Nerve: Adventures in the Science of Fear

by Eva Holland

Award-winning long-form journalist Eva Holland had always felt that her deepest fear was the death of a loved one. When her mother suddenly passes away, she’s sent spiraling into an odyssey of confronting fear itself. Along with investigating the science of fear, Holland uses herself as a test subject, jumping out of airplanes, rock climbing, and delving into her fears of loss to better understand what her research in the science, medicine, and history of fear reveals. Along the way, Holland meets the scientists who are developing a pill to leech the fear and horror from traumatic memories, and seeks out the sufferers of a rare disease that prevents them from ever feeling fear. She sifts through what we know about the dynamics of how fear spreads in a crowd (and, too often, how it metastasizes into anger and hate). And she applies what she learns to managing her own fears.
 
A mix of Mary Roach and Cheryl Strayed, Holland explores the universal human questions: Why and how do we feel fear?  Why does fear seem to spread through groups and crowds like an airborne virus?  Most importantly: Is there a cure for fear—and if so, is “facing our fears” really that cure?

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Psychology, Memoir, Audiobook, Mental Health, Self Help

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 2020

About the author

Eva Holland is a freelance writer based in Whitehorse, Yukon. She is currently a correspondent at the magazine Outside, and has had her work published in Wired, Bloomberg Businessweek, Pacific Standard, National Geographic News, The Walrus, Hazlitt, and many more

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sheesh, what a bad book.

All emotion and nothing really educational.

It was like a memoir.

With books like this, I want content, not emotion.

I'd truly recommend retitling this book to "Eva's Scared: A Journey AND JOURNAL Of What I Fear" instead of the title used.

1.8/5

[Brandon Forsyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both a wonderfully moving personal account of overcoming your fears, as well as a fascinating scientific examination of what we understand about that process, Eva Holland’s NERVE reminded me of some of Bill Bryson’s best work. It’s funny, deeply human writing that leaves you wanting the author to guide you through more subjects. While I’ve certainly laughed harder at Mr. Bryson’s books, I don’t know if I’ve ever teared up while reading one, and I certainly did here, as Holland writes movingly about her mother and the experience of losing a parent. I wanted more by the end, and will be following Holland closely to see what she does next.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been fascinated by the study of fear - how our brains react when we're afraid and how we can get past the things we're terrified by. Eva Holland's new book is an interesting take on this subject. The reader follows along on her journey to work on her own personal phobias (of heights, driving, the death of a loved one) as she simultaneously researches the science behind fear. I thought it was a brave choice for Holland to mine her own experiences for research topics, but I guess I wasn't expecting this book to have as much of a memoir-style to it. I found myself more drawn to the actual scientific and psychology-based research she cited and then trying to speed past her personal recollections. I did find the sections where she explored treatment options for anxiety-based disorders (including EMDR and exposure therapy) to be the most interesting aspect of this book. Holland is clearly a very talented journalist who has a knack for educating the reader on topics they might not know about. However, the book might have benefitted from a slightly heavier focus on research and additional personal accounts from other subjects to give it a more well-rounded feel.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fear. It can be a daily part of our lives, but does it have to be? What are the benefits and costs of having fears? Holland, a jouranalist, feared heights and the death of her mother. When her mother passes away, she sets off on a journey to learn how to manage her fears and even overcome them.

Why I started this book: Book talk at PLA: Nashville and an awesome cover.

Why I finished it: So, this book is billed as a Mary Roach style... but Holland spent 80% of the book talking about herself and 20% talking about the science. Roach flips that ratio and is a little funnier. This book was eye-opening, I had no idea that people spent that much time afraid. And it was awesome to hear about the research and therapy for these people but ultimately the payoff wasn't worth the investment.

[Viktoria]

Unfortunately, I’m not the intended audience for this book. I didn’t expect this to be a memoir, and I wasn’t able to relate to Holland’s cultural values As a mountain climber I understand the author’s fear in scary situations she has voluntarily found herself in while climbing, however, the fear she experienced seemed to me coming from lack of preparedness. That was just the very beginning of the book. Holland’s other personal fears seemed so vastly internal, it was as if she lived in a world somewhat alien to her. Further in the book there is scientific analysis o originally picked the book for, but Holland lost me by then.

