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Title details for The Science of Fear by Daniel Gardner - Available

The Science of Fear

Why We Fear the Things We Should not- and Put Ourselves in Great Danger

by Daniel Gardner
Scott Peterson
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
From terror attacks to the War on Terror, bursting real estate bubbles to crystal meth epidemics, sexual predators to poisonous toys from China, our list of fears seems to be exploding. And yet, we are the safest and healthiest humans in history. Irrational fear is running amok, and often with tragic results. In the months after 9/11, when people decided to drive instead of fly—believing they wee avoiding risk—road deaths rose by 1,595. Those lives were lost to fear.
The Science of Fear is a disarmingly cheerful roundtrip shuttle to the new brain science, dissecting the fears that misguide and manipulate us every day.
As award-winning journalist Daniel Gardner demonstrates, irrational fear springs from how humans miscalculate risks. Our hunter-gatherer brains evolved during the old Stone Age and struggle to make sense of a world utterly unlike the one that made them. Numbers, for instance, confuse us. Our "gut" tells us that even if there aren't "fifty thousand predators...on the Internet prowling for children," as a recent U.S. Attorney General claimed, then there must be an awful lot. And even if our "head" discovers that the number is baseless and no one actually knows the truth—there could be one hundred thousand or five—we are still more fearful simply because we heard the big number. And it is not only politicians and the media that traffic in fearmongering. Corporations fatten their bottom lines with fear. Interest groups expand their influence with fear. Officials boost their budgets with fear. With more information, warnings and scary stories coming at us every day from every direction, we are more prone than ever to needlessly worry.
Real-world examples, interviews with experts, and fast-paced, lean storytelling make The Science of Fear an entertaining and enlightening tour. Ultimately, by revealing the psychology behind the many ways our "gut" reactions lead us astray and allow others to manipulate us. The Science of Fear will make you brave.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 20, 2009

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781469002118
      • File size: 350751 KB
      • Duration: 12:10:43

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 21, 2008
      Gardner, a columnist and senior writer for the Ottawa Citizen
      , is both matter-of-fact and entertaining in this look at fear and how it shapes our lives. Although we are capable of reason, says Gardner, we often rely instead on intuitive snap judgments. We also assume instinctively, but incorrectly, that “f examples of something can be recalled easily, that thing must be common.” And what is more memorable than headlines and news programs blaring horrible crimes and diseases, plane crashes and terrorist attacks? In fact, such events are rare, but their media omnipresence activates a gut-level fear response that is out of proportion to the likelihood of our going through such an event. It doesn’t help that scientific data and statistics are often misunderstood and misused and that our risk assessment is influenced less by the facts than by how others respond. Gardner’s vivid, direct style, backed up by clear examples and solid data from science and psychology, brings a breath of fresh air and common sense to an emotional topic.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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