Buy new:
$29.52
Ships from: Amazon Global Store UK
Sold by: Amazon Global Store UK
$29.52
Amazon US Return Policy applies to this item.
Only 2 left in stock - order soon.
UK imports may differ from local products. Additional terms apply. Learn More.

Amazon Global Store

  • International products have separate terms, are sold from abroad and may differ from local products, including fit, age ratings, and language of product, labeling or instructions.
  • Manufacturer warranty may not apply
  • Learn more about Amazon Global Store.
$$29.52 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$29.52
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon Global Store UK
Ships from
Amazon Global Store UK
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$1.24
May have remainder mark / minor shelfwear. 99% of orders arrive in 4-10 days. May have remainder mark / minor shelfwear. 99% of orders arrive in 4-10 days. See less
$5.69 delivery November 19 - 22. Details
Or fastest delivery November 14 - 18. Details
Only 3 left in stock - order soon.
$$29.52 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$29.52
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Ships from and sold by plumcircle.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Christopher Booker
Follow
Richard North
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Scared to Death: From BSE to Coronavirus: Why Scares are Costing Us the Earth Paperback – October 6, 2020

by Christopher Booker (Author), Richard North (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 86 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$29.52","priceAmount":29.52,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"29","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"52","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"BfynyaMWFBjP9NYBO2Z8rHSY4fqdOh0bwAlkrfca3u3ryXrt9C4dxAY3vZqdK6n3dS4DuemwaYgPo4xpaEV5KRUeTSQ12ulUpwqc5HPfl3eLpJ5jZ08X30woMcPdyz3mI6iuuWGJZqTsNr0CYNJks6EjRg%2BM8OqAqr6Ar3fbZeeNYhDw5UdFkoawN8Ann3cX","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$1.24","priceAmount":1.24,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"1","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"24","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"BfynyaMWFBjP9NYBO2Z8rHSY4fqdOh0b8430zkv6byqZX%2FKebnSF2nwIHR5akPLWp3hUuFGK7maDgO6u2mHM2d9N9E6fGxtyJ94h1%2FtBvFqsC%2FjzIygInJu1iZUNh6vftAtSFs5HSWDVK8kGlne0MiOzNynFGk1NqGAZo0j2U9L5v7Ee4l6a3A%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Newly revised and updated in the light of COVID-19

For most of the latter part of the last century, and the early part of this, Britain has been assailed by a succession of 'scares', from salmonella and eggs to BSE, from the Millennium Bug to bird flu, from DDT to passive smoking, from asbestos to global warming.

These scares have become one of the most conspicuous and damaging features of our modern world, so much so that as we entered the third decade of the new century, our senses had become so blunted that we scarcely recognised the real thing for what it was, until it arrived – COVID-19, for which we were almost completely unprepared.

The authors analyse the crucial roles of the different factions who perpetrated the scares: from the scientists who misread or manipulated the evidence to the media and lobbyists who eagerly promoted scares without regard to the consequences, and the politicians and officials who came up with absurdly disproportionate responses, leaving us to pay a colossal price.

In this updated edition, Scared to Death not only presents a detailed account of the scares that have dominated our society for the past 50 years – through all of which the authors lived – but also examines the background to the COVID-19 pandemic, tracing our lack of preparedness to its roots and then assessing, by way of contrast, why this is the real thing, as opposed to the succession of scares that we have experienced.

Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    512 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Bloomsbury Continuum
  4. Publication date
    October 6, 2020
  5. Dimensions
    5.43 x 1.54 x 8.56 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1472984668
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1472984661
  8. See all details
Next slide of product details
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Every politician, every journalist, every consumer of journalism should read, mark and inwardly digest this book” ―Mail on Sunday

“This is a huge book in size, scope and importance. Anyone who reads it will find it hard to disagree with the authors' conclusion.” ―This England

“A highly valuable and much needed investigation into the 'crisis industry' in which pressure groups and journalists work together to keep us entertained with a succession of 'crises'.” ―Contemporary Review

About the Author

Christopher Booker was a founding editor of Private Eye,to which he regularly contributed,and also wrote a longstanding column for the Sunday Telegraph. His bestselling books include The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, The Real Global Warming Disaster, The Great Deception, The Mad Officials, Scared to Death and The Neophiliacs. Booker died in July 2019.

