Book Reviews and More: Jack Reacher’s Rules

Jack Reacher’s Rules
A Jack Reacher Book
Val Hudson (Compiled)
Lee Child
Penguin Random House Canada
ISBN 9780345544292
eISBN 9780345544308
ASIN B008ZPG7RW

I have been on a bit of a Reacher kick, 6 books in 3 weeks and already working on the next. I love lists and I love rules. And this book is both. It is sort of a tough guy version of Life's Little Instruction Book by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. it is what I hope will someday come to print from NCIS in a collection of Gibb’s Rules. But it does not matter if like me, you like lists or rules, if you enjoy the Reacher books or movies this is a fun volume to pick up and read. This book was compiled by Val Hudson and has a wonderful introduction by Lee Child.

The sections and chapters in this volume are:
Introduction by LEE CHILD
Be Prepared
Breaking and Entering
Choose Your Weapons
The United States Army Military Police
The Rules of Coffee
Conquer Your Fear
Confronting Death
Cracking Codes and Passwords
Dogs
Fighting
Fighting Tips
Food
First Aid
Getting Mad
Hand-to-Hand Combat
How to Shake Hands
The Wimbledon Cup
Hitchhiking—the Rules
How to Extract Information
Know How to Find Your Way Around a City
West Point
Keep on the Move
Codes Used by the Military Police
Lessons Learned in the Military
Live off the Grid
Hogan’s Alley
On Walking Through a Thirty-Inch Doorway
How to Tell if They’re Lying
Learn to Read Their Body Language
Man Walks into a Bar—the Rules
A Medley of Military Acronyms
Respect Your Opponent
Noticing Stuff
The Twelve Signs of a Suicide Bomber
The U.S. Army Military Police Code of Ethics
Reacher’s Moral Code
Military Police Training
How to Open a Locked Iron Gate with a Chrysler
The Science of … The Perfect Shot
Personal Grooming
The Pentagon
Why It’s Not Smart to Have a Phone
Potential Aliases for Use When Booking a Motel
Use Your Wits—Psychology
Miranda
The Science of … Burning Down a Building
Sleep
Knowing the Time
Travel Light
What to Do in the Face of:
When to Speak
Blind Blake
How to Win the Battle
How to Win the War
Man’s Toys
Women
How to Sleep in a $350-a-Night Hotel Room for $50
How to Leave Town

At the end of the introduction Lee Child states:

“Jack Reacher has always followed his own rules. He grew up in a fractured way, six months here, three months there, always moving, never stable, never belonging. Then he was a soldier, but too wise to buy into all the nonsense. He obeyed only the rules that made sense to him. Then he was cut loose and became a true outsider, profoundly comfortable with solitude. Does he have a tribe? You bet. He’s human. But in his case he kept on slicing and dicing until he got all the way down to a tribe with just one member—himself. But that tribe still needs rules, to guide, and embolden, and simplify, and reassure.

What follows are some of them.”

And that is exactly what we get in this volume. Not having read the majority of the Reacher canon of work There was a lot in this book that was unfamiliar. But there were several I recognised immediately. I cannot classify myself as a Reacher aficionado, but I am working on it. I have set the goal of reading the entire Reacher collection this year. And this book sparked even greater interest in completing that goal.

Many of the pieces of advice are sage wisdom that can be applied in any career or area of life. A few Examples from the first chapter are:

“Optimism is good. Blind faith is not.”

“Most guys who don’t check new equipment are still alive, but by no means all of them.”

“Hope for the best, plan for the worst.”

“The less I relax, the luckier I get.”

This is a fun read. Some of the advice you can apply directly, some will need translation. And some will not apply at all. But no matter who you are if you enjoy the Reacher books or movies you should give this volume a read.

Books by Lee Child:
Jack Reacher Books Publishing Order:
Killing Floor
Die Trying
Tripwire
The Visitor /Running Blind
Echo Burning
Without Fail
Persuader
The Enemy
One Shot
The Hard Way
Bad Luck and Trouble
Nothing to Lose
Gone Tomorrow
61 Hours
Worth Dying For
The Affair
A Wanted Man
Never Go Back
Personal
Make Me
Night School
The Midnight Line
Past Tense
Blue Moon
The Sentinel

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