Book Review: The Gift of Fear
Ricky Cain
Author Gavin De Becker
The gift of fear is an analysis of how to deal with fear, and people. The highlights of the cover are. This book can save your life. And how true fear is a gift unwanted fear is a curse. Gavin De Becker has basically compiled all his research work into the idea. That we should not be as afraid as we think we should. With this in mind, each chapter is different.
Highlights, are such as Intimate Enemies goes into detail, about, the Nicole Brown, and O.J. Simpson case. Before she died, and other things that are relevant. Other Chapters describe when too much persistence is too much. And how we normally associate bad traits as good traits. Examples such as, being too persistent. Or being overly emotional, such as being to clingy to people. Or a bad feeling of a Nanny, or a date not taking no for the answer.
There are two chapters devoted to teaching yourself, to be intuitive and staying out of bad situations. Various chapters go into detail about. Content and context, over the chapter it describes that we should not apply a one for all approach. But handle each situation differently. Because if we misdiagnose the situation we may loose control, and bad things happen. It goes into depth of how, a threatened that will not act on his actions. Will always be unable to act on his demands. Or that a calm person making threats, is the one to fear.
The Book goes through several hypothetical scenarios of how people act badly, and how to correct the mannerisms. Other chapters deal with workplace violence. It describes things from an employer point of view. Then it delves into how the possible disgruntled employee will react, to being fired. In the chapter “I was trying to let him down easy”, it talks about how men, and women, interpret things differently. And how Hollywood, has tried to make the image that, if a guy is persistent it shows that he is in love. And those women are nice in breaking it off. And men are nice in stalking.
All through the chapters Gavin De Becker lists examples, of how we normally act, the stereotypical routines of what happens. Then as the after thought of each, he says how we should approach the situation and issue. He most commonly says that we should retain control of the situation, by either confronting a threatened or avoiding the person altogether depending on the situation.
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