The Science of Fear (Daniel Gardner)

Gardner sounds a clarion call for making decisions based on rationality and reason, rather than the emotionality encouraged by our primitive brains and the media that surrounds us. Why do we spend such a huge amount of energy and money on fighting terrorism, which objectively offers virtually no risk, when automobile accidents and heart disease are much more dangerous? Why is everyone convinced that crime is going up, that our children are at great risk for being stolen by strangers, that chemicals are giving us all cancer,when none of this is actually true? Gardner explains this irrationality by describing the many cognitive biases and shortcuts we use when making sense of the world, and how they can lead us astray. I found it compelling and very readable. Highly recommended.