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)

Hyperbole of Fear with Science Sprinkled on Top

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, for the first half or so. The second half of the book rather deceptively and rapidly deteriorated into anecdotal, political and non-scientific conjecture that would be more suited to a book of another title and genre. For those interested in the real science of fear, start elsewhere. For those interested in the political and marketing exploitation of fear - this is a reasonably good book. But beware: for those not keenly interested in US politics (i am Australian and care only moderately about US politics); this book will bore you and even frustrate you in the second half.

Would you recommend The Science of Fear to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend this only to those not interested in the science behind fear but more in fear as a general topic. Because only a small portion of the book is devoted to real science. Much of it is political, speculative, and anecdotal while very lightly sprinkled with empirical research findings. By calling it the science of fear it borrows credibility from the scientific community to bolster and sustain its arguements. Although much of it was interesting, unfortunately the author de-railed his main thesis by letting his political and intuitive ideas dilute the little amount of science that was offered on the subject. If i was more interested in book heavily imbued with hyperbole and conjecture i would have purchased from the fictional shelf or at least had my eyes-wide-open about the source of the content coming more from the author than from the scientific community.

What does Scott Peterson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Personality, continuity, intonation and emphasis where appropriate.

Do you think The Science of Fear needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, at least not from this author. Perhaps a more credible scientist who will not let gutt-feelings, intuition and personal bias interfere with his or her work would be more interesting and true to the title.

makes you question every decision you have or will

the content of this book brings into question not only every decision have or will make, but challenges you concept of what you believe to he 'true'.

Amazing counterintuitive book backed by research

The Science of Fear is a remarkable and engaging (albeit repetitive) book that helps us see how we frequently get worked up by our emotional response and end up making ill-informed and foolish decisions. The book also discusses how we are manipulated using fear tactics and how to avoid falling for such devious messages.

Amazing how our braing works!

Very interesting and recommended for anyone that has a brain.

Many good examples and very clear explanations of great works such an Cahnman and Tversky's works on perception.
At times a bit repetitive and sometimes falls in love with the ideas a bit too much but in general pretty balanced.

this should be headline news

we would be much better off as a society if even one fraction of what is noted in this book made headline news

Brain, Media and Cultural Interactions

Would you listen to The Science of Fear again? Why?

Yes. The subject is most interesting and the book is full of references to classical works in the area of risk perception. Great job in connecting ideas from Kannehman, Tvorsky, Slovic, and other researchers in a revealing and instructive narrative.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Science of Fear?

This specific passage: "...This isn't a failing of the media, so much as it is a reflection of the hardwiring of the human brain that was shaped by environments that bore little resemblance to the world we inhabit. We listen to iPods, read the newspaper, watch television, work on computers, and fly around the world with brains beautifully adapted to picking berries and stalking antilope. The wonder is not we sometimes make mistakes about risks. The wonder is that sometimes we get it right."

What about Scott Peterson’s performance did you like?

Yes, great performance.

If you could give The Science of Fear a new subtitle, what would it be?

Guts and Head: two different perspectives of life

50% longer than necessary and full of useless triv

What did you like best about The Science of Fear? What did you like least?

Overall boring and a tedious listen filled with tons of facts that can easily escape the average listener's attention span. I believe the hard copy format would be much easier to use as one could page mark and highlight those facts found interesting. Conclusion is that the author should have omitted at least 50% of facts to better make his point(s) and the listener/reader would most likely get the "big picture" quicker and easier.

Required Reading

Every citizen should read this book and keep it handy while consuming news from any source. Every parent should read it and then apologize to their children. This book should be required reading for every student and every instructor. Above all, perhaps, it should be required reading before being allowed to post on Facebook.

Recommended for everyone - particularly parents

This book really made me think about the decisions I made and why I made them. I didn't think too much about what my children watched on TV - now I understand the point of not exposing them to fearful scenarios. At the same time, I worry less about things happening to them - I consciously tell myself not to be driven by irrational fears and worries.

I have recommended this book to many people, and have bought it on paper as well so I can reread whenever I need a reminder.

Enlightening

A good audiobook. Good clear narration with a style well suited to audio. Full of interesting examples to support the thesis.
It gave me new insights into how people (myself included) react to and sometimes fail to recognise risk.