Welcome

Welcome to the non-violent guide to  violence, self defence and personal safety. Too many books on self defence try to start at the end, showing you what to do when someone’s busy hitting you.  I want to try and end things at the start, long before anyone gets to the point of actually trying to throw that first punch.

After all, if you’re thinking of buying a book about self defence you probably don’t want to get in to a fight, so why teach you how to win one?  Far better to help you understand the subtleties of communication, body language, the psychology of violence and fear, and maybe a little bit of risk assessment.

Without getting too sciencey about it all, How Not to Get Hit explores how evolution has given us all the tools and skills we will ever need to stay safe, we just have to know how to find them.  You are the culmination of countless millennia of, well, not being killed.  That’s not bad going, give yourself a pat on the back.

Gimme back my hat…

Don’t worry though, I’m under no allusions – every now and then things might still get up-close, ugly and personal so we’ll look at some key universal principles that will probably help in most situations – things like range, where to hit, what to hit with, what you can do, and what you can’t, what to do against multiple attackers, weapons etc – nothing complicated, nothing you have to spend years mastering, just a few simple tips.

Whilst we’re on the subject of tips, as well as some thorough research in to principles of aggression, evolutionary biology, martial arts and psychology, I’ve also gone out and spoken to police officers, prison wardens, bodyguards and psychiatirc nurses to find out what those on the front line of violence have to say about staying safe.

If you’d like to know more, please contact the author at nathaniel1979@googlemail.com or follow us on Twitter at @hownottogethit