strategies for self-defense, it was more exasperating than informative, and made me want to edit Gilliam's next manuscript.
March 12, 2018
Having listened to Mr. Gilliam's very insightful and intelligent commentaries on Sirius/XM Radio's Patriot channel, I looked forward with great anticipation to reading his book. I was underwhelmed instead. Chapter three on "Charting Target Package Information" was totally confusing to me. There were several recollections from Mr. Gilliam which I found mostly irrelevant and useless for my purposes. Then, throughout the book Mr. Gilliam reiterates his "expert" background with much self-aggrandizement. While I appreciate Mr. Gilliam's sacrifice and service to his country, just say it in the liner notes or once in the text. While it did have its moments and I gleaned a small amount of useful information, it could have been SO MUCH better with charts, graphs, and illustrations. Perhaps a ghost writer and some serious editing would have helped. It was a waste of $17.21 for me. If you're looking for information on how to keep you and/or your family safe out there, keep looking because there HAS to be a better format.
April 22, 2024
Eye opening book about understanding how to better protect yourself in today's world.
May 27, 2018
A friend and colleague, who has relatively different political views than I do, recommended this to me. Firstly, the book does make some good points about areas of our life where we may overly rely on things "just being fine" or on our institutions to protect us. Unfortunately, there were also some rather large holes in the logic of this book.
He discusses how any defensive strategy can open you up to new threats. However, he fails to point out that being constantly on guard for threats is its own threat. His own personal experience highlights these. He ended up on the wrong end of a gun when he was mistaken for a home invader as a young boy. Statistics show that guns are much more likely to end up hurting their owners than protecting them against a criminal or threat. At some point, profiling people based on religion or race may actually fuel the radicalization that is creating the threat in the first place. Even the emotional stress of being scared all the time takes a physical toll, with increased cortisol suppressing our immune system. At what point is the defensive strategy more dangerous than the potential threat? That is something important to keep in mind.
Additionally, he discusses how we can never completely eliminate the possibility of an attack. While this is true, there is no way we can ever be prepared for every possibility. (See The Black Swan for more information on how bad we are at assessing possibilities) However, does that mean it's not worthwhile to work with our institutions to change the probability or severity of different types of attacks?
One nit-picky thing that was just a little irritating is that he also doesn't understand the concept of learned helplessness. This comes from psychological studies where dogs were shocked over and over again and eventually learn to just tolerate being harmed. Here is generally talking about people who have been generally safe and have come to trust that safety, this is fundamentally different because people with inexperience and trust still have the ability to become more wary if experience teaches them they should be, those with learned helplessness have just accepted that they will be harmed and have stopped trying to protect themselves.
In any case, I'm glad I elected to read this book if for no other reason to get a better idea of how someone with really different ideas thinks.
He discusses how any defensive strategy can open you up to new threats. However, he fails to point out that being constantly on guard for threats is its own threat. His own personal experience highlights these. He ended up on the wrong end of a gun when he was mistaken for a home invader as a young boy. Statistics show that guns are much more likely to end up hurting their owners than protecting them against a criminal or threat. At some point, profiling people based on religion or race may actually fuel the radicalization that is creating the threat in the first place. Even the emotional stress of being scared all the time takes a physical toll, with increased cortisol suppressing our immune system. At what point is the defensive strategy more dangerous than the potential threat? That is something important to keep in mind.
Additionally, he discusses how we can never completely eliminate the possibility of an attack. While this is true, there is no way we can ever be prepared for every possibility. (See The Black Swan for more information on how bad we are at assessing possibilities) However, does that mean it's not worthwhile to work with our institutions to change the probability or severity of different types of attacks?
One nit-picky thing that was just a little irritating is that he also doesn't understand the concept of learned helplessness. This comes from psychological studies where dogs were shocked over and over again and eventually learn to just tolerate being harmed. Here is generally talking about people who have been generally safe and have come to trust that safety, this is fundamentally different because people with inexperience and trust still have the ability to become more wary if experience teaches them they should be, those with learned helplessness have just accepted that they will be harmed and have stopped trying to protect themselves.
In any case, I'm glad I elected to read this book if for no other reason to get a better idea of how someone with really different ideas thinks.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 10, 2018
A paranoid, right wing, pretentious (always reminding the reader he was a former navy seal, air marchal, fbi agent blablabla) and with him the danger is at any corner. If he didn't say in the book he lives in Manhattan i would say he probably lives in Sudan, Syria, Iraq or some other country in conflict.
September 20, 2020
I didn't get much out of it, which was disappointing. It's mostly a call to be more aware and prepared, with few concrete self-defense tips. A lot of the content is for government officials, authorities, and leaders of organizations, not individuals or families. There are many detailed stories to illustrate concepts.
Parts 1 and 2 are about understanding how attackers think so you can be more aware. Parts 3 and 4 are about how to avoid attacks and defend yourself if necessary.
The author has served 20+ years as a Navy SEAL, Federal Air Marshal, FBI special agent, and police officer. Unfortunately, he comes across as arrogant and somewhat abrasive.
Notes
What Is an Attack?
If someone is violently upset with you, walk or drive away, unless you're being physically assaulted, or someone is imminent danger. If you hurt someone, even if you're in the right, you face years of legal costs and untold stress.
Charting Target Package Information
Write the sectors of your family life (home, work, school, etc.). For each sector, write critical assets, areas, times.
• Critical assets: facilities, systems, equipment that could be targeted
• Critical areas: areas more likely to be targeted
• Critical times: times when a critical area is under higher threat
Escape
Before attending a busy event, consider whether it could be a terrorist target, and either don't attend, or attend but stay in areas more defended from a potential attack.
Evade
Few materials will stop bullets; don't count on average doors, walls, furniture to do it.
It's better to escape attackers than to hide from them.
Know escape routes whenever you enter a building or area.
Fear Is Not A Gift
To increase chances of surviving a mass killing, run or fight; don't hide or lie down.
One Last Case Study
US State Department website warns about dangers when traveling to other countries.
Parts 1 and 2 are about understanding how attackers think so you can be more aware. Parts 3 and 4 are about how to avoid attacks and defend yourself if necessary.
The author has served 20+ years as a Navy SEAL, Federal Air Marshal, FBI special agent, and police officer. Unfortunately, he comes across as arrogant and somewhat abrasive.
Notes
What Is an Attack?
If someone is violently upset with you, walk or drive away, unless you're being physically assaulted, or someone is imminent danger. If you hurt someone, even if you're in the right, you face years of legal costs and untold stress.
Charting Target Package Information
Write the sectors of your family life (home, work, school, etc.). For each sector, write critical assets, areas, times.
• Critical assets: facilities, systems, equipment that could be targeted
• Critical areas: areas more likely to be targeted
• Critical times: times when a critical area is under higher threat
Escape
Before attending a busy event, consider whether it could be a terrorist target, and either don't attend, or attend but stay in areas more defended from a potential attack.
Evade
Few materials will stop bullets; don't count on average doors, walls, furniture to do it.
It's better to escape attackers than to hide from them.
Know escape routes whenever you enter a building or area.
Fear Is Not A Gift
To increase chances of surviving a mass killing, run or fight; don't hide or lie down.
One Last Case Study
US State Department website warns about dangers when traveling to other countries.
