Customer Reviews

Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger

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This book does an excellent job of describing the brain mechanisms involved in extreme fear, provides numerous anecdotes about occasions on which someone experienced it, and provides a good deal of military lore and experimental evidence about how fear works and what it does and how it can be limited. But I find myself wondering whether it will offer insight or assistance to anyone who may be suddenly confronted with a fear-inducing situation.

There are more variations in human reaction to extreme fear than the author acknowledges. Although I'm not an expert on the topic, I have experienced extreme fear on a few occasions, and have watched others experience it on many more occasions. My personal belief is that aside from the most basic brain-body mechanisms, well described in this book, a person's reaction to an obviously life-threatening situation (or one that seems life-threatening) is largely determined by the whole accumulation of experiences and situations to which the person has been exposed from childhood on. If this is so, it's more than a little difficult to reshape an individual's reactions to such situations, although quite possible to reshape reactions to such specific fears as fear of combat. I have known people who seemed almost immune to fear (although of course they really weren't) and I have known others who yield to fear so readily that one cannot count on them to perform in any dangerous situation. For example, when somebody quite unexpectedly receives a serious electrical shock (1000 to a few thousand volts at high amperage), which I have seen happen perhaps a dozen times, their reactions vary dramatically, from near-complete psychological collapse at one extreme to a few minutes of shaking and cursing, followed by acceptance of treatment and/or return to work. Similarly, I have known people who seem unable to adjust to the unexpected sound of a bullet going close past them, and others who don't even bother to duck when that happens. My belief is that these differences are largely due to a whole lifetime's habituation to hazardous situations, or lack of habituation to them. This does not in any way contradict the author's theses, but it considerably complicates the question of how one can reduce the negative effects many people experience.

Having led small military units and much larger civilian organizations, I have had to develop the leadership skills of keeping people moving forward toward a common objective when they are uncertain, confused, afraid. But for certain people nothing one tries seems to work. This is no criticism of them as people, just a limitation that has to be recognized. And indeed, nobody can cope with a level of fear higher than somewhat for longer than somewhat; even the best-adapted person will break at some point, as the Army has come to recognize. So, when someone would come to me and say, "I can't work for you any longer; it's too stressful for me", I would always say "OK, I understand, I'll get you transferred to a suitable assignment that will be a more pleasant one for you."

Incidentally, although the author correctly notes that fear produces a specific change in human pheromones, he doesn't remark (and perhaps is unaware) that we humans can consciously recognize the smell of fear if we have been exposed to it a few times. I have noticed this most strikingly on the three occasions when I was aboard aircraft that seemed somewhat likely to crash. I could tell by the scent of the people around me who was terrified out of control and who was worried but still in complete control of themselves. This smell of fear is very distinctive, unlike any other smell I know.

Everyone feels fear. It is inherent to the human condition.

For some, fear is a stimulant driving them to extraordinary feats. For others, fear is paralyzing.

Humankind has struggled with fear since the dawn of time, trying to overcome or at least control it. Fear has been the subject of philosophers, priests, aristocrats, generals and psychologists, all trying to understand it. And now scientists have entered the picture and fear is giving up its secrets.

In this fascinating and engrossing book, fear gets the pop-science treatment from Jeff Wise, who brings a varied background as "science writer, outdoor adventurer and pilot of airplanes and gliders" to the task. Actually, his accomplishments seem pretty thin for the task, but he is no less qualified than other pop-science writers like Malcolm Gladwell.

In fact, Wise does, in my opinion, a better job than Gladwell.

He successfully merges contemporary scientific investigations into the nature of fear with medial analysis and real life stories of people both trapped and motivated by fear. Wise writes well and he has structured his book to be fast-moving, even though it is packed with information including more than a few scientific terms the reader is likely to be unfamiliar with. His examples are particularly well chosen to illustrate his points. For example, he describes scuba diving in underwater caves and how divers are faced with situations where fear and panic appear to be = and in fact are - the only "rational" responses, such as being lost and alone in an underwater cave.

I have a small criticism of the book which I suspect may owe more to Wise's editor than to Wise himself: the politically correct use of pronouns (referring to a person as "her" when the subject was clearly male) and referring to the Wehrmach as "Nazis", an inaccurate euphemism intended to spare German sensitivities about their WWII role. Small nits to be picking, but irritating to this reader.

Wise not only explores the nature of extreme fear and how it has developed in our species, but also looks at ways in which humans can attempt to deal with it.

Fascinating stuff and a very worthwhile, enjoyable and informative read.

