Comprehensive approach to survival skill training
I'm not sure what book the "two-star" reviewer read or the scope and depth of those "15 years" of experience. I was a trainer for 21 of my 31 years in law enforcement and for that past 10 years since retirement as a consultant and I find this book very useful. I only wish I'd had something like this 35 years ago.

This is as succinct, understandable and straightforward an explanation as I have seen of survival stress, motor skill and response. Anyone with a background or interest in police firearms training, incident analysis or situation-response training should find this book relevant and will recognize much of this, as I like to say about myself, but "never knew what to call it before."

This is not a book for cowboys or wannabes. There are no quickie "isms" here, but I recommend it to serious police trainers.

Great Book
Great book in many respects. The book seems to be an abbreviated Master's or Doctoral thesis written for the layperson. I'm okay with that; most people don't have advanced degrees and the average person reading this book isn't necessarily to be considered "well educated". So, the writing style is welcome. I was not looking for raw data with regression and correlation analyses - and I doubt such a text exists.

The second thing I like is the references at the end of the chapters such that a person can research more material if he/she is so motivated. I am and I did.

For those of us who have competed in sports at a high level some of this you'll realize that "you already knew this". To me this is a warm confirmation. For those of us who have been in life-threatening situations his material will "resonate" with you and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the material because I've experienced some of it prior to even being aware of this type of study.

I cannot wait for the next edition of the book as surely there has been a plethora of study since this book has been published.

Thanks, Bruce.

Excellent book to hone your warrior skills
As a tactical physician on a SWAT team, I originally purchased this book to get some training ideas for the men on my team. The medical aspects of the book are fascinating, and although I am a doctor, the average reader should have no problem grasping the concepts. This book clearly outlines the physiology behind stressful situations, and why some techniques work, while others don't. We will be integrating some of the ideas into our training, such as increasing the pulse rate, and then performing various tasks. I would highly recommend this book as a learning, and potential training tool.

An Excellent Approach to Self-Defense Training
As an unarmed self-defense and firearms instructor with a degree in Psychology, I found Siddle's book to be excellent on many points. The Book deals with training in such a way that works with the body's natural response to grave threat, rather than against it, or without reference to it, as is the approach of many shooting schools.

Although some of the research is dated and some is inaccurate, in aggregate, the book is an excellent aid to those tasked with training others in self-defense.

Siddle's work has been a staple for developing the Defensive Handgun classes for Northern Virginia Tactical.

If you are a firearms or self-defense instructor who is responsible for teaching "real world" self-defense, Siddle's book should be in your library.

Crucial Self-Defense
These in-depth instructions will teach you important fighting techniques. You'll also learn how to train others to make them better fighters.