June 25, 2019
This book had some very good points to make, but I found it to be somewhat repetitive (and yes I realize that this was intentional by the author so that key points would be drilled into the readers) and a bit too full of jargon. Gilliam makes excellent points that we need to take responsibility for our own safety, his attack and defend paradigm is right on (though I thought it was rather obvious and not new to me), and he gives a good framework for how people can break down their own vulnerabilities. So I would highly recommend this for the average person who is interested in beginning the process. This book is also helpful, though a bit repetitive, for those who are already farther along this though process. Gilliam does address, and gives example of, situations in which you might find yourself in a larger context over which you don't have much control. While he gives tips in what problems might occur, and that is good to prepare, the reality is that in many areas the choice is to either put yourself in danger or avoid it completely. So, for example, if you want to visit Times Square in New York City, you will know that you will be in serious danger, and NYC actively prevents you from carrying self-defense weapons, but Gilliam's book does at least allow you to prepare mentally for the possible mayhem that might come. And that is worth something. So, I do recommend this book. I would have preferred that there be more packed in, but it is a good beginning book.
April 11, 2021
This book probably doesn't live up to the title but is still probably worth reading. There is good reason that it's not everything you think it might be because there would be a limitless number of scenarios that could occur to any individual. Therefore, it is more of a general way of thinking things through to avoid a possible attack by a structured analysis and having a plan to prevent and a plan of what should do if an attack should occur. Basically, it's a matter of role playing in your mind the bad guy and look at your own vulnerabilities and what his plan of attack would be. Then, you flip the switch in your mind to address how to counter that. The author is exceptionally well versed in security and he tries to instruct the typical citizen as to how to go about taking ownership for the security of himself and those around him rather than just assume others will take care of everything. More awareness would lead to less incidents of that nature. The author repeats himself often through the book. He explains that by doing so, the reader will better learn the approach to take.
April 6, 2018
Gilliam is a former Navy SEAL, FBI agent, federal air marshal, private security contractor, public speaker and media commentator. With the recent increases in violent attacks around the world, he expresses not only his dismay in how many people take no responsibility for their own safety, but offers simple and effective eye-opening techniques that anyone can use to improve their odds of surviving an attack or simply becoming a crime victim. Most people do not see themselves as possible targets or ‘prey’, and simply freeze if they find themselves in such a situation. Gilliam guides the reader on how to identify critical times, places, and vulnerabilities ahead of time, so that defenses against each of these vulnerabilities can be made. The average reader begins to look around at his or her surroundings in a new way, taking ‘situational awareness’ and building upon it. Accompanied by ample real-life case studies, this book is highly recommended for all.
February 17, 2018
I first heard Mr Gilliam speak on a talk radio interview and was intrigued by what he was saying. I was glad he write a book and immediately ordered it and brought it on vacation in Florida. I just finished the book when we had the mass shooting here in Parkland Florida! An immediate horrific example of what this book is all about, preventing or managing these situations. Well written and intentionally repetitive to allow the message to sink in. I’m glad I read it and have shared a lot of sections with my wife. She is already alert and worried about bad things or situations happening and I used to be guilty of learned helplessness! Not anymore! I’m a convert of the Attack and Defend Technique! Nice job!
February 15, 2023
Life changing
Love the fact that in the 3 days I studied this writing I went from feeling lucky I've never been in a deadly situation to a feeling of confidence as I go about my life. This book doesn't use scare tactics it is cut and dried information that anyone can use. I literally have taken notice of things I haven't before in places I frequent and feel able to act should the worst happen. Amazing feeling never would I thought I would feel so capable! Getting the workbooks!!!
Love the fact that in the 3 days I studied this writing I went from feeling lucky I've never been in a deadly situation to a feeling of confidence as I go about my life. This book doesn't use scare tactics it is cut and dried information that anyone can use. I literally have taken notice of things I haven't before in places I frequent and feel able to act should the worst happen. Amazing feeling never would I thought I would feel so capable! Getting the workbooks!!!
August 14, 2018
Increased my situational awareness to a higher level!
Attack and defend is the most important lesson of this book and as a prior Military Policeman, I have gained better insight to my daily routine, as well as my future travel plans. Well written and very easy to implement the recommendations and strategies by the author. The case studies are intrinsic to the subject. Everyone should read this book and change their behavior for everyone's benefit.