Richard North has in recent years won a reputation as one of Britain's most expert defence analysts, through his Defence of the Realm blog. Formerly a research director in the European Parliament, North is also a political analyst through his EU Referendum blog, which examines Britain's place in the world with particular reference to its membership of the European Union. He co-authored four bestselling books with the late Sunday Telegraph columnist Christopher Booker, including Scared To Death: From BSE To Global Warming, How Scares Are Costing Us The Earth (2007) and The Great Deception (2005), a comprehensive history of the European Union. He is the author of Ministry of Defeat (2009).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Continuum (October 6, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1472984668
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1472984661
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.43 x 1.54 x 8.56 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 86 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Christopher Booker

    Christopher Booker

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Richard North

    Richard North

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
86 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book well-researched and documented. They also appreciate the scientific concepts accurately described without being inaccurately oversimplified. Readers describe the writing quality as well-written and appropriate.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more
Document qualityWriting quality
6 customers mention "Document quality"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-researched, accurate, and informative. They appreciate the plentiful and appropriate references. Readers also say the book is interesting from beginning to end.

"A well-researched and superb selection of the sort of madness and mass delusions that have always gripped mankind...." Read more

"...lead, asbestos, and second hand smoke were facinating and very well documented...." Read more

"Brilliantly written, faithfully researched. I am old enough to treat everything with suspicion and this book only reinforces why I do...." Read more

"...The scientific concepts are accurately described without being inaccurately oversimplified, but even if you skip these bits, you will be left with a..." Read more

4 customers mention "Writing quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing quality of the book well-written, with appropriate references. They also say it's another good book by the author.

"Very informative and well written...." Read more

"Brilliantly written, faithfully researched. I am old enough to treat everything with suspicion and this book only reinforces why I do...." Read more

"Well written and with copious and appropriate references to support the grim sequence of events in each chapter...." Read more

"another good book by this author. Many valid observations..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

T. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2010
Verified Purchase
A well-researched and superb selection of the sort of madness and mass delusions that have always gripped mankind. The staggering costs and human tragedies of the scares is well presented and I only hope many people who are not usually interested in this sort of thing will read it, so that the next time they hear something like "measles vaccine causes autism" they'll demand to see proof before diving into the deep end. As for the media, I'd like to see them display more responsibility, but quite frankly, I doubt they ever will. "If it bleeds, it leads" seems to be branded into their brains at journalism school. A shame more time wasn't spent on skepticism and research. As an example, any time they hear someone say "It's for the children!" they should assume that those people are incompetent, lying, or pushing an agenda, and start their investigation with that in mind.
I give out very few 5 star reviews, so that should indicate how impressed I as by this book.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
S. Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2008
Verified Purchase
Very informative and well written. The illnesses and food scares became a bit tedious after a while, however the chapters on Global Warming, lead, asbestos, and second hand smoke were facinating and very well documented. The author provides details most have never heard behind the suppression and discrediting of dissenting studies, which are abandoned after they fail to support the politically correct position. I've watched since the 60s as passive smoking went from a stinky habit which was impolite to do in the company of non-smokers, to the 2000's when near panic would errupt by the fanatical anti-smoking lobby if a single whiff entered their nostrils on a beach. Truly silly stuff. Its always surprised me that Americans would buy into that nonsense. This book really details how deceived we've been - and still are.
10 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A massive eye opener!
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2016
Verified Purchase
Brilliantly written, faithfully researched. I am old enough to treat everything with suspicion and this book only reinforces why I do.
It is unfortunate that many of the players involved in the 'scares' recounted here will simply not read the book and hang their heads in shame.

