Becoming Bulletproof

Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly

By: Evy Poumpouras

Narrated by: Evy Poumpouras

Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's Summary

Former Secret Service agent and star of Bravo’s Spy Games Evy Poumpouras shares lessons learned from protecting presidents, as well insights and skills from the oldest and most elite security force in the world to help you prepare for stressful situations, instantly read people, influence how you are perceived, and live a more fearless life.

Becoming Bulletproof means transforming yourself into a stronger, more confident, and more powerful person. Evy Poumpouras - former Secret Service agent to three presidents and one of only five women to receive the Medal of Valor - demonstrates how we can overcome our everyday fears, have difficult conversations, know who to trust and who might not have our best interests at heart, influence situations, and prepare for the unexpected. When you have become bulletproof, you are your best, most courageous, and most powerful version of you. Poumpouras shows us that ultimately true strength is found in the mind, not the body. 

Courage involves facing our fears, but it is also about resilience, grit, and having a built-in BS detector and knowing how to use it. In Becoming Bulletproof, Poumpouras demonstrates how to heighten our natural instincts to employ all these qualities and move from fear to fearlessness.

©2020 Evy Poumpouras (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio

Not what I had Anticipated, Much Much Better

As an ex-cop/S.W.A.T Team member I expected more bravado, false or otherwise, but this was real. The stuff those that serve our nation and our communities really feel when they are not trying to appear like they are taking it all in stride. I was riveted and deeply moved. This is how it really feels to serve. Thank you for writing this book, I will read it again soon, and probably again after that. Rarely do I feel this way but this author is someone whom I would like to meet one day and thank her for so many things. And yes, I’m sitting with good posture as I write this. Thank you Ma’am. And thank you for your service.

#FindingtheBestVersionsofOurselves

WOW, What an amazing life story! I truly appreciate how transparent Poumpouras is when giving her personal narrative of an experience through past and present life events. First off, I love the title and agree Becoming Bulletproof is definitely the perfect fit. As a woman in her mid 20’s I found the key points she covered to be extremely helpful for my own personal journey to find my voice. Evy’s ability to encourage self-reflection and self-awareness, as well as sensibility to empathize with others, highlights a path for readers to grow upon levels of emotional intelligence no matter where they may currently stand in their personal story. I fell in love with her unique references to historical events in American and Presidential history. We all were managing to live a new normal in life when past monumental events like 9/11 occurred just as we are managing with COVID-19 today. However, Poumpouras’ story helps paint a picture for everyone to view in and out of the civilian mindset. I for sure felt like I was receiving 101 coaching lessons right beside her as a Secret Service agent. The greatest part was being able to hear Evy’s actual voice reading to me! I still can’t get over how valuable it is to have audible books especially when the author is the narrator. I am confident that how and what Poumpouras wanted to share left little room for the common misinterpretations a reader can have through plain text. I recommend this book to EVERYONE. Story’s like this inspire me to pay more attention to my own life lessons and themes. Listening to Evy’s story taught me that finding my voice is not always what I thought I should know, who I thought I should learn from and/or when. Just like facing my fear, my voice usually appears right in front of me if I remember to stop, think in the present and listen instead of always wanting to be heard. Thank you for your service and for continuing to share your story Evy Poumpouras!!!

-AJ

Absolutely Revitalizing

This book is filled with heart-thumping and heart-warming stories! But don't be fooled into thinking it's sheer sit-back entertainment. It challenges you. It's not just chicken soup for the soul.... it's parachuting for the adrenal glands, boot camp for integrity, Harvard for street smarts, a peepshow of secret service life, it's a pep rally for the human spirit, it's mentorship for the meek and prideful. I could go on. It provides entertainment, instruction, examples, activities, challenges, exercises etc.
Becoming Bulletproof, also manages to sexy-up the fact that it's a practical guide for professionalism and tactical, yet ethical, business approaches. It also plants seeds that if watered by the reader could become life-saving self-defense. It doesn't claim this comes without some effort on the part of the reader. that being said, you are definitely a slightly safer person having just heard or read this book without putting in the work at the range, on the mat, in the ring, on the streets... and you'll definitely better off as a whole! Enjoy!

Best narration since Circe

I'm not one to usually leave a review, but I have to say this was one of the best narrated book I've listened to since Perdita Weeks reading of Circe. I was gifted this audiobook by my girlfriend ... and finished it within three days. Not only was the material extremely timely, well explained, and wholly useful, Evy's narration made her tales, tips, and tactics vividly come to life. For anyone - male or female - wanting help finding the best version of the themselves, I highly recommend this book.

I am officially a hue fan!!! 😍😆

She is brilliant!!! I don’t know if people understand how she is helping people love one another through her book. I have a great deal of respect for her! I love learning about this kind of stuff. I suffer with depression and insecurities due to many traumatic events in my life. I think she has really helped me understand a lot of the things my therapists could not help me grasp.

I wanted to like it

If you have any background in the topic it will likely seem very basic. I found the most interesting bits to be the accounts of her life and experiences rather than the advice given. Advice like don't travel alone, don't carry a bunch of cash on you, and plan your route seemed super intuitive to me. The descriptions of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems were also very simple. It was a cute advice book with a few interesting stories scattered in between.

self help book with interjected stories.

loved it! its a better yourself book with a lot of integrated stories that kept my easily distracted mind focused. the q&a she added in there with her husband was a fantastic add on for the audio version!

The truth and nothing but the truth

Evy is a mentor. This book won’t sugarcoat the fact that we all are a work in progress and there is no magic answer to overcome our fears. It gives you the tools to be more aware of your surroundings and foresee emotional and physical situations you could overcome in case of danger. But the best part is addressing the spiritual and emotional growth we must endure when going through the most challenging situations. I will re-read this book and continue to study it trough the years. Thank you Evy.

Worse B Movie Story Telling

It's over the top in every way. Her narration, choice of words, and exaggerated story telling.

Good and bad

The first third of the book is about protecting yourself and things to do to stay safe. this entire section was extremely boring to me but the following 2 thirds were much more entertaining and made up for it. the last chapter on being Presidential was terrible I have met a few of the presidents she mentions in the book and had completely different experiences than what she portrays them as. makes me wonder if the book had to be approved before she was allowed to release it.