Attack and defend is the most important lesson of this book and as a prior Military Policeman, I have gained better insight to my daily routine, as well as my future travel plans. Well written and very easy to implement the recommendations and strategies by the author. The case studies are intrinsic to the subject. Everyone should read this book and change their behavior for everyone's benefit.
August 23, 2018
It took me a long time to read because , frankly, it’s boring. But I’m glad I read it to the end because it has a lot of very good information in it that everyone should be aware of, hence the 4 star review. I felt like, if we followed all of the advice, it would turn you into a paranoid person, constantly looking over your shoulder. But that being said you can take the advice to any level you feel comfortable with.
August 4, 2024
Simply the Truth
When seconds matter, the police are just minutes away. Overwhelmingly police are rarely at the scene of murders, rapes, robberies and abductions. Jonathan makes clear that You are responsible for your safety. It's in your best interest to learn and heed the concepts and tactics he sets forth in this book. Thank you Jonathan and God bless you. JMJ, 37 year veteran of Law Enforcement, retired.
When seconds matter, the police are just minutes away. Overwhelmingly police are rarely at the scene of murders, rapes, robberies and abductions. Jonathan makes clear that You are responsible for your safety. It's in your best interest to learn and heed the concepts and tactics he sets forth in this book. Thank you Jonathan and God bless you. JMJ, 37 year veteran of Law Enforcement, retired.
October 15, 2023
Eye opening and an excellent challenge to increase my self reliance for my family inside and outside my home. Theme of studying both sides of the mental coin of think like an attacker and flip the switch to think through as a defender to escape, or fight the attacker(s). Best read ever on personal responsibility in an increasingly dangerous world.
August 14, 2025
For me this was a tough, repetitive read. It also included a lot of stuff I already knew so my review may not be fair. I read about half the book, skimmed the rest, and never really finished it. Please read other reviews as those readers may have less knowledge on this subject than I do and may have found this book very helpful.
February 2, 2018
very informative book on how to see the mind set of an attacker and how you can protect yourself by thinking as the attacker would when he is planning an attack and acting accordingly. If you are concerned with your safety in different settings this might be worth a read.
April 9, 2018
Excellent advice about awareness, thinking like an attacker, knowing your escape route at all times, and researching areas before going on trips. Also, consider how your home or your daily routine could be vulnerable. I appreciate the author's advice but this could have been much shorter.
May 20, 2018
Good perspective that everyone should be exposed to.
The writing was okay, and many of his personal stories and some of the case stories weren’t relevant to his points. Despite that, I would recommend the book.
The writing was okay, and many of his personal stories and some of the case stories weren’t relevant to his points. Despite that, I would recommend the book.
November 27, 2018
Increase your awareness today by reading this book. I never thought about things in such a manner until I read Gilliam’s sheep no more. I highly recommend not only reading this but gifting it to someone you think will benefit from it.
January 22, 2022
Excellent book for learning to be aware of your surroundings and having a plan to run, hide, fight and assessing which of those options work best in a given situation. I intend to read it again for the information I missed. I will be using this info
October 26, 2025
Enlightening
I was surprised by how much I already knew about the attacker/defender mindset. However, the book was far more informative than I could have ever imagined! I will absolutely share this with others so they can benefit from the expertise contained in this book.
I was surprised by how much I already knew about the attacker/defender mindset. However, the book was far more informative than I could have ever imagined! I will absolutely share this with others so they can benefit from the expertise contained in this book.
February 22, 2018
Was hoping for more but this book fell short.
March 25, 2018
Useful information. Too wordy. Could’ve been a pamphlet.
December 2, 2018
wow! change your view of life and attitude - read this book and become more alert, aware and self sustaining. We walk around as victim or awaiting to be hurt.
May 15, 2018
This would be a good book for someone with no common sense.
December 29, 2018
Good information for everyone to know how to protect themselves.
February 13, 2019
Wasn't really my cup of tea. It reminds me of the G. Gordon Liddy book, Fight Back. I didn't particularly like that one either
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews