Verbal judo Book

After reading some reviews I really wanted to love this book. In fact, I immediatly marched out and purchased it as soon as I heard of it. As a professional working in the behavioral health field I was excited to get a text that utilized a practical rather than soley theoretical viewpoint. I found neither a practical "street smart" or empirically based material in this book. Perhaps 10 out of over 200 pages actually covers any real skills or techniques. The rest is bravado, some honest self reflection that doesn't seem like intentional teaching moments, and attempts to persuade the authors main market, police officers.

The stories about the hostage taker and the man who almost took his own life in a bath tub were horrifying. It was not horrifying because of the way he laid out the narrative. I was scared that he may have been so callous and misguided to speak to people in crisis the way he did. The idea of utilizing empathy as a springboard in crisis is sound. The problem is that this author doesn't explain or seem to understand what the concepts mean other than as buzzwords.

This could have been a memoir about a man's search for personal transformation and change, but that is as far is it goes.