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Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear Hardcover – 6 Mar 2008

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Dan Gardner (Author)
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Dan Gardner (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 61 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Virgin Books; 1st edition (6 Mar. 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1905264151
  • ISBN-13: 978-1905264155
  • Product Dimensions: 16.3 x 3.1 x 24.1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 599,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

"Enlivening ... a fascinating insight into the peculiar and devastating nature of human fear" (Sunday Telegraph)

"Excellent ... Gardner analyses everything from the media's predilection for irrational scare stories to the cynical use of fear by politicians pushing a particular agenda ... A cheery corrective to modern paranoia" (Economist)

"Terrific ... exceptionally good - has the clarity of Malcolm Gladwell" (Evening Standard)

"Compelling ... an invaluable resource for anyone who aspires to think clearly" (Guardian)

"Stimulating ... where writers such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Francis Wheen have been content largely to enumerate the errors of less rational men and women, Dan Gardner has collated part of what we need to diagnose the problem" (Independent on Sunday)

Review

Terrific ... exceptionally good - has the clarity of Malcolm Gladwell

An excellent book --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsVery well written and really makes you think
By Clarence on 14 Mar. 2008
Format: Hardcover
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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3.0 out of 5 starsEntertaining and thought provoking but technically flawed
By Mr Plebian on 28 Dec. 2012
Format: Paperback
This book is okay as far as it goes but please keep in mind that risk and uncertainty are specialist subjects that have vexed some of the finest thinkers amongst us. You should not, therefore, be surprised to find that Dan Gardner's track record as a successful journalist, as opposed to a successful risk analyst, has resulted in a book that is both entertaining and persuasive whilst still being technically naive. The problem isn't his grasp of the political and social dimensions of risk - I bought the book in the hope that this aspect of the subject would be expertly covered and, in this respect, the book did not disappoint. The real problem is that the author only has a layman's understanding of risk's conceptual framework. Consequently, he frequently conflates risk with uncertainty, consistently confuses ambiguity aversion with risk aversion, and vacillates between discussing risk and discussing the probability component of risk, in a way that I found decidedly confusing. Furthermore, the author's superficial understanding of the cognitive science behind risk perception comes perilously close to undermining the author's whole thesis.

Central to the argument, the author repeatedly cites cognitive biases which he claims lead people to overestimate risk. However, this is a serious misrepresentation of the true significance of such biases, and the reason why he misrepresents them is because he isn't sufficiently careful at distinguishing between risk and probability. The fact is that the cognitive biases he refers to can lead people to overestimate likelihood. Whether or not this leads to overestimation of risk depends upon whether the individual is focused upon the likelihood of a positive outcome, or a negative outcome.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsAn enjoyable read
By Jane Wilkin on 2 Feb. 2009
Format: Paperback
The overriding message of this book is that our `gut' feelings about risk are often wrong and we should learn to engage our mind to make more informed judgements.

The problem is, according to Gardner, that we as humans were built, in an evolutionary sense, before the stone age and in the information age we now live in, this is not particularly useful. He explores what he (and others) have called our dual systems of reasoning. System One - Gut (Feeling or unconscious thought) and System Two - Head (Reason or conscious thought). Gut, he says has been very useful to us since we lived in caves, and it takes considerable effort for us to make Head over-ride it.

Gardner does a great job of telling us why our perception of risk is often so wrong and arguing that humans are not naturally good at statistics. He goes into great detail about a number of issues (terrorism, chemicals, shark attacks, and cancer to name a few) and explains why the headlines and resulting perception of risks are wrong. However, whilst he presents a mind boggling array of basic statistical errors we make on a regular basis, he rarely tells the reader what the correct answer is.

Gardner does an excellent job of laying out how `figures' quoted in headlines misrepresent data to either catch readers attention or further their own cause. This isn't to say the journalists are deliberately deceiving us (Gardener is after all a journalist by trade) it is, he says, that we are hard wired to listen out for and take notice of risks that a communicated in a certain way. It's what has kept the human species alive.

However, whilst the book tells me about the things that I shouldn't be worrying about, I can't help feeling slightly frustrated that I don't know more about what I should be worrying about.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsDon't Be Scared
By I Clark on 2 May 2008
Format: Hardcover
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.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

An excellent book that literally changed my world view

Published 2 months ago by Diane Gill
5.0 out of 5 starsAn excellent book on risk and the (sometimes) uncalled for worries ...

An excellent book on risk and the (sometimes) uncalled for worries and anxieties that comes from our perception of risk.

Published 6 months ago by Knut Sturidsson
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent Book

Will make you cast a more cynical eye over virtually everything covered in the mass media. We are the wealthiest, healthiest and best fed generation ever and we are scared to death... Read more

Published 13 months ago by David
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Goods as described. fast delivery, thank you.

Published 14 months ago by Jason Twigg
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

People should read this instead of Facebook comments

Published 15 months ago by Robb Young
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent

Excellent, I love learning about the flaws in human reasoning, I think its important as it makes us more aware of our own and others shortcomings. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Mr. N. J. Houchin
5.0 out of 5 starsIt is very easy to read and i am enjoying it

I am still reading this. It is very interesting. It's a book that you can lift up and leave down. It is very easy to read and i am enjoying it

Published 17 months ago by Crazy Monster Poet
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Everyone should read this

Published 18 months ago by Todd
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Read this twice now, very enlightening read

Published 20 months ago by Terry
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Read this and remove your fear. As fear is the mind killer

Published 20 months ago by carljohn

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