Rating: 
Summary: It's time to wake up fellow humans
Review: After reading this book and Col. Grossman's "On Killing", as well as attending several lectures put on by Col. Grossman I can only say....Wake Up ! The authors are not trying to destroy the Constitution, they are not after the video game industry, they are trying to show us the major reason violence among an entire generation and future generations is so high. Read all the information and studies from around the planet and you will understand better what they are trying to say. For those of you who don't want to believe....well you probably think that tabacco products don't kill apx. 400,000 Americans every year via a slow, hideous death. Remember....tabacco(via second hand smoke)like media violence kills innocent bystanders as well as primary users. Many of the media's Giants have gone on record admitting their medium is a contributing factor in a major way. However certain groups have denied their games, music, or violent movies have anything to do with the problem. This sounds like the tabacco industry to me. This book tells the truth...the problem is ....some of you just can't handle the truth. Wake Up America.
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Summary: Thoughts of a parent
Review: As the parent of a 2 year old boy, this book has given me pause. I've long thought that the violence that children are exposed to both in real life, and on TV, the movies, and now with video games has to have some affect on them. Certainly, not all children will become killers or violent towards others, but how many Columbine's or Jonesboro's do we need before we take action? Some would say that guns is the reason for these school killings. The problem with that reasoning is that guns have always been around, yet it's only within the past 20 years that these types of killings have been happening. What's the difference between then and now? Just as the book makes clear: the violence that our children are exposed to has increased dramatically. Many of the video games that our children are using are, as the book points out, nothing more than "killing simulators". They teach our kids how to kill. They watch tv shows full of violence. They see people get shot and not die. They see humor being used with violent acts. They see people who might otherwise have qualities of a role model, involved in violence towards others, and quite often get away with it. I believe this book gets to the heart of the matter with regards to why our children are becoming more violent. Children aren't born violent....it's a learned behavior. If you have children, or simply care about the future of our children, you owe it to yourself and them to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Can't agree more
Review: I produced a university instruction video on virtual reality in the early 90's. I did consulting on arcade games and on one Army pod based VR simulator project. I worked on a book on VR in the early 90's that had a chapter on the horrific dangers we were creating with this technology. The book wasn't published, in large part I think because that market mostly takes gee-whiz-ain't-it-wonderful-technology books. Folks, we have already got a problem, and Col. Grossman has put made it really clear. In 20 years, we will have a level of problem that is beyond imagining today as 3-D videogaming engages in a race to the bottom morally, and a race to perfection in simulation. I am a technophile, a liberal, and all the rest. And folks, those who are arguing that this is about "freedom of speech" and "artistic expression" and "it's just because of the market" are exactly what Col. Grossman says. They are operating lower than pimps and pushers. This stuff is truly evil, no two ways about it. It boggles my mind how people who on the one hand take to the streets against something like "School of the Americas", and rail against the United Fruit Company's actions that exploited workers in Central America to make a few bucks - THOSE SAME SORTS OF PEOPLE defend utterly the right of some jerk in Hollywood or Marin County to sell to THEIR CHILDREN videogame mass murder trainers to make a buck. We had better do something or we will be seeing children hacking each other's brains out and torturing each other to death, just for fun. This is no joke. The Columbine generation is just the beginning.
Rating:
Summary: Wake up, America!
Review: I am a U.S. Army officer, an infantryman and combat veteran with more than 16 years of service. I'm also completing a Masters in Secondary Education and have recently conducted my student teaching in a large public high school in the suburbs of Washington, DC. From this perspective, I read both of Dave Grossman's books, "On Killing" and "Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill." They are excellent and exceptional. I believe they are exceptional in that they stand for a well-researched voice of reason that explains the negative impact of the all-pervasive violent media in the lives of Americans. The "entertainment" industry is making a killing, if you will forgive the deadly pun - but it is on target, on selling violent TV shows, films and video games. Those who make their six-figure (and more) salaries selling death and destruction to children and teens do not want you to read these books. And that is precisely why you should. Most who would dismiss Grossman and Gloria Degaetano's findings in "Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill," likely have not read the book and / or profit from selling violence - or have become immersed in our violence-saturated media culture to the point they can no longer tell good from evil. I recently returned from being overseas for over four years and was shocked at how much more graphic the violent images in our media had become. The American public fits the analogy of the frog and the boiling water - thrown into boiling water, the frog jumps out. Placed in cool water that is brought to a boil, the frog is cooked. Our entertainment industry, realizes that violence is compelling, that it sells. Bit by bit they raised the levels of violence in American entertainment until they boiled us. We have been had, and most of us don't even know it. The blood of children in school yards is on the hands of those that make, sell, and distribute violent media. You have a duty as a citizen to know the issues. Get educated. Get involved. Get this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Media violence and kids
Review: This book handles the effect of violent media (mainly television, movies and computer games) has on children, and discusses the ways parents can lessen these effects. The book starts with a chapter that establishes the fact that violent behavior of children has increased dramatically together with increase of violence in mass media. Next the book handles issues like how identifying with violent role models affect the development of children and their thought processes, how unbelievably common violent scenes are in programs intended for children, how violent computer games condition and desensitize children on committing violent acts, and so on. The last chapter gives practical advise on how to act to protect the children from media violence. The advise seems realistic and common sense. At the end of the book, there is extensive reference of resources, list of media literacy and violence prevention organizations, and notes on the issues handled in the book. The book is written in a very easy to read style, and it really is hard to put it down. For one, there is no footnotes in the text, althoug the book is extensively researched (you can find all of the refrences in the reference section at the end of the book). This lessens the scientific feel of the book, but my guess is that this has done on purpose, to attract as many readers as possible. The book really has only about 120 pages, as the resource section takes the remaining almost 80 pages. If I had not read On killing by Dave Grossman before, I would have given this book four stars. But since most of the material is covered in the aforementioned book (although in less detail), there was not as much new material to me. In spite of that, this was a very interesting book to read, and highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: The authors did a wonderful job of citing research that proves violent video games (and violent media in general) makes people violent. I recommend this book to anyone. People, do yourself a favor and read this book. It's shameful how that violent video game manufacturers encourage players to love violence and killing.
