A Study in Fear

One of Shirley Jackson’s most famous quotes is, “I delight in what I fear.” Most people view fear as an undesirable feeling. After all, fear produces a rush of adrenaline and a rise in another hormone, epinephrine, which prepares the body for battle, (escape mode, or freezing in place) and increases muscle strength, blood pressure, heart rate, and sugar metabolism (is that why I often consume copious amounts of chocolate and cookies?) And as Franklin D. Roosevelt declared, “the only thing we...