Tuesday, March 16, 2010

wilsonblogclassic® Originally posted Saturday, October 24, 2008

Real-World Survival! by Walt Rauch is an info packed little tome well worth the effort of seeking out and studying. Rauch is a former military intelligence officer and Secret Service Agent. He has also worked several other high-risk occupations where he put his life on the line nearly everyday on the job. The result of all his experiences is this, a well-grounded and pragmatic approach to surviving the dangers of our modern society that is unflinching in its honesty. Rauch pulls no punches, he tells it like he sees it and lays it all out for the reader to accept or not. This book covers a wide spectrum of topics; everything from the basic hardware requirements to developing the proper mind set needed to survive violent confrontations. The chapters where the author goes into the more mundane details about this gun or that, this type of action or that, are relatively standard and honestly are what you can see in many other books of this type. Where this book stands out though, and where Mr. Rauch is at his best is when he is discussing things like the proper mindset that needs to be developed in order to survive violent encounters as well as the psychology of the criminal mind. In this book he refers to violent criminals as "otherhumans" and lets us know in no uncertain terms that they are not like us. Their minds don't work like normal people's and they will do whatever required to get what they want, including taking your life. Other authors have made this same point, but Rauch really brings the idea home for the reader with his simple writing style that is very plainspoken. Rauch shows the reader the unpleasant truth and leaves it up to them what they want to do with that truth. Another example would be a memorable chapter on the aftermath of taking a human life. It is a real eye opener that will probably leave some wondering if they even want to carry a gun to defend themselves. I consider this book to be required reading if you intend to carry a gun in public, and it probably wouldn't be a bad idea if it was required reading for every honest citizen as well.

No comments: