Dave Grossman

The twentieth century, with its bloody world wars, revolutions, and genocides accounting for hundreds of millions dead, would seem to prove that human beings are incredibly vicious predators and that killing is as natural as eating. But Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, a psychologist and U.S. Army Ranger, demonstrates this is not the case. The good news, according to Grossman - drawing on dozens of interviews, first-person reports, and historic studies of combat, ranging from Frederick the Great's battles in the eighteenth century through Vietnam - is that the vast majority of soldiers are loath to kill. In World War II, for instance, only 15 to 25 percent of combat infantry were willing to fire their rifles. The provocative news is that modern armies, using Pavlovian and operant conditioning, have learned how to overcome this reluctance. In Korea about 50 percent of combat infantry were willing to shoot, and in Vietnam the figure rose to over 90 percent. The bad news is that by conditioning soldiers to overcome their instinctive loathing of killing, we have drastically increased post-combat stress - witness the devastated psychological state of our Vietnam vets as compared with those from earlier wars. And the truly terrible news is that contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army's conditioning techniques and - according to Grossman's controversial thesis - is responsible for our rising rates of murder and violence, particularly among the young. In the explosive last section of the book, he argues that high-body-count movies, television violence (both news and entertainment), and interactive point-and-shoot video games are dangerously similar to thetraining programs that dehumanize the enemy, desensitize soldiers to the psychological ramifications of killing, and make pulling the trigger an automatic response.

The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

On Killing

Loren W. Christensen

On Combat

Gloria DeGaetano

Argues that violence in media and games conditions children to take it for granted as an acceptable part of life, and trains them to be successful instigators of violence

A Call to Action Against TV, Movie & Video Game Violence

Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill

Leo Frankowski

The Two-Space War

Michael J. Asken

Mental toughness is esssential for elite human performance and especially in high stress situations. While mental toughness is a singular value in both military and law enforcement training and missions, too often, there is a disconnect between tallking about and actually training it. Warrior MindSet defines mental toughness and describes its critical need and function in the face of the performance degrading effects of combat, mission or response stress. Warrior MindSet provides the psychological skills that comprise mental toughness to optimze performance, success, safety and survival in the field. (Amazon)

Mental Toughness Skills for a Nation's Peacekeepers

Warrior Mindset

Kristine Paulsen

Katie Miserany

The author of the 400,000-copy bestseller On Killing reveals how violent video games have ushered in a new era of mass homicide--and what we must do about it. Paducah, Kentucky, 1997: a 14-year-old boy shoots eight students in a prayer circle at his school. Littleton, Colorado, 1999: two high school seniors kill a teacher, twelve other students, and then themselves. Utoya, Norway, 2011: a political extremist shoots and kills sixty-nine participants in a youth summer camp. Newtown, Connecticut, 2012: a troubled 20-year-old man kills 20 children and six adults at the elementary school he once attended. What links these and other horrific acts of mass murder? A young person's obsession with video games that teach to kill. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, who in his perennial bestseller On Killingrevealed that most of us are not "natural born killers" - and who has spent decades training soldiers, police, and others who keep us secure to overcome the intrinsic human resistance to harming others and to use firearms responsibly when necessary - turns a laser focus on the threat posed to our society by violent video games. Drawing on crime statistics, cutting-edge social research, and scientific studies of the teenage brain, Col. Grossman shows how video games that depict antisocial, misanthropic, casually savage behavior can warp the mind - with potentially deadly results. His book will become the focus of a new national conversation about video games and the epidemic of mass murders that they have unleashed.

Video Games, Aggression, and the Psychology of Killing

Assassination Generation

The Virtual-Reality Mercenaries of A Boy and His Tank Face a New Menace ¾and There's Nothing Virtual About It! First, the involuntary colonists of New Kashubia rescued their planet from crushing debt by becoming virtual-reality mercenaries, then they successfully revolted against the oppressive government of Earth, but now they are menaced by the Mitchegai, a species whose biology has made them inherently evil. The carnivorous adults lay and abandon vast numbers of eggs, some of which grow into vegetarian juveniles, which are the adults' only food supply. Their culture has no family life, they eat only meat, have nothing like sex., and their main pleasures are gambling, art, and killing each other. They are an ancient civilization, millions of years old, with thousands of densely populated star systems in their realm. Lacking an immune system, they must completely sterilize any planet before they colonize it. The region of the galaxy they occupy is rapidly expanding . . . and Human Space is their next frontier! At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). Praise for Leo Frankowski and A Boy and His Tank "When I teach science fiction, I use Frankowski's books as an example of how to do it right." ¾Gene Wolfe ". . . a literate military adventure laced with political allegory¾and a great deal of fun." ¾Starlog ". . . the action is gripping, and there are plenty of novel twists and ironic moments." ¾Locus "A blend of Keith Laumer's Bolos and David Drake's Slammers. . . ." ¾Science Fiction Chronicle

Kren of the Mitchegai

Do you have a friend that always seems to be flying around the world in First Class and wonder how? Maybe you already know about "frequent flyer miles" but don't know how to get them yourself. Dave Grossman has been "that friend" for years and shares all of his secrets in this must-read for anyone with big travel dreams on a small budget.

Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points

MilesTalk

Una exhaustiva investigación sobre lo que le ocurre al cuerpo humano bajo el estrés de un combate letal: cómo afecta al sistema nervioso, al corazón, a la respiración, y las distorsiones perceptuales y la pérdida de memoria que se pueden producir.

La psicología y fisiología del conflicto letal en la guerra y en la paz

Sobre el combate

Looks at the effect of deadly battle on the body and mind and offers new research findings to help prevent lasting adverse effects.

Dave Grossman

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