A virtual study in what makes the human race look and act stupid. This book should be a standard study for all high school students, business heads, civil servants and media chiefs.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming:...
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2015
Verified Purchase
Well written and with copious and appropriate references to support the grim sequence of events in each chapter. I wish I could find errors in their development of the principles presented but I have to admit it hangs together all too convincingly. The scientific concepts are accurately described without being inaccurately oversimplified, but even if you skip these bits, you will be left with a disturbingly accurate account of what has been going on. I hate to think what an American edition would be like.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
JBG
3.0 out of 5 stars Too Far From Home
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2008
Verified Purchase
Relevant in that all governments are incompetant and inefficient, but the book is England based. Government names and titles are probably wasted on most Americans and that hurts your ability to follow much of the book. I had hoped for something a little closer to home; the global warming issue is closer due to heavy US involvement, but that's less than a quarter of the book. Well researched and documented. Presents the "other side" of many issues that the stampede misses. A very slow read.
10 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Bill Bradshaw
5.0 out of 5 stars A skeptics guide
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2009
Verified Purchase
The mystery to me is why this book hasn't been widely heralded or attacked. It's been out almost 2 years now and contains what appear to be unassailable arguments and documentation as to why two of the current scares, global warming and secondhand smoke are nonsensical as threats. It hasn't made the best seller lists, yet it also contains a lucid explanation of why reliance on wind energy is both costly and foolish (hint: winds don't always blow and you have to have a backup system when they don't, ergo the cost calculations are nonsense). Where are the global warming acolytes to attack this thing? Where is the savior, Al Gore, to explain it's fallacies? A "must read" for the serious skeptic, but tough slogging. Worth the effort.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
R. J. Motta
4.0 out of 5 stars SCARED TO DEATH. BX16
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2008
Prompt service. Easy to order. Fair price. Product in good order. Prompt
delivery. Book is hard to wade through at the start, but picks up
speed. VERY INFORMATIVE!
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
PJ
5.0 out of 5 stars All should read!
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2009
Verified Purchase
I found this book interesting from beginning to end. It was well documented. The content was sobering and I found it amazing that the entire world could be duped by government officials, media, politicians and environmentalists to take up causes that have cost the world billions and billions of dollars! I recommend this book to all and even if you disagree with the content you would have to admit that the "run-away train mentality" is alive and well today. It is a must read!
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Nick Dougan
5.0 out of 5 stars The scare phenomenon
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2007
Verified Purchase
Booker and North posit a "scare phenomenon" by analysing a series of scares, starting with HIV/AIDS and salmonella in the 80s, though BSE, the Y2K bug and passive smoking amongst others, to the global warming scare of today. They identify a pattern that starts with scientists making exaggerated claims based on inadequate evidence, becoming so obsessed with their theories that they manufacture evidence to support them while excluding consideration of contradictory data, and then actively suppress those who oppose their "new orthodoxy". The media, finding such scares make good copy, further hype them up, often finding scientists to speak in support of them whose own areas of research were quite different. Politicians, unable to distinguish between good and bad science and reliant on officials who have in many cases become members of the new orthodoxy themselves, and faced with media hysteria, overreact under cover of the "precautionary principle" by implementing policies that are scientifically suspect and economically damaging.

I purchased the authors' first joint book, "The Mad Officials", some dozen years ago after hearing Richard North speak, very entertainingly, on the excesses of environmental health officers. I was greatly entertained by that book's humorous, "if you didn't laugh you would cry" style. This is a much more scholarly work, although, thankfully, still flavoured by a wry sense of amusement at the irrational behaviour of many of those who would tell us how to live.

