Extreme: Why Some People Thrive at the Limits

ISBN-13: 9780199668588 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 288 str.

Emma Barrett

Opis

Why do some people risk their lives regularly by placing themselves in extreme and challenging situations? For some, such as astronauts, the extreme environments are a requirement of the job. For others, they involve the thrill and competition of extreme sports, or the achievement of what seem like unimaginable goals to some - such as being the first to reach the South Pole or climb Mount Everest. Whether for sport or a career, these people have made the personal choice to put themselves in places where there is a significant risk. What drives such people? What skills and personality traits enable the best to succeed? Does a successful mountaineer, astronaut, and cave explorer share the same abilities? Are there lessons the rest of us can learn from them? In Extreme, Emma Barrett and Paul Martin explore the challenges that people in extreme environments face, including pain, physical hardship, loneliness, disagreements, and the approaches taken to overcome them. Using many fascinating examples and personal accounts, they take a close look at the psychological impact on those who face these challenges, the traits that enable some people to succeed, and what we can take away from their experiences.

Recenzje

Deeply researched ... the book is amusing, intriguing, exciting and a little horrifying.

O autorze

Dr Emma Barrett holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Birmingham and is Honorary Researcher in Psychology at Lancaster University. For more than a decade she has led a behavioural science research team that collates, conducts, and communicates research for a wide range of public sector customers. She has also run popular blogs on deception and on forensic psychology for the general public. In 2010 she was awarded the OBE, partly in recognition of her achievements in translating research findings into practical advice and guidance for non-specialist audiences. Dr Paul Martin was educated at the University of Cambridge and at Stanford University, where he was Harkness Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He subsequently lectured and researched in behavioural biology at Cambridge and was a Fellow of Wolfson College. He is an honorary Fellow at Imperial College London. Paul is author or co-author of several science books including Measuring Behaviour, The Sickening Mind, Counting Sheep and Making Happy People.