I feel that mindset is of supreme importance in the realm of self-protection. In fact, I'll go one step further and say that it is without a doubt, the deciding factor as to whether you succeed or fail. Here is a list of resources that will provide a ton of information and aid in the development of the proper "warrior mindset."
Books:
Principles of Personal Defense by Col. Jeff Cooper (this is, in my opinion, the definitive work on the warrior mindset. I can't recommend this one strongly enough.)
Dead or Alive by Geoff Thompson
The Gift of Fear and Fear Less by Gavin DeBecker (He's an anti-gun weenie, but his stuff on awareness and intuition is good).
Strong On Defense by Sanford Strong (once again, not crazy about everything he says but there's some good stuff here)
Put 'em down, Take 'em out by Don Pentecost. Probably one of the better books out there for simple, no-nonsense knife work.
Get Tough by Col. W.E. Fairbairn
Kill or Get Killed by Col. Rex Applegate
Cold Steel by John Styers
(Note: Much of the material in Get Tough, Kill or Get Killed, and Cold Steel can be found on the GutterFighting site linked to below.)
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Surgical Speed Shooting by Andy Stanford (This is an excellent breakdown on combat gunhandling and marksmanship).
Internet sites/articles:
Darren Laur (lots of articles here)- http://www.personalprotectionsystems.ca/safetyarticles.htm
Lee Morrison- (use the menu bar to scroll down to the articles section) http://www.urbancombatives.com/index.htm
Marc "Animal" MacYoung (this sight is a pain to navigate but there's some decent stuff…for the record, I don't endorse this guy 100%)- http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/index.html
Melissa Soalt (most of this is oriented towards women's self-defense but there's some good general information)- http://www.dr-ruthless.com/home.htm
WWII Combatives (lots of great info on simple, no-nonsense h2h combat)- http://www.gutterfighting.org/Main.html
Carl Cestari (some good stuff by one of the nastiest guys out there)- http://www.gutterfighting.org/articlesection2.html
"States of Awareness" The Cooper Color Codes by Tom Givens (good breakdown of the levels of awareness)http://www.teddytactical.com/SharpenBladeArticle/4_States%20of%20Awareness.htm
Don Rearic.Com (various articles on self-defense and weapons…some good stuff on improvised weapons)- http://www.donrearic.com/main.html
"O.O.D.A. Loop" Decision-making cycle information (some great info on the process we go through when responding to a stimulus) http://www.mindsim.com/MindSim/Corporate/OODA.html
OODA Applied to Individual Combat or Martial-Arts Training by J. Mark Hord
http://www.fighthouse.com/systema/ooda_in.pdf
"Body Language and Threat Recognition" –Massad Ayoob
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob87.html
"Virtue of the Sword" -James Williams
http://www.bugei.com/virtue.html
Self-Defense Recommended Reading List
Books:
Principles of Personal Defense by Col. Jeff Cooper (this is, in my opinion, the definitive work on the warrior mindset. I can't recommend this one strongly enough.)
Dead or Alive by Geoff Thompson
The Gift of Fear and Fear Less by Gavin DeBecker (He's an anti-gun weenie, but his stuff on awareness and intuition is good).
Strong On Defense by Sanford Strong (once again, not crazy about everything he says but there's some good stuff here)
Put 'em down, Take 'em out by Don Pentecost. Probably one of the better books out there for simple, no-nonsense knife work.
Get Tough by Col. W.E. Fairbairn
Kill or Get Killed by Col. Rex Applegate
Cold Steel by John Styers
(Note: Much of the material in Get Tough, Kill or Get Killed, and Cold Steel can be found on the GutterFighting site linked to below.)
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Surgical Speed Shooting by Andy Stanford (This is an excellent breakdown on combat gunhandling and marksmanship).
Internet sites/articles:
Darren Laur (lots of articles here)- http://www.personalprotectionsystems.ca/safetyarticles.htm
Lee Morrison- (use the menu bar to scroll down to the articles section) http://www.urbancombatives.com/index.htm
Marc "Animal" MacYoung (this sight is a pain to navigate but there's some decent stuff…for the record, I don't endorse this guy 100%)- http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/index.html
Melissa Soalt (most of this is oriented towards women's self-defense but there's some good general information)- http://www.dr-ruthless.com/home.htm
WWII Combatives (lots of great info on simple, no-nonsense h2h combat)- http://www.gutterfighting.org/Main.html
Carl Cestari (some good stuff by one of the nastiest guys out there)- http://www.gutterfighting.org/articlesection2.html
"States of Awareness" The Cooper Color Codes by Tom Givens (good breakdown of the levels of awareness)http://www.teddytactical.com/SharpenBladeArticle/4_States%20of%20Awareness.htm
Don Rearic.Com (various articles on self-defense and weapons…some good stuff on improvised weapons)- http://www.donrearic.com/main.html
"O.O.D.A. Loop" Decision-making cycle information (some great info on the process we go through when responding to a stimulus) http://www.mindsim.com/MindSim/Corporate/OODA.html
OODA Applied to Individual Combat or Martial-Arts Training by J. Mark Hord
http://www.fighthouse.com/systema/ooda_in.pdf
"Body Language and Threat Recognition" –Massad Ayoob
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob87.html
"Virtue of the Sword" -James Williams
http://www.bugei.com/virtue.html
