Jeff Wise > Quotes

“The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
― Jeff Wise, The Plane That Wasn't There: Why We Haven't Found Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

“GDP of only just over Italy’s that’s trying to maintain”
― Jeff Wise, The Plane That Wasn't There: Why We Haven't Found Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

“In some ways, indeed, Russia far outstrips America; not only does the US at present rely on Russia for its entire manned space-launch capability, but even a good portion of its own unmanned launch capability — namely, that provided by Orbital Science’s Antares rocket — is powered by Russian-made engines (antique ones, at that).”
― Jeff Wise, The Plane That Wasn't There: Why We Haven't Found Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

“It may sound obvious, but studies of disasters have found that many people remain in denial in the face of evident danger. Nightclub patrons continue to dance and order new rounds of drinks as smoke fills their burning hall; passengers on a sinking ferry sit and smoke cigarettes as the vessel lists ever more ominously to one side. This denial is driven by a mental phenomenon called “normalcy bias.” Psychologists say that people who have never experienced a fatal catastrophe have difficulty recognizing that one could be unfolding.”
― Jeff Wise, Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger

“Without the skills to handle setbacks—bred, indeed, to believe that setbacks are inconceivable obstacles on the non-negotiable path to success—the child raised by helicopter parents is ill-equipped to handle defeat. Behind a flawlessly groomed exterior lies an immature and fragile personality. Rejection that in a healthier context might be interpreted as a challenge or an opportunity to seek out success somewhere else—“when a door shuts, a window opens”—feels unbearable to a young person with an unformed sense of self.”
― Jeff Wise, Fatal Descent: Andreas Lubitz and the Crash of Germanwings Flight 9525

“Each of the passengers has had the feeling before, in an instant of worry during unexpected turbulence, of breathtaking dread, that sudden confrontation with the all-too-real possibility that life could end, not somewhere in the distant future, but here and now, right now. On other occasions, those thoughts have been fleeting. Now they have come back, dwarfing those earlier shivers like the sun outshines a spark.”
― Jeff Wise, Fatal Descent: Andreas Lubitz and the Crash of Germanwings Flight 9525