Customer Reviews

Are We Scaring Ourselves to Death?: How Pessismism, Paranoia, and a Misguided Media are Leading Us Toward Disaster

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This book debunks oversimplified media-hyped paranoia. What I don't get is why so many people apparently prefer to scare themselves to reading rational books like this. It's a pop book, though: few references.

I wasn't worried about much at all until I saw this book. Apparently it's not only the case that pessimism, paranoia and misguided media are very widespread, but we're also heading for disaster! I was vaguely aware of the first three, but wasn't particularly worried about it until this book pointed out the latter. Now I'm battling pessimism and paranoia that I had never known before. Is this book enough to prevent the impending doom? This book is scaring me to death!

In this weak and pointless polemic, the author treats the complex subject of dietary fat in just 3 pages. After assailing some of the scare-mongering about saturated fat, he vaciliates for several paragraphs about whether we should or should not worry. Finally, he concludes "ancient wisdom has prescribed moderation." "We shouldn't be scaring ourselves to death over cancer," he proclaims, but rather "thanking our scientists and physicians for allowing us to live longer." I found this superficial and opinionated tract without merit.