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Summary: Why We Must Stop Exposing Our Children to Violence
Review: An increasing amount of research points to the harm we as a society are inflicting on vulnerable and impressionable children by exposing them to violence. Especially pernicious is the fact that violence is often presented as an acceptable means to solving problems, as this book makes clear multiple times. Even worse, the perpetrators rarely have to deal with the consequences of their violent actions. Col. Grossman points out that the perpetrators of the Jonesboro and Paducah tragedies similarly did not realize what their actions would bring. Video games take the problem of violence to a new level by actually rewarding the use of violent means. The book cites the preliminary results of the National Television Violence Study, an important longitudinal research project; it is hoped that a future edition of this book will address this critical study more thoroughly. The Southern Poverty Law Center recently addressed the problem of violence in children's programs and toys; the Center's findings concur with those of Col. Grossman. Most important, this book provides appendices listing the addresses of media executives, video game producers, and toy manufacturers. Finally, the reader can turn to the list of media literacy and violence prevention organizations for more information. All in all, it's a short book with an extremely important message.
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Summary: Open your eyes people!!!
Review: Did you know that:
-The level of violence during Saturday morning cartoons is higher than the level of violence during prime time. There are 3 to 5 violent acts per hour in prime time, versus 20 to 25 acts per hour on Saturday morning. - In 1992, WGN's "Cookie's Cartoon Club," Fox's "Tom and Jerry Kids," and Nickelodeon's "Looney Tunes" averaged 100, 88 and 80 acts of violence per hour, respectively. Let's face it people, violence in cartoons is no longer just a problem, it's a freakin epidemic!!! Cartoonists pose an incredibly menacing threat to the future of America - and Dave "Rex" Grossman calls them on it! Cartoons are simply another medium used as an isidious tool of The Left to virulently infect our culture with their gratuitous violence, heathen mayhem, and malicious shenanigans . Cartoons are nothing short of a blasphemous corrosive artifice cloaked in the seemingly innocent clandestine guise of "looney tunes" or "kids club." Just like an horrific and uninvited nightmare, it has to end - and it has to end now!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Grossman on Target
Review: Having read Lt. Col. Grossman's previous book, "On Killing," I feel there are valid concerns about the impact of violence (even pretend violence) on our children. Trying to draw parallels between John Wilkes Booth and a school shooting is disingenuous. Video games provide an avenue of self-esteem, but at what cost? A prior review points out that 'screen time' has supplanted reading, outdoor play, and other traditional activities. First-person shooters establish a perception of worth based on kills. We have a culture that underestimates the psychological impact of teasing (particularly when we hand out unhelpful adages like, "It's just something kids do" and "Big boys don't cry"). Without support of teachers and parents and peers - where else will a student turn for reinforcement? This doesn't mean that every kid who plays a video game will turn into a homicidal maniac, and I don't think this is the intent of the authors. However, if we kid ourselves into believing that there is NO impact, we've made a deadly assumption. We've got households where there's a tv in every room; there are even televisions in cars! (God forbid a child be forced to look out the window! They might SEE something!) Parents need to encourage the children to read. They need to exercise their responsibility as parents and restrict viewing or video game playing as appropriate to studies, chores, and other responsibilities. The if-you-loved-me-I'd-have-a-playstation mentality is a sales pitch, folks. Don't buy into it.
Rating: 
Summary: Video games teach shooting skill?
Review: If video games are such great teachers of shooting skill, why do we as taxpayers allow the police departments to spend tens of thousands of dollars building simulators and "Hogan's alley" cities? Why do we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on state-o-the-art computer simulators? Listening to Col. Grossman, it seems that all we need to do is give military recruits and police cadets a bunch of playstations instead of the costlier "range time" they get now. Give me a break!! As video games have become more prevalent, more violent, less expensive, and more accessible, youth crime has hit all time lows.
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