The book's longest chapter is on global warming, the biggest of these scares and one that is still gaining momentum. The authors provide a short history of the development of the theory of the "greenhouse effect" (from 1827) and some alternative theories, reminding us that many of those who expounded the theory of man-made global warming in the 80s had, ten years previously, been warning of a coming ice age. They analyse the development of the IPCC and how as early as 1989 scientists whose research did not support this "new orthodoxy" were having their funding withdrawn and were, in due course, lumped together with "holocaust deniers". Al Gore comes in for much criticism. Much of material will not be new to those interested in the global warming debate, but it is summarised concisely and clearly. You would be correct in deducing that Booker & North are somewhat sceptical of MMGW; what they add to the debate is explaining the current furore over global warming as another example of the "scare phenomenon".

In the epilogue they suggest that subscribing to movements like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth in some way satisfies a human "need for religion" in a secular age. While there may be something in this, here Booker & North appeared to be moving out of their own area of expertise, the ideas were only lightly sketched out and there were, unusually, no references to those whose ideas were culled - e.g., Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens? They also betrayed their British orientation: the statement that, by the end of the C20, "the prevailing values of the West were as completely secularised as those of any society the world had ever known" may be true of the UK, but not, I would have thought, of the US. These criticisms aside, I would heartily recommend "Scared to Death" as a critique of contemporary western societies' tendency to indulge in "scares" and as a call to arms for a more intelligently sceptical approach.

Booker & North conclude cheerily by warning us that this century will probably deliver us a "real crisis" soon enough, and that there will then be little time, or need, for imaginary ones.
Report
Dozy Shopper
5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2010
Verified Purchase
As you'll note from the mixed nature of the reviews on amazon here, this book investigates areas of heated debate. Focusing mainly on the modern mores of the media fuelled health scare, the authors investigate causes of such panics - such as the BSE scare that almost ended beef consumption for a period, asbestos panics through all the way to the most controversial of them all - passive smoking. Generally the opinion on all of the subjects is that based on limited evidence, the media begin clamoring for the government to act. Based on such an outcry, as in smoking, the government weighs in heavily - such as the indoor smoking ban - and then follows with a program of denigrating the activity, such as through the heavy-handed cancer pics on the back of cigarette packets and adverts via the health promotion agency.
What really makes this book very thorough is that it considers many aspects of how such health panic crazes arise. From the limitations of science and a public misunderstanding of how there really are few established "truths" in science, and there always will be dissent to some extent (i.e. plank's constant in physics), through to the paramount nature of health in modern eyes as well as media spin. Also, as alluded to, the role of big government in regulating these activities and the tendency towards excess therein. Well evidenced as well as having a convincing thesis.
Despite the fact that the ASH people and others who have already adopted counter positions to the arguments in this book will largely account for its poor reviews, no one could argue that it is well written and in a pleasingly non alarmist style. It is very engaging and should hold the attention of people who maybe aren't that interested in the issue itself. It peers deeply into the machinery of modern society, through its cogs of politics, science and want.
A very good book indeed.
Report
RR Waller
4.0 out of 5 stars The scare phenomenon
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2011
Verified Purchase
The modern culture seems to demand someone to blame, compensation for effects, media attention and the notion that governments of every hue, simply by virtue of being in government, should be "in control"; increasingly, governments have slipped into that role as the media - for whom bad news is great copy, the worse the better - have donned the mantle of "seekers after truth", sensational or otherwise.
Twenty-four hour news at our finger-tips (literally) is what we have been led to expect; Booker and North show how this culture is seen nowhere better than in our responses to scares, scares which are now broadcast in minute detail by the investigative journalist who is "working on the public's behalf to bring the truth".
Scientists misread, politicians mispoliticise and the media broadcast and print all - including the misprunts and misreported while, at the same time accurate assessments are made and publicised of genuine scares. Generally, with the benefit of twenty-twenty hindsight, the authors analyse a wide range of such events - BSE, DDT, passive smoking, bird 'flu, Millennium Bug and so on - and show how expensive these have been in many different ways.
In an age when there is increasing public expectation of the "government's being in control" fanned by media attention, they build a startling picture. Readers may not agree with all their findings or approaches but they may be scared to death with what they reveal.
Report
M. Hillmann
5.0 out of 5 stars Precautionary Principle or Moral Panic?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2009
Verified Purchase
At what point does preventive action justified by the Precautionary Principle become a "Moral Panic"? Hindsight is a wonderful thing but a plethora of scares based on very dodgy science tells the tale of gross sensationalisation of new scares and of gross overreaction by officials and government ministers. It makes one very sceptical of the next doomsday scenario - Swine Flu or especially devastation caused by Climate Change.

