Discover how human beings react to danger-and what makes the difference
between life and death
Today, nine out of ten Americans live in places at significant risk of
earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorism, or other disasters.
Tomorrow, some of us will have to make split-second choices to save
ourselves and our families. How will we react? What will it feel like?
Will we be heroes or victims?
In her quest to answer these questions, award-winning journalist Amanda
Ripley traces human responses to some of recent history's epic
disasters, from the explosion of the Mont Blanc munitions ship in
1917-one of the biggest explosions before the invention of the atomic
bomb-to the journeys of the 15,000 people who found their way out of the
World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. To understand the science
behind the stories, Ripley turns to leading brain scientists, trauma
psychologists, and other disaster experts. She even has her own brain
examined by military researchers and experiences, through realistic
simulations, what it might be like to survive a plane crash into the
ocean or to escape a raging fire.
Ripley comes back with precious wisdom about the surprising humanity of
crowds, the elegance of the brain's fear circuits, and the stunning
inadequacy of many of our evolutionary responses. Most unexpectedly, she
discovers the brain's ability to do much, much better-with just a little
help.
