The Gift of Fear, Gavin de Becker

Edvard Munch, The Scream

(April 24) I was leery of this title because I'm against fear-mongering, but on Occupation: Girl people were talking about how the book discusses intuition, which sounded interesting (and I wondered if The Gift of Fear would support or contradict Blink).

It turns out that Gavin de Becker is also against fear-mongering and sensationalism in the media, because he thinks they dull our natural intuition about looming danger. (So I have to once again envision an Evil Publisher, who this time saw the value of a title with the word "fear" in it.)

On the other hand, de Becker is able to show he knows how to sort out threats because of a long career of protecting celebrities and political figures, and evaluating the activities of hundreds of stalkers... so all these stories make the book a sensational read. Huh.

But, on the third hand, because de Becker can produce example after example to prove his points, he does convince you not to engage with certain types of people, not to worry when a stalker verbally threatens to kill you, not to underestimate your own abilities, and so on. So ultimately a reassuring book. Huh.