Rating: 
Summary: Insanity
Review: I could write a long drawn out response to this nonsense, but what would be the point? According to people like the author of this book, American youths are at risk for violent behavior because they enjoy watching violent movies and playing video games. Hey, I've been playing games and watching movies all of my life. Now I'm trained for hunting everything from mutant space aliens to helpless people. Maybe I should exercise all I've learned from the media, then I could rationalize all of your delusions. Of course, I wouldn't do something like that...for one simple reason: I'm not insane.
Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time or your money on this trash. Stop looking for a scapegoat, the media is not to blame. Place fault where fault is due: poor parenting.
Rating:
Summary: A rehashed, erroneous concept
Review: I've played games all my life. Violent ones, to boot (not exclusively, of course). I played the original Doom when I was 7, along with Doom 2. The chainsaw, which I could use to reduce my enemies to oozing heaps of gore, was my personal favorite.
So I'm a vicious sadist, right? Well, since you don't know me and have to give me the benefit of the doubt, I'll tell you. No, I'm not; just because I like the ol' Doom chainsaw doesn't mean I want to go out and perpetrate acts of violence; I don't want to kill people, and I've never come so close as kicking a dog. In Doom, I was killing DEMONS, the object of the GAME. And that's what this was, a game, clearly far removed from reality.
Blaming the media for problems like violence is absurd. The ratio of people that play video games to people that play video games and kill others shows this. How can you blame the media for violence; it's not a chicken or the egg scenario. Violence predates TV, movies, and video games by several THOUSAND YEARS. It's an unattractive part of human nature.
Why does a book like this exist? Because it provides a seemingly feasible scapegoat; especially for those who have never played video games before. Pressing a button to blow away a digital monster isn't going to make it any easier for a young person to aquire a real gun, overcome their conscience, and kill their peers.
Regrettably, violence is a part of our culture, and shielding children is never better than educating them. Circumstances create criminals, not video games. Write a book criticizing bad parenting, then I would listen. Instead of denying the game to kids and making it all the more mysterious and desirable, give them a quick lecture on the nature of the real and imaginery. Kids played Cowboys and Indians before video games, remember. This type of book isn't reaching anyone who didn't have these opinions before; non-violent people who play video games will regard it with indignation and the blame crowd will use it to fuel their self-righteous, petty, impossible crusades. I hope this has at least provided some perspective, however you feel.
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.
Rating:
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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