How To Survive The Most Critical 5 Seconds Of Your Life by Tim Larkin

I liked How To Survive The Most Critical 5 Seconds Of Your Life by Tim Larkin and Chris Ranck-Buhr for pointing out some important elements when it comes to self-defense and surviving violence. I especially liked the parts on antisocial vs. asocial violence and the strong message to avoid all antisocial violence, even when it means walking away with a bruised ego. This, combined with other principles throughout the book are important to know when studying, practicing, or teaching self-defense, safety and survival against violent attacks.

However, I don’t always agree with Larkin in that all encounters are that black and white. Yes, I agree that you should avoid what he calls the antisocial violence, but realize that it is not always as easy to do as to say. That is why I do like to include ways to deal with “drunk uncle Albert” and the like in self-defense and martial art programs. Being able to deal with someone without injuring them is important in some situations. This book only focuses on the asocial types of attacks where I agree that hurting your attacker and putting them out of the fight by shutting them down is most often the best and only way out of such an encounter. I just don’t focus entirely on that outcome, even though I understand where Larkin is coming from. He makes valid points for his position.

Unfortunately, at times, this book is more of an argument as to why you should train in his Target Focus Training programs, than what you should actually do. The book is more of the “why” than the “how.”  The book goes into great lengths at explaining why Larkin’s approach to self-defense training is the best without actually explaining any of the techniques or ways to stop your attacker that he emphasizes are so critical to one’s survival.

I give this book a four star rating because I do like it, and feel it provides an answer for certain situations and fills a gap in the self-defense literature by focusing on this narrow element of survival. It is a piece, and an important one, of the entire puzzle. Combining the information in this book, and maybe even some of the TFT training (I don’t know that much about it yet to comment more.), will enhance one’s ability to defend themselves in specific asocial attacks and better prepare a person for survival. Depending on a person’s goals for training, I don’t think it is the only thing to study, but it is a part of the whole. For that reason, I’m glad I included it in my self-defense study and reading.

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