[Janelle Herschberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author weaves her personal experiences with fear and phobia with scientific and medical research. She explores ways to conquer fears and how she applied various theories to her own life. I enjoyed the psychology and brain function parts of the book. Overall it kept my interest. I will be pondering her thoughts on fear as I face my own.

[John Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected something different: a little more science and less memoir. Or as the jacket says: I wanted Mary Roach more than Cheryl Strayed.

[rachel ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read nerve for my college eng1a class! a deep dive into the emotion of fear, the neurological significance, and how our relationship to fear can morph and be changed rather than constantly hindering us, this book was interesting and sobering all at once.
eva’s relationship with fear was quite the journey, and i think she was the perfect narrator for the book, as her story spanned decades and the newfound maturity and freedom after all of her experiences were evident. the peppering of anecdotes throughout the book kept the reading material accessible, though the overall emotional tone was dark.
however, it was mostly anecdotal (i did read the entire book, without skipping anything), and while this style was much easier to understand than a scientific textbook, i felt the title didn’t quite deliver on “the promise of the premise” (the science of fear.) to be fair, there were a couple chapters towards the middle that were mostly geared toward neuroscience and the actual mechanics of what’s going on in the brain when fear is triggered, but the ratio of that to the stories was somewhat disproportionate. however, i will reiterate that this made it much more enjoyable for me as a reader, and this was a great choice for my english class. (:

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting study of fear, how it forms, what it does to us psychologically and physiologically, and the authors experiences in trying to overcome her own sometimes debilitating fears. It makes me think I should probably try to do something about my own, but I don't know if I will be able to make myself.

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advanced reading copy through a publisher shipment. I thought that since there is a lot of fear going on now, what with the pandemic and everything, a book about fear might help me understand some of the feelings that are going on around me, especially on social media. So many people are having different reactions to the pandemic, and I believe those reactions are being fueled by fear in its different incarnations. Holland's book was very personal, focusing on her fear of her mother's death - which was realized - as well as her fear of heights and fear of car accidents. I found solace in Holland's journey of dealing with her mother's death, especially since our fear at the moment is partially about losing family members. While there is no instant balm for grief, we can be assured by Holland's story of facing up to that fear, especially since it is something we all face. Holland also participated in a very interesting experiment for reducing fear using the beta blocker propranolol, which I used in the manuscript for my first novel (which may never see the light of day). It was interesting because the process was similar to what I had set up for my fictional characters. I'll definitely refer to this book again for its thorough examination of fear science, and I appreciated Holland's candid sharing of her own experiences.

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nerve is a delightfully readable and personal exploration of the author's experiences overcoming the various, sometimes crippling fears she has encountered in life. Holland's vulnerability in exploring some of the darkest corners of her life is admirable, and the personal narrative throughout keeps you engaged in what could easily have been a dry and academic exploration of the psychology of fear. I don't have any phobias or crippling fears to contend with, and still found the book relatable, interesting, and inspiring. I think anyone who has or is struggling with fears holding them back could really find inspiration and camaraderie in this book.

[Christy · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF
This was more of a memoir, a journey of personal loss and anxiety based fears. Just wasn't what I was looking for.

[AJ]

I wish this had been marketed as a memoir and not a deep dive into the science behind fear. I read about 70 pages before I gave up — maybe if I had known going in that I’d be reading a memoir about this woman’s life, I’d be more likely to finish it.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book has the word science in its title, it's definitely not that scientific. Rather it is a memoir by the author, heartfelt and full of her story. The story of her overcoming many fears during the course of her life thus far. Huzzah to her and her victory.

24/52:31

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. I understood there was a memoir component to the book, but the title's emphasis on the “Science of Fear” led me to believe that I could expect about half the book would be spent on the science behind our fear. This book is 85% memoir. The last third was when the science was more integrated into the book and was much more engaging (and redeemed the book from a two star to a three star review).

Part of my issue is the memoir part wasn't that engaging to me. Sure a few examples of the fear overwhelming the author are fine, but there are only so many times you can talk about heights or car crashes and personal fear experiences before it starts to feel like re-hashing information over and over.

