Firearms
Massad Ayoob In the Gravest Extreme
Massad Ayoob Gun Proof Your Children!
Jim Cirillo Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights
Jeff Cooper Principles of Personal Defense
Gila Hayes Effective Defense: The Woman, the Plan, the Gun
Bill Jordon No Second Place Winner
Paxton Quigley Armed and Female
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LEO
Massad Ayoob Stressfire (Gunfighting for Police)
Tim Cartmell Principles, Analysis, and Application of Effortless Combat Throws
Loren Christensen Deadly Force Encounters : What C0PS Need to Know...to Survive a Gunfight
Loren Christensen Far Beyond Defensive Tactics
Allen Kates Copshock: Surviving Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Dave Grossman On Killing
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Martial Arts
Note: When it comes to martial arts books we recommend The Idiot's Guide as a good introduction to the subject for beginners. For more advanced martial artists, however, we have one incredibly high standard for inclusion of a book into this list. That standard is that it makes you think about what you are doing on a deeper level than what is taught in most dojos around the world. These books are not for the mentally lazy or those seeking the "ultimate" martial art. Tim Cartmell Principles, Analysis, and Application of Effortless Combat Throws
Loren Christensen Fighter's Fact Book
Loren Christensen Solo Training
Loren Christensen Fighting Power
Loren Christensen Speed Training
Loren Christensen Way Alone! Your Path to Excellence in Martial Arts
Bob Orlando Indonesian Fighting Fundamentals
Steve Plinck (video)
Tristan Sutrisno Murid Majalah
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Martial Arts Culture
Note: If the first group of books makes you think, these treaties on what has been done to "martial arts" and the plethora of myths and misconceptions that have arisen around the various arts will blow your mind. Do we agree with them 100%? No. But if you have any intention of teaching the martial arts, you had better know how things have been changed and then shrouded in mythology about historical/traditional arts. Nathan Johnson Barefoot Zen:The Shaolin Roots of Kung Fu and Karate
Bob Orlando Martial Arts America

 Morris, Desmond
Desmond Morris Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior
Desmond Morris Intimate Behavior: A Zoologist's Look at Human Intimacy
Desmond Morris Human Sexes Video

Personal Safety
Masaad Ayoob The Truth About Self Protection
Loren Christensen How to Live Safely in a Dangerous World
Lamb Pepper Sprays: Practical Self-Defense ...
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Poverty
Ruby Payne Understanding a Framework For Poverty

Psychology/Self Understanding
John Bradshaw Bradshaw on The Family
Bernstein Emotional Vampires: Dealing With People Who Drain You Dry
Richard Carson Taming Your Gremlin
Daniel Goleman Vital Lies, Simple Truths: The Psychology of Self Deception
Dave Grossman On Killing
Alex Holub Psychokinesiology
Robert Ringer Looking Out for No. 1
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Self-Defense
Peter Consterdine Streetwise
Jim Grover Street Smarts, Firearms, And Personal Safety
Geoff Thompson Art of Fighting Without Fighting
Jerry VanCook Real World Self-Defense

Streetfighting
Ned Beaumont Championship Streetfighting
Ned Beaumont Savage Science Of Streetfighting
Alain Burrese Hard-Won Wisdom from the School of Hard Knocks
Sammy Franco Street Lethal: Unarmed Urban Combat
Sammy Franco 1,001 Fighting Secrets
Sammy Franco First Strike: Mastering the Preemptive Strike
Sammy Franco The Bigger They Are, the Harder They Fall
Don Pentacost Put 'Em Down, Take 'Em Out: Knife Fighting from Folsom Prison
Peyton Quinn Bouncers Guide to Barroom Brawling
Peyton Quinn Real Fighting
Geoff Thompson Dead or Alive:The Choice Is Yours
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Survivor Personality
Al Siebert The Survivor Personality
Chris Pfouts Lead Poisoning: 25 True Stories from the Wrong End of a Gun

Verbal self-defense
Bernstein Emotional Vampires: Dealing With People Who Drain you Dry
Suzette H Elgin The Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense at Work
Suzette H Elgin You Can't Say That to Me: Stopping the Pain of Verbal Abuse
Suzette H Elgin How to Disagree Without Being Disagreeable
Geoff Thompson Art of Fighting Without Fighting
George Thompson Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion
George Thompson Verbal Judo: Redirecting Behavior with Words
Various The Complete Idiot's Guide to Verbal Self-Defense

Violence
Debra Neihoff Biology of Violence

Getting us to carry your books/DVDs
Our credibility is not with people who say "If I ever had to use this I'd..." Those are hobbyists. Nor is it with sports fighters. While we respect them as athletes, they don't step into the arena with the knowledge that this could be the event that kills them. Our credibility is with people who are daily staking their lives on the quality of information and their training.

This is why we are very selective about books we carry in the No Nonsense Bookshelf. If we wouldn't be willing to bet our lives on the information contained in a book or DVD, we won't sell it. Therefore before you send a copy of your title to us for consideration, realize that is the standard your work will be judged by.

We have three focuses, personal safety, martial arts and quality of life.

Our first focus is personal safety and it is there we have our highest standards. Unfortunately, there is a lot of dangerous misinformation, macho posturing and agenda-driven drivel that is being promoted as "real self-defense." Personal safety is a topic where a bad answer is worse than no answer at all. And if we feel that an author, organization or group is suggesting such, we won't encourage someone  to spend their money -- much less risk their life on such tripe.

When it comes to our second goal, the martial arts our goals our standards aren't as strict, but they remain very high. Our intention is to provide information to assist people in the understanding, application and growth in their art. As such, the titles are selected not because they teach a particular art, but because the principles demonstrated can be applied to different systems. Often, in the commercialization of a system, important components have been lost. By looking at different systems one can often find concepts that were once part of your own system but are now missing.

Our final area of interest is quality of life. This is a catch-all category that deals with issues arising from experiencing violence. For professionals it is preparing them to cope with the mental rigors of routinely dealing with violence. For the average person its helping them evolve past conflict and violence and the trauma it causes. For people in high risk situations, it's to help them find their way mentally, emotionally and legally out from the situation. Here too, our goal is pragmatic, not idealistic. We're looking for books that help people get out of bad situations, not encourage them to wallow in victimhood.

We admit that we have not read every book, seen every video or read every training manual out there. There are many good sources of information we haven't encountered yet. If an author has a book or video, he or she would like to have listed, we suggest that you -- or, better yet, have your publisher -- send us a review copy.

No Nonsense Self-Defense
200 S. Wilcox St, #124
Castle Rock, CO 80104
USA

303 814-0976

If it meets our standards, we'll gladly carry it or put it on the recommended reading list. Contact us if you have any further questions

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