Where No Fear Was: A Book about Fear

by A.C. Benson, Colleen McMahon (Narrator), Nappateez (Narrator)

Surely all of us know fear, and know the different types of fear we can experience. In this book, Arthur Christopher Benson walks us through these different types, going through a range of different topics, among others childhood fears many of us will remember, to the fears plaguing us in other periods of our lives, the origins of different fears, and essays on what a number of notable authors (of fiction) had to say about the subject. It should be noted that this book is not a scientific study, though written by an eminent scolar. Instead, all of Arthur Christopher Benson's remarkable talents as a story teller are shaping these chapters. - Summary by Carolin

5 pages, Audiobook

First published January 1, 1914

About the author

Arthur Christopher Benson was an English essayist, poet, author and academic and the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Benson was born on 24 April 1862 at Wellington College, Berkshire. He was one of six children of Edward White Benson (1829-1896; Archbishop of Canterbury 1882–96; the first headmaster of the college) and his wife Mary Sidgwick Benson, sister of the philosopher Henry Sidgwick.

Benson was born into a literary family; his brothers included E.F. Benson, best remembered for his Mapp and Lucia novels, and Robert Hugh Benson, a priest of the Church of England before converting to Roman Catholicism, who wrote many popular novels. Their sister, Margaret Benson, was an artist, author, and amateur Egyptologist.

Reviews

[Tobi ﾄﾋﾞ · Rating 3 out of 5]

each paragraph consists of 70 prefaces 90 side stories and the one small point the author is trying to make that usually needed no explanation at all

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those who enjoy ACB's fiction, and particularly his short horror stories, this will be of interest. A confirmed Christian, Benson explores not fears of old houses or lonely tarns or open country, but the often debilitating and demoralizing social anxieties some of us feel acutelybeach day. Benson extols the sense of proportion and probity as central in all turns of life. He also praises the hard-won skill of looking at fearful situations (fearful to us, innocuous to others) as opportunities to find out how much we might accomplish.

He hassome funny stories about life's little lessons in humility, and how he has learned to appreciate them.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those who enjoy ACB's fiction, and particularly his short horror stories, this will be of interest. A confirmed Christian, Benson explores not fears of old houses or lonely tarns or open country, but the often debilitating and demoralizing social anxieties some of us feel acutelybeach day. Benson extols the sense of proportion and probity as central in all turns of life. He also praises the hard-won skill of looking at fearful situations (fearful to us, innocuous to others) as opportunities to find out how much we might accomplish.

He hassome funny stories about life's little lessons in humility, and how he has learned to appreciate them.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does meander a bit - part psychology, part theology, partly an account of the depressions suffered by people like Samuel Johnson and Emily Bronte. However, the author's analysis of fear and anxiety, and the way these things can paralyse us into inaction, is very acute.