Honestly, this book felt a little like a therapy session at times (namely in the first 2/3s). I don’t mind hearing about a friend's personal therapy experiences, but I’m not as interested in a strangers. I think therapy is something most folks will need at some point in their lives. I certainly have found it useful.

I will admit my own personal experiences with trauma and grief made me struggle to relate to hers. This is a personal failing of mine as comparing trauma isn’t fair because trauma impacts people differently. But I’m noting it because it certainly did color my perception of the book and is a bias I readily admit.

The book was well-written. I didn’t see any glaring issues with editing or formatting of the kindle book.

[haiz!! · Rating 3 out of 5]

While "Nerve" delievers an uplifting journey of Holland discovering and trying to overcome her fears, I can't say that I was overwhelmed with her insight. There is no doubt that it is well-written (and even more well-researched), but personally I felt that Holland tried to encorperate too many sub-topics. Just when I would get comfortable and think, "Okay, we've found the focus," the next chapter would whiplash me into something completely different. Even so, "Nerve" was a helpful example for how to conduct research that you connect to on a personal level. Regardless of my opinions of the novel, I admire Holland's courage to face her own fears and display them for the world to learn from.

[Syd :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 Stars

I was interested in the premise of the book,, and ofc
the science of fear is always an interesting topic. Holland’s writing is engaging, and she explores fear in a personal way. That being said, I wanted more science, less memoir. The book leans heavily on her personal experiences, which overshadows the facts and research.

[Quin Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that Eva Holland’s memoir, Nerve, is a fantastic blend of science and story. I appreciate that she uses the history of the field of psychology that is relevant to what she is talking about. She seamlessly weaves in personal connections and examples to further prove and strengthen her points. She builds on her points to come to very interesting and satisfying conclusions. I read this book for an English class and I frequently found myself reading for fun rather than analyzing what I was reading. I love the concluding perspective that Holland comes to at the end of the book. If you are looking to learn more about fear and hear a personal account of some treatment methods, or are just interested in a good read, I would recommend this book.

[Georgia Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Nerve for my English class and I ended up really enjoying this read. It's a mix of personal stories and sciences, all generally focused on understanding and overcoming fear. Holland talks about her own personal experiences with fear and how she learned to face it, which made the book feel really honest and relatable in ways. Something I liked the most in this book was the authors writing style, how she combined emotional story telling with actual research, it wasn't all just about herself, but about how fear works in general and how different people deal with it. Its an amazing read if you're interested in psychology or just want to understand from a different perspective on how to handle and control your own fears. I would definitely recommend this book.

[Mohamed Salim · Rating 5 out of 5]

What terrorizes us? What about supposedly irrational fears of things like heights or bugs? Most people are aware of the well-studied "fight or flight" response that has helped secure human survival in the face of immediate danger. In her book, Eva Holland attempts to gain some control over her fears through research, therapy, and experiments with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and exposure treatments. She confronts her fears (heights, falling, driving, and the aftermath of her mother's death, foremost among them) to examine the phenomenon of fear. The book is an excellent example of how trauma affects us all in one way or another. Highly recommend it.
Mohamed ELK

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written and sometimes enlightening exploration of the process of recognizing and controlling her fears. The chapters the dealt with the death of her mother and the accompanying grief hit close to home, so I was emotionally invested before the fear exercises even started. I remain skeptical that our deepest anxieties can be cured through simple methods, but I appreciated learning a bit more about all of them (EMDR especially intrigues me since I am so emotionally responsive to my own dreams.) I appreciated Eva's vulnerable, honest approach to the topic.

[Taco Meme · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an amazing read. I liked how there was no implication that Holland is now courageous in the conlusion. It was more believable in contrast. she still experience fear, but it appears to be less overwhelming and more controllable now. My main lesson from this memor is probably that I desire to have the fortitude Holland did to examine her anxieties from all sides in an effort to fully comprehend them.

[TJ Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very measured and intimate approach to this topic. We've all wondered about our relationship to fear, and Holland's journey is honest and accessible, a good story for us readers to remember.

