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The Top 5 Fears That Rule The World
Paperback
Series: Top Shelf, Book 3
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Oct 28 2025
Pages: 78
Weight: 0.26
Height: 0.16 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
In 1962 a record company turned down the Beatles. In 1983 a vacuum cleaner that had taken 5,127 prototypes went on sale in Japan, because no British manufacturer would touch it. And in 1887 some of the most famous artists in France signed a petition against this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower.
The Top 5 Fears That Rule The World looks at the five fears that shape more of our lives than we like to admit: rejection, failure, loss, change and death. It explains where each one comes from, what the best research says about it, and when it is giving us good advice and when it is simply exaggerating.
Why did a woman with no working amygdala feel no fear of snakes, spiders or a knife? Why did timid fish outlive bold ones? Why do we value a coffee mug more the moment it becomes ours? Why did a Viennese doctor who told colleagues to wash their hands die in an asylum? And why did fear of flying after 11 September 2001 cost lives on America's roads?
Along the way you will meet J. K. Rowling, living on 69 a week, Jia Jiang, who spent 100 days deliberately getting rejected, the crew of Apollo 13, the Luddites, the Swedish champion of death cleaning, and Hans Rosling, whose survey suggested that 80 per cent of people know less about the world than chimpanzees choosing answers at random.
Every chapter ends with small, practical things to try this week, and a closing section sets out honestly what the research does and does not show, including famous findings and quotations that turn out to be shakier than their reputation.
This second edition has been fully rewritten. Every fact, figure and quotation has been checked against named sources, which are listed at the back of the book.
Warm, curious and grounded in evidence, The Top 5 Fears That Rule The World is for anyone who wants fear to be a good adviser rather than a bad boss.
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