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A review by unisonlibrarian
Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear by Dan Gardner
5.0
Subtitled, the Science and Politics of Fear this book was an eye opening read. I know a certain amount about risk and fear already. As a left-wing sceptic I’m aware of the desire governments have to instil fear in the populous, it makes governing much easier if the people are pliant.
Media sales go through the roof with a good scare story about terrorism or cancer, that much is obvious, but this book shows us why by telling us how human beings work on a gut-reactive, instinct-based premise of survival. Sadly this gut reaction tends not to be very well thought through, and can proved to be a very, very dangerous trait.
We rarely employ our head above our gut and when we do gut tends to be the stronger influence. Gardner tells us quite rightly that we have developed reasoning quite recently in our evolution and if a book were to be written giving equal time to each stage of human development then there would be 200 pages of us as hunter gatherers and the last page would cover human beings as part of a settled agrarian society, with the final paragraph generously given over to our time since the enlightenment. That kind of in built defence mechanism is difficult to shake off.
External operators influence beyond any levels I realised and our basic understanding of mathematics and statistical probabilities is woeful, as demonstrated in a few simple exercises in the book. With current pressure on our senses from media, advertising and government, it is becoming even harder to establish just what is a reasoned reaction to events. Gardner presents his arguments in well rounded language with detailed explanations of the experiments and tests referenced. It is at no time dry or boring despite the seemingly endless use of statistics.
There is little to disagree with him on once his conclusion has been reached, with my only quam coming against certain subjects touched upon that weren’t relevant to the central theme. Despite being a North American (Canadian) the book doesn’t feel too US-Centric, and presents much useful research based on UK findings. A book I would recommend to most people I know, and if I knew any, particularly Daily Mail readers, since the key to solving the problem of induced fear is simply to think more!
Media sales go through the roof with a good scare story about terrorism or cancer, that much is obvious, but this book shows us why by telling us how human beings work on a gut-reactive, instinct-based premise of survival. Sadly this gut reaction tends not to be very well thought through, and can proved to be a very, very dangerous trait.
We rarely employ our head above our gut and when we do gut tends to be the stronger influence. Gardner tells us quite rightly that we have developed reasoning quite recently in our evolution and if a book were to be written giving equal time to each stage of human development then there would be 200 pages of us as hunter gatherers and the last page would cover human beings as part of a settled agrarian society, with the final paragraph generously given over to our time since the enlightenment. That kind of in built defence mechanism is difficult to shake off.
External operators influence beyond any levels I realised and our basic understanding of mathematics and statistical probabilities is woeful, as demonstrated in a few simple exercises in the book. With current pressure on our senses from media, advertising and government, it is becoming even harder to establish just what is a reasoned reaction to events. Gardner presents his arguments in well rounded language with detailed explanations of the experiments and tests referenced. It is at no time dry or boring despite the seemingly endless use of statistics.
There is little to disagree with him on once his conclusion has been reached, with my only quam coming against certain subjects touched upon that weren’t relevant to the central theme. Despite being a North American (Canadian) the book doesn’t feel too US-Centric, and presents much useful research based on UK findings. A book I would recommend to most people I know, and if I knew any, particularly Daily Mail readers, since the key to solving the problem of induced fear is simply to think more!