Good books on self defense?

[M38]

I have finally got my lazy butt in gear and I will be taking a course to qualify for a Virginia CCW permit this Saturday. I would like to improve my self defense knowledge, both firearm and non-firearm, beyond the basic course. What books or authors would you knowlegable folks recomend? Any particular training courses?
Thanks

 

[ACP230]

Here's a few.

Principles Of Personal Defense by Jeff Cooper

In The Gravest Extreme by Massad Ayoob

Real-World Survival: What Has Worked For Me
by Walt Rauch

Effective Defense by Gila Hayes

They are listed in order of importance IMO.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

Stressfire and The Truth About Self Protection by Massad Ayoob.

 

[El Tejon]

BOOKS:

IN SELF DEFENSE, Michael T. Izumi

THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF DEFENSE, Jeff Cooper

THE TACTICAL PISTOL, Gabriel Suarez

THE TACTICAL ADVANTAGE, Gabriel Suarez

BLACK'S LAW, Roy Black

IN THE GRAVEST EXTREME, Massad F. Ayoob

THE AYOOB FILES: The Book, Massad F. Ayoob

ON KILLING, Dave Grossman

THE BULLETPROOF MIND, Dave Grossman

REAL-WORLD SURVIVAL, Walt Rauch

TRAINING COURSES (I am assuming pistol based???):

NRA "Personal Protection in the Home" course, you have to crawl before you can walk. (Pre-skul of gunskul).

DHG1, Thunder Ranch (learn not to "poke self in the eye with it", gunhandling skills)

API250, Gunsite Training Academy (ditto)

LFI-I, Lethal Force Institute, without a doubt the greatest value in "gunskuling", LFI-I provides more concentration in the law of self-defense that 3 year of law school and the bar exam (Problem #2, mindset).

Anything with Louis Awerbuck, he makes his bones with "advanced" gunskul stuff, however the man is outstanding (and yet underrated) with beginning students, especially women. He has a natural ability to relate to them and they dig his strong, silent manner.

 

[Doc]

BOOKS:


THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF DEFENSE, Jeff Cooper


IN THE GRAVEST EXTREME, Massad F. Ayoob

THE AYOOB FILES: The Book, Massad F. Ayoob

ON KILLING, Dave Grossman

THE BULLETPROOF MIND, Dave Grossman

REAL-WORLD SURVIVAL, Walt Rauch

TRAINING COURSES

DHG1, Thunder Ranch (learn not to "poke self in the eye with it", gunhandling skills)

API250, Gunsite Training Academy (ditto)

LFI-I, Lethal Force Institute, without a doubt the greatest value in "gunskuling", LFI-I provides more concentration in the law of self-defense that 3 year of law school and the bar exam (Problem #2, mindset).

Quando no mas?

LFI-I without a doubt is the single most important class if you are really gonna CCW,
and mean to use it.

TR and Gunsite will teach you to shoot
and get you working on those 3000-5000 reps
you need to lock your skills into muscle memory,
Mas Ayoob will let you know what happens if & when you use those skills,
in the real world.

el tejon knows, school & video's are great,
but actually getting your hands dirty,
now that's something diffeerent altogether

 

[garrettwc]

Fighting Smarter by Tom Givens

I agree on the books listed above by Cooper, Ayoob, and Suarez.

I haven't read the other authors listed, but have heard good things about some, Rauch in particular gets good reviews everywhere.

 

[DaveH2]

Tactical Reality by Louis Awerbuck

 

[M38]

Thanks for reminding me Eric - I should have checked via search first - and thanks to everyone else for your suggestions.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I see most of the folks have provided you with primarily gun sources. No surprise there. Let me suggest a book that probably nobody else will suggest. I think it is a good book in regard to personal safety and it is one that you will find useful as will your spouse, parents, in-laws, and maybe your kids if they are old enough to be concerned for their safety. The book is called "Tough Target" by a bizarre looking guy named J.J. Bittenbinder. One of the major premises of the book is that you can activity work to not make yourself an attractive target. The guy isn't really pro gun and his book isn't about relying on using a particular weapon of any sort other than being smart BEFORE things go south and then being smart if they do.

