Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life: A Former CIA Officer Reveals Safety and Survival Techniques to Keep You and YourFamily Protected

About a year or so ago, I came across videos Jason Hanson had made and put together in a package deal regarding many of the same things he has written in his book. Our family enjoys various self-defense training, and I was very impressed with these videos. I shared them with members of my family. They were impressed too. They were short and fun to watch. However, we enjoyed them so much we watched them all within a 3 day period of time, before going back over them individually to really learn and practice the techniques he shared to keep us from harms way. I've been subscribed to his newsletters, and enjoy the tidbits of information he offers with each one. Through these, I found out about his new book, Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life. Of course, I purchased this and read it within 3 hours. (I'm a fast reader, but this was also a fast reading book.) I'm sure others could read it faster, but to glean the information from it that it was intended for, don't speed read. I'm in the process of reading it again along with my husband. We read and practice and repeat. A lot of the information covered in the book, I already had watched on the videos. So, if you have purchased the video collection, would you still want to purchase the book? Yes! The book contains additional information not found in the videos. For instance, one of my favorite chapters was near the end, "The Art of Survival Driving." Jason offers a course that teaches this, which I would love to enroll my husband in. He's pretty stoked about taking this class some day. In the meantime, we have the basic information taught in this book. I love all the true-life stories he tells regarding each of the topics he covers in the book. One gets a real life perspective that these bad things do happen to people, and by reading and practicing his suggestions (yes practicing each day and Jason shares his training schedule) we can each avoid many of these situations, or know what to do to save ourselves. He also provides many websites he has created regarding these particular topics. The websites share videos and other valuable information. This book should be in everyone's home and not to just sit on a bookshelf. Read it, and read it again. Practice, and practice daily. Be ready to protect you and your family with simple steps such as just getting off the X. (Mentioned throughout the book how important it is to move and not freeze.) I was very impressed by this book and all of the additional information that did not come with the videos I purchased a year earlier. Glad to have this knowledge. This book will be a source of valuable information for a long time. I strongly recommend this book.

Some common techniques, but many that I had never thought of. The book was easy to understand, examples were descriptive for the most part. Do not regret any time I spent reading this, which I did in two short sittings. Recommend

The author focuses on the importance of situational awareness which is key to survival. You will not become James Bond with this book, but the topics on social engineering and how you can be manipulated by other people is very good and easy to understand. Knowing what floors to stay on in a hotel and why are very good. Topics like how to know if you are being followed and how to confront someone and actually avoiding a confrontation are smart. The only reason I gave it four stars is that it could use some illustrations. I think the lack of illustrations is purposeful so you have to go to his website and purchase videos and other accessories from him (somewhat of an up-sell format). But I still found the information very usefull. Even how to kick out a window, break a duct tape and zip tie if bound. I don't believe you will become an expert. I am an advocate of tactical flashlights and pens and he reinforces the concepts. I just find it cheaper to buy your own high quality "tools" and not his overpriced versions. I would love to take his course one day...that appears useful and I also like how he tries to give realistic, real life examples of situations where you could apply these skills. The price is reasonable and I found the boom able to hold my attention which is not easy! Saw him on Shark Tank and it caught my interest. Worth the money!

Too many people walk around with their heads in the clouds. Jason Hanson, on the other hands, keeps his wits about him at all times, and his book is filled with reminders that everyone should heed. If you feel that you or your family may be exposed to some risk (and who isn't?), take the time to go through this quick and fun book. One of the ideas which Hanson suggests is always being alert, which he calls "yellow alert." It's just below the "red alert" that means imminent danger. A specific takeaway from this section of the book is, "Don't keep your head buried in your cell phone." If you walk down the street checking your Facebook messages, there's no way you can know what dangers lurk in the area, and bad guys see you as an ideal target. In the event of an emergency, you must keep moving. "Get off the X," Hanson explains, meaning that rather that freezing in place, move! To detect if something bad might be about to happen, watch out for pre-incident indicators. Is the potential criminal staring at you? Is someone matching your pacing, which is not a normal thing for people to do? Is someone trying to distract you? One member of a criminal pair might try to distract you so his partner can make a move. Be aware of normalcy bias. People tend to think that everything is OK, even when there are counter indications. Have a baseline for what normal is, and then if something has changed go on the alert. Instead of assuming that things are OK, assume they are not and try to figure out why. One great section in the book is what to do if you suspect someone is watching you. It's not only spies that might be under surveillance. Women, for example, might have stalkers tracking them. If you think someone is following you, and you want to confirm, move to different locations, a technique that Hanson calls taking a "surveillance detection route." And remember the CIA maxim when you want to determine if someone is just an innocent passerby or a bad guy who is following you. If you see him: One time = an accident, Two times = a coincidence, Three times = an enemy. If you are concerned that someone is following you, take a look at his his shoes. It's easy for someone to change his look by putting on sunglasses or a baseball cap, but generally someone does not carry a spare pair of shoes. I particularly liked the section on telling when someone is lying. People may answer a different question than you're asking, some may claim to be religious so you don't have to worry, and others will direct their feet where they really want to go... so watch someone's feet if you think he is lying. Another fun section is where you learn the art of disappearing. Going off the grid is a skill you may never need, but Hanson gives you a lot of the basics. In the end of the book, you can learn some basic self defense techniques. It's hard to learn the fighting techniques from a book, though it's nice to know that you could learn them. Jason Hanson uses the book to bring you to his websites in order to encourage you to learn more and buy some of his other programs. I don't object to the marketing in the book, but I suspect some people would. In any case, it's nice that he not only teaches you what you need to know and the tools you should have, but he makes it easy for you to find where to buy them. I am glad I read the book, and you will be, too.

