How Risky Is It, Really?
Why Our Fears Don't Always Match the Facts
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Narrated by:
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TJ Johnson
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By:
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David Ropeik
About this listen
"Clear, balanced, and lively." (Steven Pinker, best-selling author of How the Mind Works)
Are you afraid of the "right" risks?
Do you worry more about radiation from nuclear power or from the sun?
Are you more afraid of getting cancer than heart disease?
Are you safer talking on your cell phone or using a hands-free device when you drive?
Do you think global warming is a serious threat to your health?
Get the facts behind your fears—and discover...how risky is it, really?
International risk expert David Ropeik takes an in-depth look at our perceptions of risk and explains the hidden factors that make us unnecessarily afraid of relatively small threats and not afraid enough of some really big ones. This audiobook is a comprehensive, accessible, and entertaining mixture of what's been discovered about how and why we fear—too much or too little. It brings into focus the danger of The Perception Gap: when our fears don’t match the facts, and we make choices that create additional risks.
This book will not decide for you what is really risky and what isn't. That's up to you. How Risky Is It, Really? will tell you how you make those decisions. Understanding how we perceive risk is the first step toward making wiser and healthier choices for ourselves as individuals and for society as a whole.
©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (P)2020 Upfront BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The War on Cancer was run by leaders of industries that made cancer-causing products and sometimes also profited from drugs and technologies for finding and treating the disease. Filled with compelling personalities and never-before-revealed information, The Secret History of the War on Cancer shows how we began fighting the wrong war, with the wrong weapons, against the wrong enemies, a legacy that persists to this day.
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Silly Book
- By Adam Smith on 12-24-14
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Panic Attack
- Playing Politics with Science in the Fight Against COVID-19
- By: Nicole Saphier
- Narrated by: Nicole Saphier
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Medical doctor and national bestselling author of Make America Healthy Again Nicole Saphier reveals how politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic has baffled the public by creating distrust, fueling conspiracy theories, and making it harder for Americans to understand the necessary path forward. The pandemic has resulted in a failure of government, much of which is unavoidable in a unique disaster scenario. However, the rampant politicization of science has hopelessly muddied the water and knee-jerk anti-Trumpism made it all worse.
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Very disappointed
- By K. Green on 07-29-21
By: Nicole Saphier
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COVID: The Politics of Fear and the Power of Science
- By: Marc Siegel MD
- Narrated by: Peter Van Norden
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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COVID-19 has stolen our security and our nation's peace of mind. There is a pandemic virus as well as a crippling epidemic of fear sweeping America. Why? The answer, according to nationally renowned health commentator Dr. Marc Siegel, is that we already lived in an artificially created culture of fear that was just waiting to be unleashed. In COVID: The Politics of Fear and the Power of Science, Siegel identifies three major catalysts of the culture of fear - government, the media, and our own psyche.
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Informative and well sourced
- By A. Powers on 10-12-21
By: Marc Siegel MD
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Willful Blindness
- Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril
- By: Margaret Heffernan
- Narrated by: Margaret Heffernan
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Margaret Heffernan argues that the biggest threats and dangers we face are the ones we don't see - not because they're secret or invisible, but because we're willfully blind. A distinguished businesswoman and writer, she examines the phenomenon and traces its imprint in our private and working lives, and within governments and organizations, and asks: What makes us prefer ignorance? What are we so afraid of? Why do some people see more than others? And how can we change?
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How Not to Be the Blind Leading the Blind
- By Cynthia on 06-29-13
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Less Medicine, More Health
- 7 Assumptions That Drive Too Much Medical Care
- By: H. Gilbert Welch
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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The author of the highly acclaimed Overdiagnosed describes seven widespread assumptions that encourage excessive, often ineffective, and sometimes harmful medical care. You might think the biggest problem in medical care is that it costs too much. Or that health insurance is too expensive, too uneven, too complicated - and gives you too many forms to fill out. But the central problem is that too much medical care has too little value.
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The truth will set you free
- By Rene B Milner on 04-01-16
By: H. Gilbert Welch
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Before You Know It
- The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do
- By: John Bargh PhD
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than three decades, Dr. John Bargh has been responsible for the revolutionary research into the unconscious mind, research that informed best sellers like Blink and Thinking Fast and Slow. Now, in what Dr. John Gottman said "will be the most important and exciting book in psychology that has been written in the past 20 years", Dr. Bargh takes us on an entertaining and enlightening tour of the forces that affect everyday behavior while transforming our understanding of ourselves in profound ways.
