Review: On Killing

The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
By Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

This book will not only give you great insight into how the military prepares soldiers to psychologically be ready to kill, it will get you lots of wonderful looks on the train!

On Killing is a very easy and fascinating read. Grossman manages to be neutral on the subject of turning human beings into killers, as he delves into the processes that the military uses to break our natural aversions to doing so. Even though there is a lot of factual data and information throughout, it never feels as though you are reading a dry technical analysis or report.

For a choreographer, director, and actor (and anyone just wanting to understand a slice of what soldiers go through) this book is a must read. You will learn the different affects that distance, culture, weapon, training, scenario, and much more, have on the actual act of killing. He also includes what happens to the killer (unlike 99% of movies, they don’t just walk away unfazed unless they are sociopaths) and the process of dying/coping with death.

Knowing these differences will greatly serve whatever play you are in that requires a death or someone taking someone else’s life. That one crucial moment has enough material and substance for an entire play in itself. Grossman does an amazing job bringing the reader far enough past the surface of what it is to kill that we are able to leave transformed.