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Summary of The Gift of Fear: by Gavin de Becker | Includes Analysis
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker is a self-help book about assessing potential violence and staying safe across a range of environments. After violent episodes, observers often will remark that they didn’t think the offender was capable of committing a criminal act, such as stalking, domestic abuse, or even assassination. Yet the perpetrator always sends out warning signals that precede violence, which are often noticeable in retrospect. These signals register in the moment, but often people ignore their intuition or choose to discredit it with logic. By trusting intuition and remaining aware of these predictors of violent behavior, people can take steps to limit potential threats in every context and situation. Genuine fear is markedly different from a state of worry or anxiety. Although anxious thoughts can function like intuition, they don’t indicate a real threat to personal safety. True fear, on the other hand, is distinctly all-consuming. · Overview of the Book · Important People · Key Takeaways · Analysis of Key Takeaways With Instaread, you can get the key takeaways, summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.
28 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 10, 2016
3 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 7, 2020
Intuition can save your life.
Dreams can accurately present you with an intuitive of impending danger.
This book is about how to identify the warning signals of an impending danger from ill-intentioned people, the various technique the criminals use to distract people before they commit the crime.
It is shocking to learn about The USAir flight incident killing Forty-three people, the first workplace violence tragedy in American history.
Dreams can accurately present you with an intuitive of impending danger.
This book is about how to identify the warning signals of an impending danger from ill-intentioned people, the various technique the criminals use to distract people before they commit the crime.
It is shocking to learn about The USAir flight incident killing Forty-three people, the first workplace violence tragedy in American history.
December 25, 2020
Practical. Engaging. Hoping to read the original soon.
March 5, 2021
Short book
Nice accompaniment to the book
Read both
Nice accompaniment to the book
Read both
July 28, 2023
Good insights. Good things to think about and reflect on.
June 19, 2016
This book is based on what I consider to be a disingenuous statement that appears on the first page of text in the summary. This is summed up in the two sentences, “After violent episodes, observers often will remark that they didn’t think the offender was capable of committing a criminal act, such as stalking, domestic abuse, or even assassination. Yet the perpetrator always sends out warning signals that precede violence, which are often noticeable in retrospect.” The first sentence sets the subject matter, while the second is packed with questionable content.
The first section of the second sentence establishes an absolute “always,” while the second section uses the much more uncertain “often.” As any person schooled in logic knows, any conditional statement where the consequence is true is true. In other words, all that is needed to interpret the signal as a warning of a potential hostile action is to have the fact of the violent act. This is a logically meaningless tautology.
The purpose of the book is to give the reader advice on how to make themselves a “tough target” for those that want to commit violent acts. While some of this is effective and should be followed, arguments in the summary used to convince the reader are weak.
Key takeaway two contains a lengthy anecdote regarding a woman and her having a “bad feeling” about a cab right before she entered it. The cab rear-ended another while she was in it, “justifying” the reliance on intuition in keeping yourself safe. Once again, this is the “recollection” of having a “bad feeling” where the bad feeling felt before the accident is recollected after the accident. Once again, logically meaningless.
Key takeaway 6 is about abused children being more likely to be violent. There is the use of the example of football player Ray Rice, the man made famous by punching his wife out in an elevator. Some of the trauma of Rice’s childhood is cited, but this is nowhere near any hard evidence of a cause and effect. The description of Rice comes across as a nonsensical reference to a celebrity event where it is difficult to see the connection to making the reader safe.
Anybody can claim to be the possessor of precognitive skills after the event occurs, for then all interpretations of earlier events can be manipulated into being considered a warning sign. The content of the book is taken from the author’s years as a personal security consultant, one would think that the author of this summary could come up with better anecdotes than this.
Making people paranoid and afraid is not a path to a higher level of personal security, it is a road to mindless and irrational fear of everything (FOE). It is also a way to sell more books. I will not be reading this one.
This book was made available for free for review purposes.
The first section of the second sentence establishes an absolute “always,” while the second section uses the much more uncertain “often.” As any person schooled in logic knows, any conditional statement where the consequence is true is true. In other words, all that is needed to interpret the signal as a warning of a potential hostile action is to have the fact of the violent act. This is a logically meaningless tautology.
The purpose of the book is to give the reader advice on how to make themselves a “tough target” for those that want to commit violent acts. While some of this is effective and should be followed, arguments in the summary used to convince the reader are weak.
Key takeaway two contains a lengthy anecdote regarding a woman and her having a “bad feeling” about a cab right before she entered it. The cab rear-ended another while she was in it, “justifying” the reliance on intuition in keeping yourself safe. Once again, this is the “recollection” of having a “bad feeling” where the bad feeling felt before the accident is recollected after the accident. Once again, logically meaningless.
Key takeaway 6 is about abused children being more likely to be violent. There is the use of the example of football player Ray Rice, the man made famous by punching his wife out in an elevator. Some of the trauma of Rice’s childhood is cited, but this is nowhere near any hard evidence of a cause and effect. The description of Rice comes across as a nonsensical reference to a celebrity event where it is difficult to see the connection to making the reader safe.
Anybody can claim to be the possessor of precognitive skills after the event occurs, for then all interpretations of earlier events can be manipulated into being considered a warning sign. The content of the book is taken from the author’s years as a personal security consultant, one would think that the author of this summary could come up with better anecdotes than this.
Making people paranoid and afraid is not a path to a higher level of personal security, it is a road to mindless and irrational fear of everything (FOE). It is also a way to sell more books. I will not be reading this one.
This book was made available for free for review purposes.
June 17, 2016
Have you ever had a feeling of impending danger; that creepy-crawly feeling when your neck itches, and you have an urge to flee? Gavin de Becker, a consultant who works with companies and organizations teaching their personnel how to protect themselves, writes in The Gift of Fear that you should listen to that voice inside your head telling you to ‘run.’ Human instinct is, the author maintains, an effective safety mechanism when we pay attention, but modern life has unfortunately taught us to ignore warning signs for fear we’ll be thought strange.
Summary of The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker by Instaread analyzes de Becker’s book, giving the main themes and the author’s style and credentials. If you’re looking for a way to decide among books this brief guide is the place you should go.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.
Summary of The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker by Instaread analyzes de Becker’s book, giving the main themes and the author’s style and credentials. If you’re looking for a way to decide among books this brief guide is the place you should go.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.
July 20, 2016
“The Gift of Fear” by Gavin de Becker is a definitive guide on being wary of dangerous situations and accepting that fear keeps us safe. Many victims of violence didn’t think the offender was capable of committing a criminal act. While we should see the good in everyone, it is also natural and important to be cautious.
Instaread summarizes de Becker’s book into 9 key takeaways. These 9 core elements form the backbone of the Instaread. Each of these chapters are concise, simple, and easy to understand. The main arguments distilled from “The Gift of Fear” include the difference between real fear and needless worry, how to assess situations, and why you should listen to your gut. I loved this summary, it was an enlightening read. I was given a copy of this book to review.
Instaread summarizes de Becker’s book into 9 key takeaways. These 9 core elements form the backbone of the Instaread. Each of these chapters are concise, simple, and easy to understand. The main arguments distilled from “The Gift of Fear” include the difference between real fear and needless worry, how to assess situations, and why you should listen to your gut. I loved this summary, it was an enlightening read. I was given a copy of this book to review.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews