Panicology

by Hugh Aldersey-Williams (Author), Simon Briscoe (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2008

  $4.25

  Did you dare give your child the three-in-one MMR vaccine? Afraid you'll get so fat you'll die before your time? Worried that Tesco/Walmart will swallow up your local store, or will we all be hit by an asteroid first? Every day, the press warns us of some new calamity that will threaten our lives. The risks of simply being alive apparently grow ever more alarming. Life has never been better yet we live in fear. Why do we work ourselves up into such a state?Because these stories are a heady mix of supposedly scientific information and journalistic hype. Our hearts fall for the 'story' and our heads believe the 'facts'. Panicology will help you make sense of the jungle of threats. It will explain why things are seldom as bad as they're painted. Upbeat and optimistic in its world-view yet robust and sceptical in its analysis, it will equip you to approach the scares of today - and tomorrow - without panic, but with rational levelheadedness and perhaps a measure of insouciance. Panicology is a feel-good book about the oh-so-desperate state we're in.

• Used

  Paperback
  2009

  $3.27

  What exactly are your chances of being struck by a meteorite? Think you're having less sex than the French? How high will sea levels actually rise? We live in an increasingly uncertain world. There's so much to worry about it is often hard to know what to really panic about. But stay calm! For Panicology is the perfect answer to the conundrums and questions that bedevil modern life. Putting a lit match to the lies, headlines and statistical twaddle that seeks to frighten us, it explores 40 reasons for worry: from binge-drinking to Frankenstein foods, bird flu to alien abductions - and explores what, if any, effect they will have on your life. Why worry in ignorance when you can be a happy, informed sceptic?