On Combat, The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace

Must Buy for an Author

Excellent read if you're interested in the topic material. This isn't a self-defense book, though, so make sure you understand what you're reading. This book helps readers to understand the effects that combat can have on the human mind and body. Now, as a writer, this book was crucial for me. It truly helped me to understand the psychology of my characters during times of intense stress. This is definitely a must read for any author who includes any form of combat in their books. But, now, just so you don't think I'm a friend of the author, let me tear into this book a little bit: There's basically an entire chapter dedicated towards convincing the reader that violent media will turn children into criminals. Personally, I didn't care much for this chapter. I still read it, and I'm glad that I did, because now I know more about this issue-- but it seemed entirely irrelevant to the rest of this book. What really got me, too, was that the author already wrote another book on this exact topic. So not only did he go off course with this book, he also gave his audience no reason to buy his other book, because the main information was already discussed. But here's an easy fix: when you get to the chapter about children and violent media, skip it, if you're inclined to do so. Personally, I'm glad I read it, but it just seemed like the author really veered off course. But that's the only reason I didn't give this book 6 stars out of 5-- that and Amazon wouldn't let me. ;) The other information is sooo flippin valuable if you're a soldier, cop, or author. Truly this is a must buy for those three categories. The first two save lives, and the third has to authentically portray this in writing. Read more