Loved it from the very 1st page, very easy reading with a mixture of touching times and real down n dirty in your face violence. Nice short chapters makes it easy to fly through this book. And fly through it I did, it's book to read over and over, making you wince once minute, and laugh the next. If you want a book to give you an insight into how a street fighter thinks and how you can change your life into something more positive this is it. Well done and I look forward to your next book.

John Skillen is one of those rare men who tells the truth without decoration. When he says that he has done it, he has. When he explains how he survived in a world of violence you know that what he shares with us is nailed down. John Skillen has led an amazing life, much of it surrounded by places that create violence and people to whom violence is second nature. The book charts his journey through life and is explicit throughout. He make no attempt to play down his clashes with authority and some readers may well find his ability to turn on aggression at the drop of a hat, distasteful. People get seriously hurt in his world and this isn't the cartoons. He has laid his life on the line time and time again and built a formidable reputation as a man who won't back down. This book is compulsive reading for anyone involved in security work in clubs or martial artists. Why ? Simply because it rocks you back and forces you to assess your own abilities. How long would YOU survive in John's world ? Could you hack it if the chips were down in the same way. How would YOU cope with the endless bouts of fear that he faced every time he put himself on the line on the door and running one of the toughest clubs in Hull and other places. But, it is not just a book about violence. In many ways it is a book about how the human spirit can soar if given enough hope and encouragement. Many people have influenced his life and he is now able to positively influence others who might well stray onto the darker paths of life. He is respected both for his fighting skills, his love of his family which shines through the book and his desire to make a difference for good. To have survived in the world he lived so long in is a remarkable testament to his skills and knowledge. But he has grown in stature throughout his life and now shares his experience with us to help us understand and break the circle of violence that surrounds us. I certainly will encourage my own students to read it as there is just as much to be gleaned that is unsaid as is written. Finally, the main impression that I got from the book was his firm conviction that doing what you believe is "right" is always key to how you act and once you make up your mind then you commit wholeheartedly to your course of action and are prepared to take all the consequences. Easier said than done ! There is no doubt that John Skillen has much to offer and I hope that this book which is not only a good read full of humorous anecdotes as well as darker exploits will get the wide readership that it deserves. I will certainly encourage my own students to read it. Roger Thyer-Jones Chairman UK World Seido Organisation www.seido.org.uk