The Science of Fear

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

By: Daniel Gardner

Narrated by: Scott Peterson

Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

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 were 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 "50,000 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 100,000 or 500,000 - 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.

©2008 Daniel Gardner (P)2009 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"Excellent.... analyses everything from the media's predilection for irrational scare stories to the cynical use of fear by politicians pushing a particular agenda....What could easily have been a catalogue of misgovernance and stupidity instead becomes a cheery corrective to modern paranoia." ( The Economist)

Excellent book. Highly recommended.

This is the best book on the subject that I've came across. I liked both the theoretical explanations, and practical examples with recommendations. It is impartial, and also shows how the risks of the rare but emotionally significant events are overinflated and overused by media and politicians, and also how our own brains and "guts" mislead us in our daily life. I liked both the writing style, and the narration. I recommend it to everyone.

Good but a little too cynical

I really enjoyed this book. It presented the material in an innovative way that made it easy to understand

My only real complaint is that it comes off as a little too cynical about politicians and big business that peddle in fear. The reference to cognitive dissonance doesn't really mitigate that in my view

Don't be afraid

Gardner uses many studies that show that people make decisions with their gut and rarely do we make them based on evidence and critical thinking. We need to become more aware of how and why we fear so much.
We live in the safest of times in human history, but we are more afraid than ever. It does not make sense, but it seems to be the case. Why can't we do an objective analysis is a major issue for those listening.

Open your eyes to the real world

Daniel Gardner moves through the basics of genetics, history and culture and then moves into the mathematical science (statistics) to really show what we fear does not add up. This book isn't a self help guide to fixing your fears and growing as a human being, but rather the nuts and bolts of how fear works in our lives, why it seems silly to be controlled by it and how we should really work with it. Don't get me wrong, danger is real, fear is a choice, this book will help you see that and hopefully overcome fear to really get on with life.

Excellent breakdown of how internal and external factors cause us to be afraid

It does an amazing job explaining different internal (psychological, evolutionary, etc.) and external (political, cultural, etc.) factors that cause us to be reasonably and unreasonably afraid.

The takeaways are:
1. be aware that your gut/ fast-thinking brain does its job mostly well but isn't always reliable (emotions often guide it; it's not meant is to deal with complex things taking into account all the potentially important nuances, etc.);
2. we suck at assessing risks and should rely on statistics more to guide personal decisions as well as government policy.

Did you know that Dan Gardner’s books have been praised by Daniel Kahneman? 😍

Nice surprise

Very much enjoyed this book after picking it up during one of Audible's sales without any particular expectations. Probably the best deal I've gotten here and has made me think about the psychology a little bit more than I had before.

What's in a name? In this title: a deceit

Any additional comments?

Curious… the author criticizes disinformation and hidden agendas, but does mostly the same since the book deals in many topics but “The science of fear”, whatever it might be.It ends up being a good book but on media and other topics, not fear.

The Science of Fear was a great read

What made the experience of listening to The Science of Fear the most enjoyable?

This book was a very thought provoking read with great insights into the other areas of behavior and habit.

This book changed how I perceive the world!

If you suffer from fearfulness or anxiety that stems from any irrational fear of catastrophe or things like robberies, plane crashes, murder....this book was made for you. Puts logical thinking behind all of these events and makes you realize you literally are very safe. We believe all bad things are "on the rise" and occurring more frequently when, in fact, this world has been improving for hundreds of years. Very very compelling and empowering. I highly recommend!

This is a good book.

This is a great book I wish more people would listen to it and I'm probably going to listen to it again