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Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear
 
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Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear (Hardcover)

by Dan Gardner (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £17.99
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Virgin Books (6 Mar 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1905264151
  • ISBN-13: 978-1905264155
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 149,325 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

The Economist
Excellent ... a cheery corrective to modern paranoia

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Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear
49% buy
Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear 4.1 out of 5 stars (9)
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37% buy the item featured on this page:
Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear 4.3 out of 5 stars (9)
£12.59
Bad Science
8% buy
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Flat Earth News: An Award-winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Very well written and really makes you think, 14 Mar 2008
By Clarence (London) - See all my reviews
This is a really fascinating book and makes you question the role of the media in our understanding of the world. We are constantly bombarded by negative messages from every corner and Gardner persuasively illustrates how our rational brains are unable to calculate the real level of risk to us. Our instinctive survival responses seem to override our rational knowledge and so we are left fearful and stressed by the messages we receive from the media and politicians. Gardner looks at how fear is used to manipulate us and it is really thought-provoking reading.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Be Scared, 2 May 2008
A really interesting and thought provoking read by the prize winning journalist. On page after page one realises quite how ridiculous some of our fears are. There is no factual basis to the idea that these are uniquely dangerous times. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite.

I remember a while back reading a comment in The Guardian newspaper after a child abduction story broke. The comment contained a fact I often like to repeat to people: In 20 years, the rate of child murder by strangers has remained pretty much the same level. And yet, in the same period, the fear has been ratcheted up to a remarkable degree. Adults are scared to let children play out on their own, even though they possibly went out and played in a time when they were even more at risk. I mean really, when you think about it, how many major child abduction cases do you hear in a year? 1? 2? Not many I suspect. And yet the media creates a vision of a country in which children are abducted on a regular basis.

Gardner comes up with many examples of the exaggeration of risk and the threats that are posed. Take, for example, the 'threat' of Islamic terrorism. There have been many examples of alleged terrorist activity by white, non-Muslims, and yet they have not been reported. Why? Because they do not fit the current narrative. If they were Islamic, every single one would be headline news. They aren't, so it's not.

Another example is the case of children being kidnapped in America. According to the statistics, of the 797,500 children under the age of 18 that go missing every year, only 115 are due to child kidnapping. 115! That means, as Gardener points out, that a child under 18 in America has a 0.00016% chance of being kidnapped. A figure that, according to the insurance industry, is so low it is zero.

One other example to mull over....Despite the rhetoric regarding terrorism, terrorist attacks have actually been declining ever since the end of the Cold War. According to one body that tracks international terrorism, if you take out the Middle East and South Asia, terrorism has continued to decline since 1991. The threat to us in the West has actually declined, despite the attacks of September 11th.

Although I don't agree with everything in the book, Gardner makes a very convincing case. I would seriously recommend this to anyone interested in how governments and corporations play (and profit) on our fears to an alarming degree. A fascinating read. Just remember: there is nothing to fear but fear itself.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An original take on risk perception: we have never been so safe, 29 April 2008
By Christian Jongeneel (Rotterdam, Netherlands) - See all my reviews
Most books on risk perception take an exclusively statistical angle to debunk common beliefs and misunderstandings. This book is special in that it also covers psychology and biology, the central thesis being that our brains are simply not designed for thinking logically all the time.

Dan Gardner covers many fields where misunderstandings are rife (crime, health, terrorism) in chapters full of fine anecdotes. His conclusion should be heard more in these times: despite the fear we are being talked into, we have never been as safe as now, at the dawn of the twentyfirst century.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars And the odds are . . .?
Dan Gardner's concerned about how we handle fear. In North America, of course, a single event, the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon generated a new... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Stephen A. Haines

4.0 out of 5 stars Good content but not the easiest read
First of all let me say that the content of the book is thought provoking, and contains lots of information which might change your mind when weighing up the risks of everyday... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Gaius Baltar

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely enlightening
Not only will this book make you think twice about the fear prevalent today on a whole range of issues, it will also equip you to understand how this has come about and what you... Read more
Published 13 months ago by A. Winchester

4.0 out of 5 stars The Fear Industrial Complex
This being Dan Gardner's first book, I am thoroughly impressed. From the language he uses, you can detect in many instances his journalistic background. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Adrian Booth

5.0 out of 5 stars Puts everything back into perspective!
From how our prehistoric brain assesses risk and copes with modern life, to the impact that the modern media has upon our subconscious... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. H. J. S. Oakley

2.0 out of 5 stars OK, but a bit ponderous
If you are new to books that challenge the current popular panicky pseudo scientific world view, then this one may be for you. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. Wyon Stansfeld

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