www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316330116/qid=1136663848/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5294860-9605637?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

I bought this book the other day and it is the most interesting book I've ever read. I read it in two nights and wasn't able to put it down.

Buy this book.

Read it, very interesting.

Great PME, if you can get his other book on combat I would recommend it also.

That looks good.

Read it several times, then loaned it to my friend's son before he deployed to Iraq.

I think it's a very thought-provoking book. Not everyone on this site agrees. (It's been brought up before)

NTM

Here's the Readers Digest version:

Some people deserve killing!...........I know some........you do too!

Quoted: Here's the Readers Digest version: Some people deserve killing!...........I know some........you do too!

I don't believe you are refering to LtCol Grossman's work.  

Probably the second most important (to me) book I have read to date. I have learned lots of things from books, but Dave Grossman's stuff is outstanding.

If you have not read On Combat, you really should. It does an excellent job of tying in lots of the stuff in On Killing to our personal lives.

Good read but it is very repetitive.  

 That book explained to me what was wrong with a lot of people. The claim that 50% of men will not kill another man no matter how dire the circumstances are sounds about right. It's the difference between people who run from gun fire like they can out run a bullet and the people who think "As soon as I shoot that guy(s) he will stop shooting at me" and take cover and look for targets.

Great book to peruse at the coffee bar in the local Barnes & Noble - rattles the libtards.

While I liked Grossmans book,  and he does make a number of good points, his lack of academic rigor is disturbing; he makes a lot of statements not supported by anything other than his opinion.

A better book in my opinion is "Into the Kill Zone : A Cop's Eye View of Deadly Force " by David Klinger.  In depth interviews with police officers  provide a more realistic picture of shooting another person and the aftermath.  

Quoted: Quoted: I didn't care for the book.  It started off as a good read but I found myself disagreeing with him in later chapters.   Me too, I forgot what I disagreed with, but the book left me with a bad impression.  Grossman had an axe to grind about something.

Probably the idea that violence is everywhere and it is shaping our children. I agree with him to a degree, but he's pretty far out on that issue.

Quoted: Quoted: I didn't care for the book.  It started off as a good read but I found myself disagreeing with him in later chapters.   Me too, I forgot what I disagreed with, but the book left me with a bad impression.  Grossman had an axe to grind about something.

I disagreed with his use of the "x many serviceman shot" study. Buddy of mine sent me some stuff showing that the study that only 25% give or take of guys in WW2 combat fired. That was BS.  Which, of course, effects the conclusions of Grossman's studies about increase in violence.

However, I think the book still has a lot to give on the psychological aspects of violence and killing, and what it does to people. If you go looking for those parts, it's well worth the read.

Also, I've heard On Combat is fantastic. I'm told he goes right down to what combat stress physically does to you. Heart rate, tunnel vision, slow time, etc. One quote I read about it is where he talks to a cop who kept recalling that somebody was throwing beer cans marked "FEDERAL" on them at him during a shoot out. He couldn't figure out what he had been seeing, but that was the only way he could describe it. Turned out he was seeing his ejected brass go by his shoulder. Also why soldiers seem to recall things in slow motion, and such. He goes into why that happens, physically and psychologically.

an interesting book with some valid points


but it's way way too preachy and scum of the earth lobbyists are taking it out of ocntext and using it as a pro-censorship argument

Grossman is the one claiming that video games are training tools for killing.

Unfortunately, the only thing 12+ years of gaming has given me is improved hand-eye coordination.

On Killing was Ok, I much preferred On Combat.

Quoted: Also, I've heard On Combat is fantastic. I'm told he goes right down to what combat stress physically does to you. Heart rate, tunnel vision, slow time, etc. One quote I read about it is where he talks to a cop who kept recalling that somebody was throwing beer cans marked "FEDERAL" on them at him during a shoot out. He couldn't figure out what he had been seeing, but that was the only way he could describe it. Turned out he was seeing his ejected brass go by his shoulder. Also why soldiers seem to recall things in slow motion, and such. He goes into why that happens, physically and psychologically.

Correct. On Combat is probably THE book every cop and gun owner who cares anything about self-defense should read. An entire chapter is devoted specifically to audio exclusion during stress or combat. Damn good information.

I found both books fascinating.  Anybody seen the video series?  "The Bulletproof Mind"?