Dr Richard North, eminent food safety consultant and now political analyst for eureferendum.com, and Christopher Booker, first editor of Private Eye, provide carefully documented, devastating case studies of a whole series of scares which resulted in the government wildly overreacting and destroying industries and livelihoods and incurring hugely disproportionate costs.

This is close to my heart. Indelibly imprinted on my mind is Stephen Dorrel's (Health Minister) statement on the 20th March 1996 linking the BSE epidemic in cattle to CJD in humans. From that day it was a race against time to relaunch my business in a new industry and avoid going bust. I suspected, as did many others, that the link between BSE and vCJD was tenuous and that the prediction of 500,000 deaths a year from vCJD an exaggeration. By October 2006 after the entire UK meat export business and many other businesses , mine included, had been destroyed and the government had spent £3.45 billion on the scare, vCJD incidence was running at 3 cases a year and 106 in total in 10 years.

Richard North and Chris Booker describe a whole series of such scares since the 1980's from salmonella in eggs, to listeria in cheese, dioxins in poultry, DDT, the Millenium bugs infecting computers at the turn of the century , nitrate's in water, vitamin B6 lead in petrol, passive smoking, SARS, and asbestos where the pattern was repeated. One of the most heart rending scares that tore families apart revolved around the belief that gained currency in the mid 1980's in some social service departments that child abuse was rife. In Cleveland in 1986, 121 children were suspected of being abused and taken away from their families sometimes for years with only 4 successful prosecutions - a pattern repeated in Rochdale, Nottinghamshire, Pembroke and Orkney until the "scientific diagnosis technique" upon which the charges were based were discredited.

But on the other hand they then examine the great organophosphate cover up whereby the catastrophic effects of organophosphates in sheep dips and aircraft fuel has been systematically denied despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

However plausible scares may seem it is crucial to examine the scientific evidence objectively and be prepared to review the solution in the light of the unfolding evidence.

Their direst critiscms are levelled against the totally inappropriate reaction to the warming of the globe in the late twentieth century. So much economic and political capital is being invested in measures to reduce carbon emissions that it will take years to undo this act of faith whatever the evidence that such measures are not necessarily the best response.
Report
Dr Michael J Cross
5.0 out of 5 stars Cutting through the disinformation of the present age.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2011
Verified Purchase
This book, clear and well-written, with references you can check out, provides an education for the age in which we live. Never have we had so much access to information, and never has a guide or interpreter been more important, so that we can know what is true and what is not.

In a 'scientific' age, very few seem to understand the nature of 'science' - the importance of careful review of the 'facts' by others so that they can agree or disagree with the 'facts' as presented, and we can know therefore what is correct.

As ever, we are in the age of the 'Seer'. Not some magician, but the one who can 'See' through all the so-called information to the truth. And many people will not arrive at truth because they do not love truth, and do not wish to pay the price to arrive at it.

Booker and North work through each subject systematically, attempting to explain how each stage of the development has been arrived at, and what the ramifications are. As such, their work is valuable and a useful textbook to have on the shelf.

As you think about their approach, it should help you to be more discerning when reading a newspaper or watching television. Unfortunately, it will show you that almost everything that is reported in the media is shallow, the reporter guessing at what the issues are, and telling you what he thinks.

If you can accept anything that is reported at face value after reading this book I think you may have missed the point.
Report