Penguin.com (usa)

The Science of Fear

How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain

Daniel Gardner - Author

ePub eBook | $12.99 | add to cart | view cart
ISBN 9781440638084 | 368 pages | 24 Jun 2009 | Plume | 18 - AND UP
Additional Formats:
Summary of The Science of Fear Summary of The Science of Fear Reviews for The Science of Fear An Excerpt from The Science of Fear
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.

"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


To keep up-to-date, input your email address, and we will contact you on publication

Please alert me via email when:


The author releases another book


   

Sign up for Penguin Newsletters!

Subscribe to Penguin newsletters

Don't miss a thing when you sign up to hear directly from us.

Penguin newsletters. Subscribe now. It's fast & simple.

Down the Darkest Road
$26.95 | buy now

Down the Darkest Road

Tami Hoag

The #1 New York Times-bestselling author Tami Hoag delivers the next book in her Oak Knoll micro-series following Deeper than the Dead and Secrets to the Grave.
Get the reading group guide »