Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Skills for the Average Joe

100 Deadly Skills – The SEAL Operative’s Guide to Eluding Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation – Clint Emerson (Touchstone Books)

Okay…let’s get something straight right from the start; no you will not come away from reading this book with the skillset of a Navy SEAL. No the 100 situational skills that retired Navy SEAL Clint Emerson lays out in the book, 100 Deadly Skills, are not all deadly. Can you learn some pretty cool things that will help you if you encounter some difficult or dangerous situations; heck yeah!

As you work your way through these 100 skills a pattern starts to emerge; Emerson seems more focused on getting to think, rather than get physical. Many of these skills train you to utilize common items that you might find around the house to create tools or weapons that you can use for self defense, to elude dangerous situations or protect your family.


Will you put to use newly acquired skills to steal a car? Probably not, but if you happen to lock yourself out of the car or your house or need to disconnect an electric garage door opener so you can enter the garage during a power outage; Emerson gives you an introduction to the skills you need.

Given the seemingly regular news of active shooter situations, Emerson offers up some skills and insights into how to not only survive one of those scenarios, but also how to safely take to the offensive and take down the shooter. This is a real world skill for a real world situation.

While some wannabe super secret agents who live on a steady diet of Bond films and action thrillers may find 100 Deadly Skills “too basic” I found the skills to be useful and Emerson delivers them in an entertaining fashion.

  

 

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