Jerry

I truly enjoyed this book. The pages flew by and I got through it very quickly, a testament to the literacy and skill of the author. Wise has taken on an interesting subject and explicated it clearly, convincingly, and in an entertaining way. The anecdotes (many scrapes with death) were often thrilling. The portions on physiology and psychology, particularly those on brain chemistry, could have been a bore in the hands of a lesser writer, but the author presents them in an easy-to-understand and lucid way. The section on stage fright was worth the price of the book for me; I'm a former professional actor and champion public speaker who now gets a case of nerves speaking in front of others. It was fascinating to know how and why this happens, and that I'm not alone (Laurence Olivier suddenly got terrible stage fright in the middle of his career!) Finally, the author had some suggestions for overcoming fear which may be of value to you. In all, this was a compelling read, both entertaining and informative.

We all think we know how we'll react in a fearful situation, but as Jeff Wise so brilliantly explains in this book, thinking has very little to do with our actions. Wise makes the science of fear fascinating, and he writes about it here in a gripping, fun and engaging way for all readers. I was drawn into the book by the compelling anecdotes the author relates, and enterprising information on the brain he provides. Now I'm even a little scared of how my mind works... But EXTREME FEAR is a thrilling read, and something anyone who's ever been in a frightening situation will be able to relate to.

I purchased this book on a flyer, I was not disappointed. I have been very interested in cognitive research and in particular how humans deal with extreme situations. If you are interested in this topic this is a book for you.

Simply, this is an excellent book!

Much of the brain science material presented in this book has been covered in other places, but usually dealing with a much broader range of situations. The problem with the lack of focus of these other books is it does not bring heightened awareness to how we will react in an extreme situation. The biggest thing that this book will point out to you is how we underestimate the cognitive impairment of how stress and fear will effect us. Just like the respiratory doctor who smokes but treats lung cancer patients on a regular basis not thinking he is likely to get cancer, we also seem to think that we will fair with these extreme situations better than the average individual.

This book clearly illustrates through its stories that without proper preparation we will not do that well in these extreme situations. Some of us will Besides providing an excellent wake up call it gives very solid advice on how to fare better than the average individual in these types of situations.

My compliments to the author and publisher for having text-to-speech enabled on the Kindle version which clearly made my experience with this book greatly enhanced by the capabilities of the Kindle to switch from traditional reading to audio book on-the-fly.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to relate and learn how to cope with extreme situations that we may find ourselves in once or twice in an entire lifetime. But how we deal with these extreme situations will make all the difference.

This is a very comprehensive book on fear. It's deep and went beyond my expectations. It is also structured in a very open-ended way where you can connect your own experience or research to what the book presents.

In Extreme Fear, I found myself fascinated by a subject in which I thought I had only a passing interest, and Wise's illuminations have continued to inform my own experience long since I put it down.
His colloquial tone conveys both his deep curiosity and his comprehensive understanding both. It is this type of balance that makes the book more than a diversion, but more than an analysis, as he marries science to daily life. His remarkable stories of confronting fears--in the lab and in the wild--are seen with eye-opening physiological explanations of our ordinary and extraordinary experience.

Jeff Wise's Extreme Fear builds on his background as a writer of wide-ranging topics, which include exotic travel, ice trucking, and piloting a homemade submarine, to name just three. As a pilot, he is well-qualified to write on the subject of the physiology of fear. His discussion of the physiology of fear is lucid and comprehensive. He describes investigational modalities of several varieties, including functional MRI, and he explores fear and stress in their various manifestations. The illustrative vignettes are compelling, unforgettable, and varied, and his discussions elucidate the complex neurochemistry of the physiologic feedback circuits in a readily comprehensible fashion, which is rare. In short, this book fills an important lacuna and is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the human response to fear and what makes ordinary humans perform extraordinary feats in extraordinary situations.

Interesting from beginning to end, and always clear and understandable, this overview of 'Fear' made far more sense to me than most anything else I've seen on the subject.

The title might make you think this book is about something the average person can't really relate to - extreme sports for example - but in reality, as Jeff Wise points out in the introduction, everyone finds themselves experiencing fear at various times. It's his explanation of how we respond to it that is important and illuminating.

Wise uses situations both common, encountering stage fright, and unusual. Examples that might seem extreme at first: being caught in an avalanche, defending your house from a wild fire, witnessing a car accident - have been in the news often enough to easily see yourself in similar circumstances. Wise explains what is happening in those moments and gives us an understanding of how to better deal with fear, whatever the cause, ourselves. Interesting topic written in a way that is both approachable and suspenseful, while giving you the science behind your mind and body's response. Highly recommend for anyone interested in understanding how to embrace something most people don't manage well, and learn to use it to your advantage.