One statement in the book that really caught my attention and made a lot of sense as to potential rammifications was that, "The woods are full of dead people who were nowhere near the woods when they were last seen alive." The comment is in the context of situational awareness and that if you do get attacked, you should do everything in your power to NOT end up going for a ride with the bad guy(s). Once in their car or them in your car with you, your chances for survival will drop dramatically.

Most of the stuff in the book seems to be really common sense sorts of stuff, only many people don't react to danger in common sense manners or don't know what the common sense solutions are at the time of the problem. Reading of this book inspired me to ponder the point as to why people will call 911 and wait by the phone if there is an intruder in their home, often waiting until found and harmed by the intruder, whereas they might not even bother calling 911 and would be out of their home ASAP if it were on fire. In either case, you probably are not going to be physically well protected by proper cover or fire-proof materials and in both cases you life is in danger, and yet people will call 911 and camp by the phone for an intruder but are gone like a bat out of proverbial hell during a fire. Go figure.

I think the book is a nifty, no nonsense look at situational awareness and it is something that a lot of gun toters would do good to read. It would also be of interest for non-gun folks, folks not trained in self defense techniques, etc. After all, the best defense is to not be where the danger is.

 

[Mute]

Sun-Tzu - Art of War
Miyamoto Mushashi - Book of Five Rings

 

[Matthew Temkin]

Check out www.gutterfighting.org for an excellent list of books/videos on all aspects of close combat.

 

[MolonLabe416]

Principles Of Personal Defense by Jeff Cooper

Fighting Smarter by Tom Givens (available at www.rangemaster.com)

Drive to Survive by Curt Rich
Not about firearms, but an excellent treatise on mastering your vehicle and the road. You're far more likely to be in a bad situation with your vehicle.

 

[benEzra]

The best handgun-defense book I have read in the last five years is, no kidding, the Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery, 5th edition, by Massad Ayoob. Covers absolutely everything, from buying a gun to training to CQB techniques, legal issues, etc. Picked mine up at Books-a-Million. Top-notch.

 

[LawDog]

Kill Or Get Killed by Col. Rex Applegate.

LawDog

 

[igor]

Was this already mentioned? Some very solid strategical thinking down to delving into your own motives and values and how they affect your decisions and choices.

 

[Soap]

What El T said. BTW- El Tejon, when are you going to just issue me a library card and barcode your books?

 

[c-bag]

I'll second the Ayoob books.

Also check out THE CONCEALED HANDGUN MANUAL by Chris Bird. He may not have the name recognition of Cooper, Ayoob, ect. but Bird makes sense, isn't as dogmatic as some of the others (cough-cough Cooper) and covers basic to intermediate skills in a consise manner as well as covering legality, the aftermath, ect.

 

[earthworm]

'Armed & Female' by Paxton Quigley. NOT for ladies only!
'The Gift of Fear' by Gavin DeBecker. While Gavin is anti-gun/anti-personal defense("You need to hire me & my pros")the book makes the excellent point that you ignore your gut feeling that 'something just ain't right' at your peril.www.selfdefenseforums.com/forums has a good thread on thin intitled 'Sixth Sense?'

 

[benEzra]

The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery, 5th edition (I think), by Massad Ayoob. Ayoob's book is a FANTASTIC reference, and he even covers topics he doesn't agree with; even those who don't like Mas would probably find a lot of useful stuff in here. He covers avoidance, tactics, legal issues, training, competition shooting, basic gun handling, caliber issues, etc.

(Note that this is not the same book as the 4th edition by Chuck Taylor--nothing against Taylor, I just haven't read that one.)

 

[Taipei Personality]

"Drive to Survive" by Curt Rich
"The Secrets of Reality- based Gunfighting" by Gabe Suarez

 

[C. H. Luke]

Chuck Taylor's book "Combat Handgunnery, 4th Ed."

Chuck teaches at Defense Associates in CT several times per season.

Def. Assoc. 3-Day Handgun is well worth taking and is an exc. base to
develop a training regimen and for Taylor's advanced H/G Courses.


www.defenseassociates.com