How to Live Dangerously: Why We Should All Stop Worrying & Start Living [Paperback]

Wrawick Cairns (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2008

We live in a society governed by Fear. Packets of peanuts 'may contain nuts', our children are locked away safe indoors, and we are encouraged to fear risks that previous generations took for granted. The result is a temptation never to leave the house. "How to Live Dangerously" is a sane, straight-talking, wonderfully entertaining manifesto that assesses the real risks of modern-day life, and encourages us to embrace a new freedom in the way we live. Sometimes, shit happens - but you may as well get out there and enjoy yourself while you can because, in the end, you're a long time dead. Don't like your children much? You'd have to lock them out of the house every day for 186,000 years before they were abducted (and even then you'd get them back within 24 hours). Afraid of flying? If you really want to die in a plane crash, you'll need to take a flight a day for the next 26,000 years...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Warwick Cairns is the author of About the Size of It -- a serious, but seriously funny book about measuring things. He lives in Windsor with his wife and two daughters.

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan (December 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230712215
• ISBN-13: 978-0230712218
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,186,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Warwick Cairns was born in 1962. He studied English at Yale under Harold Bloom, and has travelled in the deserts of Northern Kenya with legendary explorer Wilfred Thesiger and worked drilling wells on a Sioux reservation in South Dakota. He lives in Windsor, England with his wife and two daughters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to live your life, January 20, 2009

By 

H-C (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Live Dangerously: Why We Should All Stop Worrying & Start Living (Paperback)

When I first heard of this book in BBC's magazine Focus I knew I had to get the book because I really liked the idea, that in order to live a happy life it's good to do dangerous things if we carry them out controllably.

And I can't say that I've been disappointed with the book, it's a good read that makes several good points.

One is that if we constantly avoid to do things that can be dangerous, we aren't trained to handle with situations that really are dangerous when they happen to us in our daily life. And because of that we don't know how to handle with situations that pose a real threat, which means that we are more likely to suffer a worse outcome than if we had trained for a similar situation. In the end when something bad then happens to us we don't recognise our own fault but instead go and blame someone else.

Another good point that the book makes, and one that I strongly can identify with, is that we generally worry too much about all the small things that really don't matter to us.

I strongly recommend this book, especially if you like me believe that life should be lived at its fullest.

5.0 out of 5 stars A bit of sense at last!, November 21, 2010

By 

D. Mckee "Minerva1961" (London UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Live Dangerously: Why We Should All Stop Worrying & Start Living (Paperback)

Absolutely fascinating book, loved it, Wrawick ignores all the scare stories in the media and looks at the cold hard facts, you are many more times likely to be injured in your own home than out playing and climbing tree's, the media needs to sell newspapers via scare stories, read this and change your perspective and you life.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a painful read, January 4, 2009

By 

boyobarrie - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Live Dangerously: Why We Should All Stop Worrying & Start Living (Paperback)

i had a 6 hour lay over at london's heathrow airport, so i picked this book up thinking that it looked interesting. big mistake. it was the most painful to read writing style that i have ever trudged my way through, which i only did because i was so bored. the book is filled with annoying side remarks and meaningless statistics. if you are thinking about reading, live safe, and dont. you might die.