Risk

We are the safest humans who ever lived - the statistics prove it. And yet the media tells a different story with its warnings and scare stories. How is it possible that anxiety has become the stuff of daily life?In this ground-breaking, compulsively readable book, Dan Gardner shows how our flawed strategies for perceiving risk influence our lives, often with unforeseen and sometimes-tragic consequences. He throws light on our paranoia about everything from paedophiles to terrorism and reveals how the most significant threats are actually the mundane risks to which we pay little attention.Speaking to psychologists and scientists, as well as looking at the influence of the media and politicians, Gardner uncovers one of the central puzzles of our time: why are the safest people in history living in a culture of fear?

Préface
'COMPELLING ... AN INVALUABLE RESOURCE FOR ANYONE WHO ASPIRES TO THINK CLEARLY' - GUARDIAN

Auteur

Dan Gardner is a columnist and senior writer for the Ottawa Citizen. Trained in history and law, Gardner worked in politics as a senior policy adviser before turning to journalism. His writing has received numerous awards, including the National Newspaper Award and Amnesty International's Media Award. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and two children.

Texte du rabat

You Have Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself.

In the year following September 11th 1,595 people died on America's roads, as a direct result of having fled the airports to be safe from terrorism.

The homicide rate in England was fourteen times higher in the Middle Ages than it is now.

Worldwide, there are fewer than eighty unprovoked shark attacks per year. Poorly wired Christmas tree lights claim more victims than sharks.

Résumé
Kirsteen Lupton seems like any other teenage girl. But Kirsteen was born with a rare medical condition: her bladder was on the outside of her body. By the age of seven she had endured numerous agonising, failed operations. After medical complications left her weighing just 1 stone and battling for her life, surgery by the team at Great Ormond Street Hospital finally gave her a chance at a normal life. What makes Kirsteen so exceptional is that she has since helped to raise over 750,000 for the hospital. In 2006 she was named 'Fundraiser of the Year' at the Pride of Britain awards.This is the story of Kirsteen's extraordinary life and her work to raise funds for the hospital that helped her so much. But it is also the story of her family, who have always supported her - her mum, who battled with feelings of guilt over Kirsteen's condition, her dad, who sacrificed career advancement and earning capacity to look after his family, and her brothers, who have watched as their parents struggled to support their sister.