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Having witnessed thousands of confrontations (and survived a few hundred) in his work as a barroom bouncer, Geoff Thompson knows firsthand what violence is really like. He knows that self-defense is primarily about avoiding violent situations and that the best techniques in the world are of little value if you are rendered immobile by fear or indecision.

In Dead or Alive, he draws on his experience to teach you how to do the following:

1. Use proven awareness techniques for avoiding most confrontations.
2. Improve your fighting skills if you do have to get physical.
3. Maximaize your mental toughness.

The hand-on lessons include how security professionals control their fear, recognize effective avenues of escape, train to be in optimim physical and mental condition at all times, preemptively attack their opponents and stop them cold, switch their (and their opponents') adrenaline flow on or off at will to gain the upper hand, use diversion and deception to distract attackers at critical times, and much more.

But this is not just another step-by-step guide to winning fights. It is an in-depth look at how the criminal mind works. Thompson incorporates chiling interviews with muggers, rapists, and murderers as well as their victims to find out why certain people are targeted for attack, which types of crimes are opportunistic and which are premeditated, simple precautionary measures evryone can take to make themselves less vulnerable, and what victims should do when confronted by an attacker.

The choice is yours: learn from this proven master of self-defense and increase your odds of remaining alive or risk being unprepared when a predator gets you in his sights.

Contents

Part I: Avoidance and Awareness
Introduction
Chapter 1: Attackers and Their Rituals
Chapter 2: Controlling Fear
Chapter 3: Using Adrenaline to Psyche Out Your Opponent
Part II: Fighting Techniques
Chapter 4: Lining Up Your Opponent
Chapter 5: Attacking Tools
Chapter 6: Areas of Attack
Chapter 7: Hands and Elbows
Chapter 8: Legs
Chapter 9: Knees
Chapter 10: Headbutt
Chapter 11: Chokes and Headlocks
Chapter 12: Throws
Chapter 13: Ground Work
Chapter 14: Biting
Chapter 15: Defense Against Weapons
Chapter 16: Defense Against Multiple Attackers
Chapter 17: The Knockout
Part III: The Mental Component
Chapter 18: Hurdles and Pitfalls
Chapter 19: Visualization
Chapter 20: Aftermath
Chapter 21: Do's and Don'ts
Chapter 22: First Aid
Epilogue