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Fear gets a bad rap. Which other emotion can keep us from being killed? Of course, such a powerful tool can be troublesome if it gets out of control, so it behooves us to at least try to understand it. Science writer Rush W. Dozier Jr. has examined the topic carefully and reported back with Fear Itself, a highly readable guide to the biology and psychology underlying fight and flight. What is fear? Surely not just little parcels of adrenaline squeezed into our bloodstream. Dozier identifies three kinds: the primitive fear system, the rational fear system, and consciousness, which he believes developed primarily as a means for relatively defenseless hominids to handle dangerous situations. Describing these systems and their interactions using personal examples, stories from people in stressful situations, and scientific sources, he paints a picture of an invaluable system that is delicate and ripe for exploitation. (At one point, he lists the stories broadcast on an L.A. news program that seem to be designed only to provoke anxiety in viewers.) Suicide, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder all make appearances here, examples of fear gone awry. But it's not all bad; throughout the book, and especially in the last chapter, Dozier stresses fear's great value to us and suggests that by thoroughly integrating our three "systems" we might find ourselves happier, healthier, and even (when needed) heroic. --Rob Lightner
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