A generally clear and coherent introduction to self-protective skills for women.
Farrow and Frombach present a guide to women’s safety at home, online, and in the world.
In this self-help book, Farrow (a retired deputy sheriff) and Frombach (a military veteran and technologist) advise readers, primarily women, on keeping safe in a variety of environments. Employing defensive driving as a metaphor (“use the same level of awareness and confidence in your daily life that you do behind the wheel of your car”), they encourage women to adopt safety-oriented behaviors as part of everyday life, making them ingrained habits without allowing fear to dominate their thoughts. The book explores the psychology of victimization, the common characteristics of a predator or aggressor, the specific risks of online communication and dating, and domestic violence. Subsequent chapters instruct readers in resisting persuasive tactics, establishing and maintaining financial security, and evaluating the appropriateness of weapons and other defensive tools. The book concludes with appendices that include survival tips and red flags in dating situations. The text is supported by a combination of both authors’ personal stories (Farrow’s tales of law enforcement highs and lows and Frombach’s history with domestic violence and addiction), research, and common sense. The book explores the psychology of violence from the perspective of both attacker and victim, and places theory into a usable real-world context. There are practical tips with obvious everyday applications, as well as discussions of situations readers may experience infrequently, if at all, offering a comprehensive perspective on the multiple types of violence women may face.
The book is an informative collection of data and advice that many readers will find useful. The authors have a talent for pithy phrasing (“Your car is not a drive-thru! Do not ever roll your car window down because a stranger wants you to”) that makes the book’s recommendations easy to both assimilate and remember. Their broad definition of “violence,” incorporating physical, emotional, and financial aspects, is both an asset and a limitation as the guide occasionally loses focus with its departures from and returns to the core thesis. The wide-ranging discussions can also lead to repetitiveness at times (one quote appears at three different points in the text), giving an unfocused feel to the information and advice on offer. The relevant and up-to-date explanations of terms like “love bombing” and “the manosphere” contrast with minor but jarring moments like describing IBM as “a company similar to Apple” or characterizing the temptation of Adam and Eve as a “scam”; the contrast between the clued-in material and out-of-touch infelicities such as these may give readers reason to question the book’s authoritative qualifications. These distractions do not outweigh the book’s cogent arguments, however, and its recommendations for developing mental toughness, establishing an awareness of one’s surroundings, and understanding the power of persuasion and social conditioning are clearly explained and presented in a way the average reader will be able to implement. Farrow and Frombach’s unique experiences make them effective and credible advocates for their message, and the book as a whole is a highly readable and useful addition to the genre of women’s self-defense writing.
A generally clear and coherent introduction to self-protective skills for women.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9780757324932
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Health Communications Inc.
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
