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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
Enlightening. Disturbing. A must-read for any parent who wants to protect their child or for anyone who wants to protect themselves from predators who so skillfully mask themselves. A helpful read for survivors who might be struggling with guilt, shame, PTSD etc. from childhood or even adult sexual abuse because it becomes very clear from reading Salter's work that anyone can be prey to the molester's or rapist's force or expert trickery and that's the real tragedy. In short, Salter urges parents and others who care about preventing or responding to child abuse to - hope for the best but expect the worst of people - to be prepared to suspect anyone in almost any context of such a crime and to deflect access to your children from high-or-medium risk possible offenders and *anyone* who gives you a bad gut feeling. Similarly, she advises women and others to take basic safety precautions - not as a form of shifting responsibility to the victim to prevent their victimization - but to give people some chance to prevail against the predators who are out there lurking.
I read this book for my Understanding the Criminal Mind lecture. While at times deeply disturbing in terms of content, it was extremely informative and well written. Definitely a heavy subject material.
This amazing book should be required reading for everyone. It is a valuable instruction manual for staying safe and keeping our children safe. The research is supported and the arguments sound.
I read this on the advice of a counselor because a person I love blames herself for being the victim of a predator and the counselor wanted us to see how persuasive predators are so she can move forward and forgive herself. The only real criticism I have is when the author talks about protecting your kids she doesn't suggest that you actually tell your kids about the people who could hurt them and to watch out for themselves. As a survivor of sexual assault as both a child and an adult it would have been more helpful to learn that not everyone is trust worthy and that you don't have to do something just because someone older tells you to and that loving adults don't tell you to keep secrets.
A healthy dose of realism that recognizes the benefits of optimism. Great for cops, a must for parents. If anything else read the first 3 and last 3 chapters.
"Recently I interviewed a psychopath. This is always a humbling experience because it teaches over and over how much of human motivation and experience is outside my narrow range. Despite the psychopath's lack of conscience and lack of empathy for others, he is inevitably better at fooling people than any other type of offender. I suppose conscience just slows you down."
I probably read to avoid thinking about work. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading for reading's sake. I also enjoy my job. Still, when I'm off work I don't usually sit around thinking about work stuff. And yet, this got recommended to me at a work conference and it's certainly about my line of work.
The book is well written, but is it enjoyable to read? No. I suppose not. After finishing the child molester section I intended to keep reading until I saw the next section title: Sadist. That chapter even advises that it can be skipped without detriment to the reader. I didn't skip it. It was not enjoyable. Interesting, well researched, clearly written, more than a little clever. Yes. So over all I suppose I 'liked' the book but I'm more excited than usual to start my next read.
I probably read to avoid thinking about work. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading for reading's sake. I also enjoy my job. Still, when I'm off work I don't usually sit around thinking about work stuff. And yet, this got recommended to me at a work conference and it's certainly about my line of work.
The book is well written, but is it enjoyable to read? No. I suppose not. After finishing the child molester section I intended to keep reading until I saw the next section title: Sadist. That chapter even advises that it can be skipped without detriment to the reader. I didn't skip it. It was not enjoyable. Interesting, well researched, clearly written, more than a little clever. Yes. So over all I suppose I 'liked' the book but I'm more excited than usual to start my next read.
Informative, educational, critical. One of the sentences that stuck with me: "It is not always the strangers we need to fear, but those closest to us".
Dr. Salter is an expert in her field and scrutinizes attitudes of different types of offenders. She also discloses how parents can reduce the risk of potential harm done to their children.
Dr. Salter is an expert in her field and scrutinizes attitudes of different types of offenders. She also discloses how parents can reduce the risk of potential harm done to their children.
In spite of the old adage, I was a bit concerned this book would be sensationalist from its cover and striking name, but I was very happy to find that it is not only grounded but more informative than I expected.
Salter's "Predators" is a straightforward guide for the average person about how to deal with predators, primarily child molesters, not only giving the basics that most people with a passing interest in criminology will already know, but also a lot of information that will come as a surprise to the latter group as well. While many of the debunked myths in the book's description were already well known to me, I was shocked more than once about how badly "common knowledge" about predatory people had mislead me — for example, how there is no evidence to suggest that most child molesters were molested themselves despite this being constantly repeated. Salter takes a hard, no-nonsense approach to this subject; she isn't just here to make us feel good about ourselves by trashing on predators as many similar books do, but to dispel the false confidence that most of us have about our ability to detect and combat them. The book can easily be described as cynical, but it is that way for a very good reason. This isn't a subject where one can afford to feel comfortable.
Several of the informative highlights include:
—Showing just how disturbing of a history pedophilia has; how it was widely justified by our ancestors, and how it's justified by more people than we think to do.
—How pedophilia and its origins are much more poorly understand than many of us think.
—An in depth look at humans' abysmal record with being able to detect lies and deception.
—The way our overestimation of our ability to "fight back" (with things like self-defense and gun classes) often puts us at more risk, as they rely on a specifically sensationalist and almost nonexistent predatory scenario that most predators are not stupid enough to use.
—How people who are outwardly the most radical anti-predator are often the ones most easily tricked by predators.
—How predators justify their actions to themselves.
The book manages to be packed full of evidence and good science while also accessible to the average person, making it a must-have guide for parents, teachers, and anyone with an interest in protecting themselves and others.
Salter's "Predators" is a straightforward guide for the average person about how to deal with predators, primarily child molesters, not only giving the basics that most people with a passing interest in criminology will already know, but also a lot of information that will come as a surprise to the latter group as well. While many of the debunked myths in the book's description were already well known to me, I was shocked more than once about how badly "common knowledge" about predatory people had mislead me — for example, how there is no evidence to suggest that most child molesters were molested themselves despite this being constantly repeated. Salter takes a hard, no-nonsense approach to this subject; she isn't just here to make us feel good about ourselves by trashing on predators as many similar books do, but to dispel the false confidence that most of us have about our ability to detect and combat them. The book can easily be described as cynical, but it is that way for a very good reason. This isn't a subject where one can afford to feel comfortable.
Several of the informative highlights include:
—Showing just how disturbing of a history pedophilia has; how it was widely justified by our ancestors, and how it's justified by more people than we think to do.
—How pedophilia and its origins are much more poorly understand than many of us think.
—An in depth look at humans' abysmal record with being able to detect lies and deception.
—The way our overestimation of our ability to "fight back" (with things like self-defense and gun classes) often puts us at more risk, as they rely on a specifically sensationalist and almost nonexistent predatory scenario that most predators are not stupid enough to use.
—How people who are outwardly the most radical anti-predator are often the ones most easily tricked by predators.
—How predators justify their actions to themselves.
The book manages to be packed full of evidence and good science while also accessible to the average person, making it a must-have guide for parents, teachers, and anyone with an interest in protecting themselves and others.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced