Derek Wong
http://www.firewalking99.com/master/20.htm
Mallow, Jeffry V.
Title: Science Anxiety: The Fear of Science and how to overcome It.
ClearWater, Fl: H&H Pub. Co. c 1986.
Status – Not Checked Out
Locn: HMLTN Call #: Q181. M175
3. The Denial of Fear:
"Wherever you go, whatever you do, you can never run away from you. . . . because wherever you go, there you are" - Michael McDermott
Winston Churchill said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."
4Why People Like to Terrify Themselves. The New York Times, ISSN: 0362-4331. October 30, 1999 Sec: B p: 11 Col:2
5. Newspaper Article: A thrill a minute; Is it too much for the kids? Chrisitan Science Monitor [CSM]. ISSN: 0882-7729. Date: Oct 29, 1999 p:3 col: 2
6. Michael McDermott has been successfully and safely leading people through the fire for 9 years. He is a world record holder for the hottest firewalk in the recorded history of the world - 1813 degrees set in October, 1997. In July, 1998 Michael McDermott and Kent Reichersamer (with help from David Willey) built and successfully walked on the longest firewalk in the recorded history of the world (165 linear feet). Michael is the author of Stories of the Fire: Personal Growth through Firewalking, Attitude Adjustment Affirmations and co-author with Steven Bisyak of Mastering Fear: The Ultimate Challenge. Michael has volunteered in 12-step programs for 17 years. He is a noted public speaker with a background in the traditions of firewalking and meditation. He has been featured on a Reader's Digest Video along with Nostradamus & Edgar Cayce. His world record firewalks have been covered by the BBC and the Discovery Channel (twice). Over the years he has been the subject of KING-TV Evening Magazine (the highest rated evening show in the US), PBS, ABC, Northwest Cable News, the Skeptical Inquirer, the Seattle PI/Times, and numerous cable television and radio talk shows.
7. According to statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 1990, 44,529 people were killed in fatal automobile crashes in the United States. Approximately half of those fatalities were alcohol-related. Fatalities per 100,000 licensed drivers were 26.66. Every year there are about 1,700,000 disabling automobile injuries. The death rate per 100 million vehicle miles for 1990 was 2.1 people. However, people still drive, despite these discouraging statistics.
Every day, on the average, 122 people in the U.S. are killed and 4722 people are disabled in automobile accidents! In spite of those grim statistics, people ride in automobiles every day; they don't stop driving. Driving an automobile is a very common and familiar thing to do. It's an acceptable risk, thought of as being necessary. It's done so many times and so often that people are not consciously aware of real dangers and the risks involved. If fear were a rational thing, getting into an automobile should be a very scary behavior, but it's not for most people, because they drive cars so often that they are desensitized to the risk.
Driving is a serious risk. Most people are nervous, scared, and even terrified the first time they drive a car. They realize how risky it is when they first start doing it.
8. According to Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary: Fear is an emotional reaction, often violent, to a real or imagined threat. Fear in human beings is believed to be learned rather than instinctive. Shortly after birth, the young of many animals are capable of well-coordinated withdrawal or flight reactions when confronted with a frightening stimulus. The human infant, however, does not display any such coordinated fear response.