How To Be Your Own Bodyguard: Self Defense for men & women from a lifetime of protecting clients in hostile environments. Paperback – November 30, 2017

This is an excellent read. I’m a big man, 6’2” and 250 lbs that I will admit to…so I’m not normally worried about my environment. The book helped me think about safety without being alarmist.So many books begin with what you do when you’re in trouble. This book helps you avoid trouble, which is a much better idea – in fact, only 40 pages out of 300 are devoted to what the author refers to as “Hard Skills.” The book is good both as an overview and to review for specific recommendations on how to behave when travelling, in riots, safing your home, etc.The book is organized into several sub-categories: An intro, where he establishes his bona fides as a badass; an intro describing WHY self defense starts with avoiding trouble; psychology of how to detect threats and how to avoid looking like a threat; sections on common sense risk mitigation techniques; and the aforementioned hard skills section.I like this book for three reasons:First, it is entertaining. I finished the book in a few days. I felt like I was having beers with a buddy, and Mr. Hughes is VERY opinionated…he does not hesitate to call out ridiculous ideas nor is he afraid to suggest something unorthodox – which he supports both with logic and personal experience.Second, Hughes spends a lot of time on the “Left of Bang.” I’ve read Gavin DeBecker’s “The Gift of Fear,” which I’d also recommend…but Hughes offers an overview for people who are not familiar with fight and criminal psychology. How not to be a target. How to tell if someone is bluffing or if they’re about to hurt you. What do you say if a scary-looking man accuses you of “looking at his woman” (hint: Don’t deny it. Try this instead).Third, Hughes offers common sense (If you’ve heard it before) tips on staying safe…for example, when you get into your car, drive away immediately instead of fiddling with your GPS. The safest hotel floors are between the second (meeting rooms are generally on the first, so bad guys can roam without attracting suspicion) and the 7th (most fire truck ladders won’t reach above). If the front desk calls asking for a credit card number because yours didn’t go through, apologize, tell them you need to get your wallet, then hang up…and call the front desk back directly. Buy a copy of a local magazine or newspaper and carry it around. The only advice he DIDN’T give is “Sew a Canadian Flag to your backpack” – but that might come in the second edition!You should buy this book. You should buy a copy for your child when he or she moves out of the house.

I learned a lot from reading this book. From de-escalation tips to tips for analyzing your surroundings to "hard skills", this book is a great first step for anyone looking to keep themselves and others safe in this crazy crazy world. I have recommended this book to everyone I know, and especially to female friends who I know live or travel alone. There are tips in here that only someone with Nick's background would really be familiar with. Things like vehicular safety, international travel, the importance of infrastructure at home, etc. Some friends of mine ignorantly think that self defense is as simple as "getting a gun", but that does not even scratch the surface of what is important in protecting yourself and to a large extent, avoiding situations when at all possible. Lastly, I will just mention that if you live in the Charlotte, NC area, Lake Norman Krav Maga is a very credible Krav gym. It is very intense, but the instructors are very adamant about building students' skills as thoroughly and quickly as possible. In summary, if you care about keeping yourself and loved ones safe in this messed up world, start by reading this book. The next step is to learn the hard skills in person from a credible Krav school, like Lake Normal Krav Maga. This book, again, is something I would buy as a gift in a heartbeat for someone, especially any female out there that lives or travels alone. It could help save their life.

So the book, How To Be Your Own Bodyguard. Short review, go buy it. Doesn't matter what art you study, or if you don't even study martial arts. Your mindset will change after this book, and if you put into practice even half of what Hughes recommends, you will be safer.Now this is admittedly a self published book. It does have a few errors in it, which are easily over looked. The most glaring flaw, is that later in the book it makes mention of there being a previous edition, but there is no indication on the cover nor the title page, what edition it is.At the beginning, Hughes spends a fair amount of time discussing mind set, looking at the differences between actual self defense, defense of self, and sport fighting. With a couple of war stories mixed in, of being a body guard and defending himself from multiple attackers.He also discussed the mental preparation states, DEFCON levels for personal protection.The chapters are kept short and tight, Hughes doesn't waste words, with each chapter being only a couple of pages on the average 3 or 4 pages. At 304 Pages, including the index and biography of the author, it's a lot of information.Hughes goes into just enough detail about how the fights work, how adrenaline affects you and the OODA loop, without boring you.After moving out of fight theory, we get to actual more meat, such as safety tips for being at the ATM, Taxi, Public transport, and clubs / restaurants. As well as home security tips and much more.Towards the end, Hughes goes over the commonly found martial arts, with a reasonable and objective list of pros and cons for each. Doesn't claim his art is the best, which is refreshing. And then discusses how to find a good instructor for your chosen style.He includes a home safety checklists at the end, which is useful and constructive, I find myself wishing he had included more, covering the other locations he had previously discussed in the book.Hughes was considerate enough to includes an index, which is really helpful when you want to find something on a particular subject or topic in the book really fast.Finally of course is the biography, which covers Hughes extensive martial arts and military training. Over all, this book belongs on your shelf, and not just collecting dust. It should be referenced several times a year, if for no other reason than to keep the information fresh in your mind so you can protect your family.