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Political jab
- By Brad on 10-20-17
By: John Bargh PhD
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Bozo Sapiens
- Why to Err Is Human
- By: Michael Kaplan, Ellen Kaplan
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Our species, it appears, is hardwired to get things wrong in myriad different ways. Why did recipients of a loan offer accept a higher rate of interest when a pretty woman's face was printed on the flyer? Why did one poll on immigration find the most despised aliens were ones from a group that did not exist? What made four of the Air Force's best pilots fly their planes, in formation, straight into the ground?
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A tour de force
- By Ivan on 07-05-11
By: Michael Kaplan, and others
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The Power of Bad
- How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It
- By: John Tierney, Roy F. Baumeister
- Narrated by: Paul Bellantoni
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Why are we devastated by a word of criticism even when it’s mixed with lavish praise? Because our brains are wired to focus on the bad. This negativity effect explains things great and small: why countries blunder into disastrous wars, why couples divorce, why people flub job interviews, how schools fail students, why football coaches stupidly punt on fourth down. All day long, the power of bad governs people’s moods, drives marketing campaigns, and dominates news and politics.
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Another outstanding social psychology book!
- By Wayne on 01-06-20
By: John Tierney, and others
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Sicker, Fatter, Poorer
- The Urgent Threat of Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals on Our Health and Future . . . and What We Can Do About It
- By: Leonardo Trasande MD MPP
- Narrated by: Leonardo Trasande MD MPP
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Lurking in our homes, hiding in our offices, and polluting the air we breathe is something sinister. Something we’ve turned a blind eye to for far too long. Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a pediatrician, professor, and world-renowned researcher, tells the story of how our everyday surroundings are making us sicker, fatter, and poorer. Through a blend of narrative, scientific detective work, and concrete information about the connections between chemicals and disease, he reveals what we can do to protect ourselves and our families in the short-term, and how we can help bring the change we deserve.
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The Must Read Book of 2019 is here early on Audio!
- By Ryan S on 12-21-18
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The Panic Virus
- A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear
- By: Seth Mnookin
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The Panic Virus is a gripping scientific detective story about how grassroots radicals, snake-oil salesmen, and cynical journalists have perpetrated the biggest health-scare hoax of all time. It explores what happens when the media treats all viewpoints as equally valid, regardless of facts, from parents who are convinced that vaccines caused their children's autism to right-wing radicals who believe that climate change is a myth
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Incredible thorough journey
- By Rachel Dewald on 03-22-11
By: Seth Mnookin
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50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True
- By: Guy P. Harrison
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Maybe you know someone who swears by the reliability of psychics or who is in regular contact with angels. Or perhaps you're trying to find a nice way of dissuading someone from wasting money on a homeopathy cure. How do you find a gently persuasive way of steering people away from unfounded beliefs, bogus cures, conspiracy theories, and the like? Longtime skeptic Guy P. Harrison shows you how in this down-to-earth, entertaining exploration of commonly held extraordinary claims.
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Skepticism, so Dull & Condescending
- By Mr Conway on 03-11-13
By: Guy P. Harrison
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Counterclockwise
- Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility
- By: Ellen J. Langer
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically? For more than 30 years, award-winning social psychologist Ellen Langer has studied this provocative question, and now has a conclusive answer: opening our minds to what's possible, instead of clinging to accepted notions about what's not, can lead to better health at any age.
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Surprisingly disappointing
- By Stephen on 06-23-09
By: Ellen J. Langer
What listeners say about How Risky Is It, Really?
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Will Blakey
- 07-30-22
The gold standard of science writing
This book is phenomenonal and idk why it’s so underappreciated. This book has some of the best examples for understanding the cognitive biases that underly risk perception. I learned so much about concepts in behavioral econ, psychology, and journalism. The book manages to be firm and evidence based without being condescending or paternalistic. It’s empowering and I think one of the best books to think about covid (despite being written over a decade ago. Great stuff
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- Chad
- 10-09-22
Interesting look at what drives our fears
The fundamental lesson here is a good one: realizing that because we feel more fearful about one thing than another doesn't necessarily mean we SHOULD be more afraid of that. The book is filled with many examples. It also strives to look into why we fear one thing more than another: novelty, sensationlism and recency are examples. I also appreciate the author's admission of what he wished he had done differently in his journalism career, including one very sad story involving a child.
On the other hand, I wished he had cited more sources to support some of his allegations. In particular, his suggestions about what could be done differently to work with this aspect of people's flawed perceptions of fear. It seems to be more based on conjecture than on anything empirical. His dismissive, even insulting attitude towards people who are overweight is also troubling - in particular, the idea that if obese people had to pay more for health insurance, that they would change their sinful ways and be skinny.
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