Book Review: Nerve by Taylor Clark

ISBN:  0316042897 (ISBN13: 9780316042895)

Release date:  March 6th, 2011

Publisher:  Little, Brown and Company

Read from March 6th to the 28th, 2011

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Nerves make us bomb job interviews, first dates, and SATs. With a presentation looming at work, fear robs us of sleep for days. It paralyzes seasoned concert musicians and freezes rookie cops in tight situations. And yet not everyone cracks. Soldiers keep their heads in combat; firemen rush into burning buildings; unflappable trauma doctors juggle patient after patient. It's not that these people feel no fear; often, in fact, they're riddled with it.

In Nerve, Taylor Clark draws upon cutting-edge science and painstaking reporting to explore the very heart of panic and poise. Using a wide range of case studies, Clark overturns the popular myths about anxiety and fear to explain why some people thrive under pressure, while others falter-and how we can go forward with steadier nerves and increased confidence.

This book is great for anyone who wants to learn more about fear.  It's really something that's a lot more interesting than you think.  The book explains why and how we feel fear and how it's possible to overcome fear.

I was surprised and how interesting this book was.  With most nonfiction books like this, I get bored after a while, but that wasn't the case with this one.  It had so many interesting facts in it that I wanted to keep reading.

I found the subject of fear intriguing because I deal with it a lot.  I'm very awkward in social situations, and whenever I'm forced to have a conversation with someone I don't know, I get really nervous.  A sentence or two to just one person, I'm okay.  Carrying on a conversation or being put on the spot in front of a group of people, I have to try really hard not to panic.  If you go to my Youtube channel and watch my old videos, you can very easily tell how terrified I am in them.  That's gotten better since, but I still have moments where I get really nervous in my videos.  I hope what I learned while reading this book will help me get over that a little more.  The books doesn't promise to help you get rid of all of your fears though (that's not really possible unless you take out part of your brain), but it does give some good ways of working to overcome your fears or at least make them easier to live with.

I definitely recommend this to everyone.  If you have a certain fear or phobia (doesn't everyone?), then I definitely think you should check it out.  It really changed my views on nerve, fear, anxiety, etc.

*I recieved this book for free from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Teaser Tuesdays - Nerve by Taylor Clark

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.  Here's what you do:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I'm still reading Nerve (so little free time), so here's another teaser from it:



"In the numbers and logic round, though, Ogas was in rare form. When the announcer asked 'What does x equal in this equation: 3x + 10 = 2x + 50,' Ogas shot out the correct answer (forty) almost instantly, while Rutter, a self-admitted math weakling, struggled horribly." - page 161 of Nerve by Taylor Clark

Teaser Tuesdays - March 15th, 2011

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.  This is what you have to do:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser is:

"The military calls it a resistance-training laboratory, which is essentially a euphemism for 'torture center.'  For those three long weeks, trainees endure the psychological and physical abuse they might recieve as prisoners of war, complete with interrogations, forced isolation, malicious guards, even 'advanced techniques' like waterboarding." - Nerve:  Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and Cool by Taylor Clark

Teaser Tuesdays - March 8th, 2011

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.  Here's how it works:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Eighty years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt told a nervous nation, 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,' but it turns out that this isn't quite right.  Our problem is almost never 'fear itself' but the way we relate to that fear - by avoiding, withdrawing, seeking control, worrying, or falling victim to the mistaken belief that things will only be okay after we've annihilated all anxiety." - pg. 15 of Nerve by Taylor Clark

(I hope the formatting and everything turns out okay in this post.  It's set to publish at a certain time since I'll be at work when you're reading this, but I wanted it up sooner.)

In My Mailbox - March 6th, 2011

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren to show what books you got during the week.

I've tried this about four times already, and Blogger keeps screwing up the post.  I got seven books this week, and I had a long post with summaries and everyting.  Blogger kept moving text around and deleting huge chunks of the post.  I don't have anymore time to mess with it, so I'm just going to quickly list the books.

 

Love Finds You in Paradise Pennsylvania by Loree Lough (Given to me by my aunt.)

 

Nerve by Taylor Clark (I recieved an ARC from the publisher.)

 

My dad picked the rest of the books up at the Border's closing sale:

 

Ouran High School Host Club Volumes 5, 6, and 9 by Bisco Hatori  (I actually already have volume 5.  I may do a giveaway.  Would anyone be interested?)

 

The Darwin Awards Next Evolution by Wendy Northcutt

 

Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Duke by Sarah Maclean