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The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain
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The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain Paperback - 2009

by Daniel Gardner

Award-winning journalist Gardner demonstrates how irrational fear springs from the ways humans miscalculate risks based on their hunter-gatherer brains. The author argues that understanding these irrational fears frees people from political and corporate manipulation.


Summary

A timely and entertaining psychological look at why we're afraid and what to do about it

From terror attacks to bursting real estate bubbles, from crystal meth epidemics to online sexual predators and poisonous toys from China, our list of fears seems to be exploding. Yet we are the safest and healthiest humans in history. Why are we so worried?

The Science of Fear is an introduction to the new brain science of risk, dissecting the fears that misguide and manipulate us every day. Award-winning journalist Daniel Gardner demonstrates how irrational fear springs from the ways humans miscalculate risks based on our hunter-gatherer brains. With the exclusive cooperation of risk-science pioneer Paul Slovic and other leading experts, Gardner reveals how our "gut" reactions lead us astray. Understanding our irrational fears frees us from political and corporate manipulation, and makes our choices better, and our lives braver.

Details

  • Title The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain
  • Author Daniel Gardner
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 368
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Plume Books, NY USA
  • Date 2009-06-01
  • Features Bibliography, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780452295469 / 0452295467
  • Weight 0.65 lbs (0.29 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 in (21.34 x 13.72 x 2.29 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Library of Congress subjects Fear
  • Dewey Decimal Code 152.46

Media reviews

"Excellent...analyses everything from the media's predilection for irrational scare stories to the cynical use of fear by politicians... [A] cheery corrective to modern paranoia."
-The Economist

About the author

DAN GARDNER is the New York Times bestselling author of books about psychology and decision-making. His books have been published in 21 countries and 17 languages.

In The Science of Fear, Gardner reveals why we so often worry about what we shouldn't and don't worry about what we should. The Guardian called it "an invaluable resource for anyone who aspires to think clearly."

In Future Babble, Gardner looks at the dismal record of expert forecasts and why we keep listening to overconfident pundits. Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker said it "should be required reading for journalists, politicians, academics, and anyone who listens to them."

In Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, Gardner and co-author Philip Tetlock distill important lessons about forecasting, teamwork, and good judgment. Superforecasting was chosen as one of the best books of 2015 by The Economist, Bloomberg, and Amazon.

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The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain

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