I have read and come accross many books from so called professional security people and mostly I have found them wanting. Having come from a similar background, I have to say that Nick totally knows his stuff. His book is no nonsense and no BS. I Know The people he trained with and beleive me, they know their stuff.The advice in this book can literally save your and your family's life. It's full of little gems that will make the difference to your safety.Anyone who is complacent enough in this day and age to think it can't happen to me needs to seriously 're think.I will recommend this book to anyone and everyone.Advice to the Auther. Nick, don't change your style or bother with proof reading or you will loose the passion you project in this book. Ever thought about an Auto Biograhy.

I enjoyed reading this book as it is full of practical advice for the ordinary citizen. Although it is aimed at a primarily American readership and people who are already bodyguards there is good, sound advice for wherever you live and whatever your occupation.The author writes in a very realistic manner, always advising on the law with regard to self defence and the need to go to a reputable Self Defence school that is not sport oriented, if that is an option for you.The main emphasis is on what the author describes as 'Soft Skills', such as situational awareness, keeping car doors locked while driving and home and travel security.When I did Martial Arts, we were always taught that the best form of self defence is; 'don't be there in the first place'. In other words, spot danger before it happens. Obviously, in this age of terrorism, we can find ourselves very quickly caught up in extremely dangerous situations where we will have to react very quickly and there is a lot of advice on that topic too.All in all a very good and enjoyable read and useful reference book.

I bought Nick Hughes's book How To Be Your Own Bodyguard On Amazon Kindle.For any one who wants to know about Self Protection and Self Defence this is a must.The explanation from the word go, in avoiding trouble was a winner in my eyes and will hook the lay person.Nick takes time to explain situations and put it into words which you can understand.This was one of the first things which struck me.They where written so a complete beginner could under stand and apply.Mr Hughes a former Legionnaire has used and tested all these methods and this came over with his confidence he had in them, as he had seen what worked and what did not.He did not brag about inventing something new but gave credit where some one else had coined a name.I had however come across Mr Hughes in Fighting arts along time ago and know he had been practicing and passing these on long before others.I would totally recommend any one to buy this.The only problem with an e book is that there are no pictures which would only help the book.Hopefully in the second edition there will be.

I do in fact work as a Bodyguard. During my training we were introduced to numerous books that were recommended by the instructors , specifically The Bodyguards Bible which was required reading and had drills that formed part of the course work. We weren't introduced to this book (I had already read it before my CP Course) and I can now honestly say that this book which I revisit constantly when I'm working is hands down the best book in the whole self defence genre. This book is light years ahead of the Bodyguards bible, you could in fact build a pretty decent CP course around this book alone it's that good. Everything in it is relevant and interesting, it has techniques and tactics that limit your risk of being attacked, there's nothing left out here. I highly recommend this book it is basically a fascinating risk management book, it carries excellent advice for keeping yourself and your client (if you've got one) out of trouble. Yes it is that good!

If you live in the suburbs, drive a car everywhere, and have the ability to own a gun and have a particular fear of home invasion this book is for you! The rest of the book is mostly a collection of one-off anecdotes and repeated cut and pastes of the same material. Too many topics aren't given the depth they deserve (the travel section is particularly weak) or are useless to many readers (for example, the concept of 'The Fence' which is really only useful if you're built like a bodyguard). There is definitely some good advice in there, particularly around criminal psychology, but I found it overall a frustrating read and ended up skipping through major sections.