And, really, there are so many interesting things going on with the researching fear these days.

I know I will think on this book in times of duress and keep my eye out for new research.

[Warren Baxter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently finished reading nerve. I heard about it from a friend then for other reasons, I decided to pick it up. I was very optimistic about where this book would take me. The book is a lot of self-reflection and only a small portion is science-based. Generally, when I read a book I prefer to have more science but, Holland did try to find a balance. It has good stories and some of them are relatable. In the end, the book was hard to read because the majority of it was about personal fear. Not so much the science but how the author was constantly in fear throughout her life.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books is very autobiographical..It focuses in the authors personal experiences and fears and then intermingled the science into her story. I listened to this as an audiobook. And are times all the denials in her stories had me tuning out causing me to miss the science which I was interested in.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Nerve is an interesting book which is something of a hybrid between non-fiction science and memoir by Eva Holland. Released 14th April 2020 by The Experiment, it's 256 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

The book is split into three interwoven and related parts. The first part is a moving personal account of the author's experiences with situational phobias in her own life and how it was inextricably tied to emotional trauma. She has a sure and deft voice and she expresses it with a touching vulnerability and strength. The second part of the book is an account of her journey toward grabbing her own fear of falling, of heights, of loss of physical control, and taking control of it and learning to minimize its effects on her life by doing the exact things of which she was most afraid. The third part of the book (and the one which completely sucked me in) is the layman accessible examination of the physiological science behind fear and fear reactions. I learnt quite a lot from these chapters about the body's response to fear (both rational and irrational) and the emotional responses to the physiological reactions.

There are some parts of the book which I found almost excruciating to read. The author is quite gifted at realistically depicting the terror of a full blown panic attack and it makes for both enlightening and difficult reading. The author has provided a superb bibliography and reading list with annotations for each chapter for readers who are interested in further exploration of the subject.

This is not a how-to-fix-your-fears handbook; the author has not provided medical advice. It is, however, a compelling and interesting look at the author's experiences with her own phobia in her own life.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Janet Hutchinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fear, what causes it, and how to cure it, is the subject of this book. Eva Holland’s fears seem deep-rooted and debilitating, but her examination of them, and her attempts to overcome them make for a fascinating read.

[Gayle McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done, so interesting. Admire her storytelling and writing skills.

[Peter Cashwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd been looking forward to this one for a while, based on my experience with Eva Holland's magazine work, but I have to say it surprised me. I had expected a largely interview-based examination of the way fear works on the human mind and body, and there are certainly plenty of spots where that's exactly what's provided. What I did not expect was the depth of personal experience involved.

We learn in great and often painful detail about Holland's own encounters with fear and its cousins--panic, anxiety, dread, phobia--and what we learn creates a powerful engagement with her quest to understand and overcome (or at least come to a detente with) her fears. She discusses fears that are universal (the death of a loved one) and fears that touch on the mundane (driving), fears she knows from experience (heights) and those she doesn't share (spiders). She takes us from the top of Il Duomo in Florence to the surface of a frozen stream in British Columbia, from a darkened riverside park in Ottawa to a fire station in Amsterdam, using a mixture of interviews, references, and personal narratives to keep us hooked.

All in all, Nerve is a wonderful example of the many ways that good nonfiction can be as gripping and emotionally satisfying as good fiction. Whether it should be counted as memoir or personal essay or science writing or nature writing, it guides you down channels that expose you to new sensations even as they put in context the sensations you already know well. And if you have any questions about its readability, I'll just note that I spent two weeks waiting for the hardback to arrive from my bookseller and read it in under two days.

Highly recommended.

[Helen Eddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually like non-fiction all that much, but this captivated me from the first chapter and was so incredibly enjoyable to read. The setting of the author's northern Canadian hometown was really well captured, and her personal story was super relatable, even when she described experiences I will never share (sky diving?!). The research she explored was easy to read about, and reminded me of my favourite intro psychology courses. Brain science is often a grind to read about, or too nebulous to understand, but this book was neither. The author did a great job of explaining how our memories and fear responses work together, and made me feel hopeful for handling my own fears and anxieties. This book could not be more timely. Everyone should read it, right now!