This reads as if someone had googled various topics and then put all the information they found to pad out the chapters. I started getting suspicious when it confidently stated that 60% of rapes occur during home invasions (I can point you to a US Department of Justice study showing that 82% of rapes are committed by non-strangers), and said that statistic came from the FBI. Good luck finding any of the statistics mentioned along with it - they seem to have come from dubious postings by security companies selling alarm systems. The chapters on picking handcuffs tells you how to do it using a pair of pliers, which I'm sure a lot of kidnapping victims have access to. There's a section on how to run surveillance that is great if you have a team of people and are in law enforcement, probably not so practical or even useful for normal people. I had hoped to learn some things I could use in my books, but I found almost all of the information to be common sense or not really very informing.

If you are a Navy SEAL, police SWAT team member, or previously served as a Legionnaire in the French Foreign Legion, then perhaps this book is too rudimentary for you. However, if you are like me - Average Joe who stares at a computer all day in an office setting – then you NEED this book! I purchased it online and sent it straight to my Kindle, thinking I’d get to it over the next few weekends. When I arrived home, I fired up my iPad to make sure the book made it to my Kindle library. I started reading the first few pages. And kept reading. And kept reading. I paused a few times to test some of the techniques outlined in the book (think duct tape…yeah, it works). Then got back to reading. By 12:45 a.m. I had finished the book, and found myself wanting more. The book is cover-to-cover loaded with real-world information that you can use right now. Super well organized, and written in a sincere, genuine manner, Hanson explains everything at both the philosophical (why) and tactical (how) level, and often times uses real-world examples to make the point. Additionally, if he mentions a tool (bedside flashlight, for example), then he actually tells you what brand and model he uses; so if you are new to that tool, you have a great starting point for your research! Finally, I want to make sure readers know that this is NOT a zombie apocalypse prepper book, and is NOT a re-written manual or arms for a spy working his craft in a foreign country. It’s a practical guide meant for me and you to help us think differently about our environment, about our mindset, and about our daily actions. So…’get off the X’ and go buy this book. Cheers! P.S. - I am a voracious reader, and this is my very first Amazon book review…if that tells you anything about how excited I am about this product.

I got this book as a Christmas present for the hubs but I ended up reading the whole things before he did! The title is totally corny but there was a lot of really great information in those pages. The book is written by a retired CIA agent that currently spends his time teaching civilians important life skills that he has learned from him time in the CIA. I like this book because it covers a variety of subjects that all fall under the safety umbrella. There are chapters on how to criminal proof your house, escape from a kidnapping (handcuffs, duct tape, etc.), disappear without a trace, and travel safely as well as chapters that cover information on how to survive both major and minor disasters. Overall the book was very easy to understand and I learned quite a lot from it. I especially recommend this book to women who want to know more about protecting themselves. Unfortunately as female we are often targeted more than men so it only makes sense that we arm ourselves the best to our abilities. This book helps in that area. The book covers some basic commonsense stuff but it is also loaded with real-world information that you can implement right away. I believe everyone who reads it can learn something from it that would improve their lives.

I liked this one better than Hanson's first because it has a lot more concrete, actionable information in it. I suspect no one who actually reads the first book will ever come into contact with a real spy; however, the tips and information in this book can be applied by everyone. Regardless, it's an easy and fast read, and has a lot of interesting stuff in it. The theme of the book is definitely summed up in the word "preparation." From gathering supplies for natural disasters to your mindset, 90% of the "secrets" are mostly about thinking things through ahead of time and getting the right tools in place so you have them if/when you need them. It's a lot of common sense, layered with statistics and research (the back of the book contains several pages full of citations for the claims made in the book). I think the challenge is that you have to take a step outside your normal comfort zone, both mentally and physically (not to mention financially) in order to achieve the level of preparation he's talking about here, and I don't think that most people will do it. Then again, most people aren't even close to prepared when something bad happens, so I suppose that makes sense. Bottom line: I think that the value you get out of this book is directly tied to how much you're willing to follow its guidance.

Very useful and informative,learned a lot about how to keep oneself safe from the world

Weitaus erschöpfender als beispielsweise Combat Mindset. Das hier behandelte Thema ist jedoch so umfangreich, dass viele einzelne Punkte dennoch im "Telegrammstil" abgehakt werden müssen. Einige Tricks sind teuer, andere kann jeder ohne Geld, nur üben. Aber vor allem hilft es beim Umdenken, um in Zukunft besser Gefahren zu entgehen. Auch als Nachschlagewerk geeignet: z.B. wie mache ich mein Haus sicherer. Ein sehr gutes Anfänger-Lehrbuch! (Auch ich bin noch blutiger Anfänger in diesem Themenbereich)

Excelente leitura ! Ótimas aquisições! Rapidez no processo de compra e atendimento da Amazon. INFELIZMENTE a empresa Transportadora DirecLog que aqui em Curitiba é representada pela empresa LONDON, deu baixa de entrega nas minha compra sem ao menos ela ter sido entregue à minha pessoa.Forjaram minha assinatura , como se eu tivesse recebido, e informaram um número de identidade que não existe! Pior ainda...no dia da falsa entrega, eu me encontrava no Rio de Janeiro! Lamentável! Por fim recorri ao site RECLAME AQUI, que intermediou a entrega dos livros. Obrigado à AMAZON e... MUITÍSSIMO OBRIGADO à atendente JULIANE do site RECLAME AQUI!

manuale di istruzioni per l'uomo di mondo;tecniche e trucchi del mestiere che in un mondo come quello di oggi possono fare la differenza;non è un manuale per addetti ai lavori ma per persone comuni che vogliono vivere prestando attenzione al mondo che le circonda per non farsi cogliere impreparate dalgi eventi

Too many scary cases to make you think you need to behave like a spy on enemy territory. And few practical and useful información. Too many references to other material sold by the same author.