Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker

4 reviews

turtlebones's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

i picked this book up b/c it was discussed during one of my ethics class and it was mentioned in a true crime podcast that i listen to. GdeB does a great job breaking down the different between worry/anxiety and true fear and using it to your advantage. He gives lots of great examples of cases that he has worked on and gives great tips to follow on determining and analyzing whether a situation one faces is worth fearing and relying on your gut instinct/intuition.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Rape, Suicide attempt, Death, and Suicide

khristy's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

Writing: clear and concise
Profundity: so so so much useful information. I probably need to read this again, but overall the message is to listen to your hind brain, quit worrying about unlikely risks, and here are some super useful tips for stalkers. Oh, and we need to protect our children better. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Torture, Stalking, and Physical abuse

Those are all touched on in his example stories.

sassmistress's review against another edition

informative tense fast-paced

4.5

Very informative and engaging. With all the heavy content, I'm not sure if it will exacerbate anxiety, but the author was intentional about trying to alleviate it. I did like the section on worry showing how to get to the root of the concern, rather than reacting to the surface fear. 

There are a few things I would take with a grain of salt, such as the interview questions (and reliance on "intuition") that are likely to result in ablist hiring decisions. The heavy focus on intuition, with all the examples given, likely creates some survivorship bias ("I had a bad feeling about x, and then something happened" may leave out all the times nothing happened). 

There is a good section on spotting risk factors for DV, and for that reason I may recommend it for teenagers. 

I didn't enjoy the chapter on assassination, as it has more of a "true crime" bent and was less applicable, but many people enjoy that sort of content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Domestic abuse, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Cannibalism

squishmore's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I will buy this for every woman in my life. Gavin de Becker validates the rightful fear of the dangers women face every day. His book is written so that it’s 2 parts crime thriller/case studies and 2 parts pure insightfulness. He brings up the odd feelings one gets when they aren’t quite sure why, and explains the why hidden under the surface. Long story short, our intuition is a gift and we must listen to it every time. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Death, Violence, Suicide, Rape, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Stalking, and Murder