Street Smarts, Firearms, And Personal Security: Jim Grover'S Guide To Staying Alive And Avoiding Crime In The Real World [Paperback]

Jim Grover (Author), Kevin Steele (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2000

Jim Grover's professional credentials in the art of crime avoidance and self-defense are as good as it gets: on-site security specialist in the world's hottest of hot spots, combatives instructor to ultrahigh-speed military and police units and hands-on security trainer to international corporations, among other sensitive assignments. Here is a compilation of the best of his wildly popular "Personal Security" columns in Guns & Ammo magazine. It covers the entire spectrum of personal security issues, with street-savvy ideas and twists you will find nowhere else. Learn how to vastly improve the physical security of your home; develop alert street smarts; stay safe while traveling in your vehicle, out of town or abroad; recognize and avoid crimes of the new millennium; keep your children safe; choose and use effective nonlethal weapons; engage in nasty unarmed combat; and utilize radically practical shooting skills that have been perfected in real-life situations. From spotting trouble before it happens to surviving a riot to handling a firearm like a pro, this book has it all!

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press (March 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581600674
• ISBN-13: 978-1581600674
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #693,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Detailed information on personal security, October 9, 2003

By 

Seppo Vesala (Helsinki, - Finland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Street Smarts, Firearms, And Personal Security: Jim Grover'S Guide To Staying Alive And Avoiding Crime In The Real World (Paperback)

I have mixed feelings about books that are comprised of articles published in magazines before. The main reason is that those articles seldom are detailed enough, because of lenght constraints placed on magazine columns. In addition, the chapters in these books are usually arranged in illogical manner, where stuff about a specific topic is dispersed thorouhg the book. This book avoids those pitfalls, however, and at the same time utilizes the main advantage of magazine column -approach: The book covers a wide variety of topics, in easily approached small portions.

While this book is comprised of articles published mainly in Guns & Ammo -magazine in years 1992 - 1999, the subjects of the columns are so tightly defined, that the shortness of the chapters is not a problem. Grover gets his point across in the pages devoted to a specific subject. There is also lots of details and examples on certain situations. In addition, the columns are arranged in sections by the subject, so you can easily find all the info on specific subject without having to flip through the whole book.

Although the word "firearms" is mentioned in the title of the book, the emphasis is not in surviving an armed encounter. The book covers the field of personal security very broadly, beginning from the security of your home, and ending to wounded shooter tactics. In fact, the book could well have been published in two parts, one concentrating on crime prevention, and the second on combatives. Therefore, this book should interest also those people who are not into guns, and are not interested in getting one for personal safety.

The crime prevention part of the book is exellent. It seems that while there are some books on the market on this subject, for some reason more books concentrate on combatives, than preventing these dangerous situations altogether. Perhaps this is the reason why I felt that the second half of the book was not as good as the first half. The book would have been better, if the magazine columns would have been edited somewhat to get rid of "in this month's column we concentrate on..." -type stuff. And there is some repetition also, which is a bit annoying in book form.

All things concidered, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in raising their personal level of security.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading, April 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Street Smarts, Firearms, And Personal Security: Jim Grover'S Guide To Staying Alive And Avoiding Crime In The Real World (Paperback)

Having had the honor of training with Jim Grover. I can tell you he is "for real". His information is updated from his and others "real time" situations. This book is not theory it is practical and "street tested". This book is extremely well written and easy to read. It covers the whole arena of "true" street smarts. The section on home security systems is worth the price of the book alone. You will find yourself using this book again and again. Destined to become a classic...

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but HIGHLY repetitive, June 11, 2004

By 

S. Lessard "sebless" (canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Street Smarts, Firearms, And Personal Security: Jim Grover'S Guide To Staying Alive And Avoiding Crime In The Real World (Paperback)

I read this book along with other books on self-defense/security. Its generally good, however, the book is made from articles in a magazine column, and it becomes very very repetitive. Also, I find that the author sometimes exagerates, as for when he says that whenever you hop in a cab, you should sit in the front seat and keep your foot near the cab driver's pedals in case "you should need to take control of the cab"... hmm.. i can imagine myself doing that the next time I take a cab. i'd sure get a look from the driver. 3 stars.