Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Fear

By: Ranulph Fiennes
Narrated by: Ranulph Fiennes
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes has climbed the Eiger and Mount Everest. He's crossed both Poles on foot. He's been a member of the SAS and fought a bloody guerrilla war in Oman. And yet he confesses that his fear of heights is so great that he'd rather send his wife up a ladder to clean the gutters than do it himself.

In Fear, the world's greatest explorer delves into his own experiences to try to explain what fear is, how it happens and how he's overcome it so successfully. He examines key moments from history where fear played an important part in the outcomes of great events.

With an enthralling combination of storytelling, research and personal accounts of his own struggles to overcome fear, Sir Ranulph Fiennes sheds new light on one of humanity's strongest emotions.

©2016 Ranulph Fiennes (P)2016 Hodder & Stoughton
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know cover art
Climb Your Mountain cover art
Captain Scott cover art
Heat cover art
Adventures for a Lifetime cover art
Mad Dogs and Englishmen cover art
Soldiers and Slaves cover art
The Road Taken cover art
Up cover art
Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest cover art
Walking Free cover art
One Hundred Years of Dirt cover art
Ascent cover art
My Outdoor Life cover art
Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances cover art
Avenue of Spies cover art

What listeners say about Fear

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    178
  • 4 Stars
    76
  • 3 Stars
    38
  • 2 Stars
    16
  • 1 Stars
    13
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    148
  • 4 Stars
    64
  • 3 Stars
    37
  • 2 Stars
    25
  • 1 Stars
    18
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    160
  • 4 Stars
    60
  • 3 Stars
    40
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    12

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not quite what I was expecting

An enjoyable book by an amazing man! Not just a Great Britain, but a man great in the world.

The book though, was not about fear itselff as I expected, but about achievements and fearful situations.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding!

This book takes you on journey and is amazingly put together! I think I felt connected to the stories having had a military background and now lead an outdoor professional lifestyle much like Ran himself. He touches on a few well know stories but I liked how he talked about his older book, “The Set”, which I really enjoyed when I was reading it whilst posted to Northern Ireland in my early twenties. Ran is one of my favourite authors of the 20th century because of his powerful expression and mesmerising story telling ability. Some critics here slated his narrating, I felt read to at times but isn’t that the point? I wanted a gripping and eloquently written audiobook to smash away lengthy journeys and that’s what I got! Deep, thought provoking and powerful is my final summary of this amazing work!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

By far one the greats by a great man..

a true living ledgend... he takes you though the sands of time using his own accounts to draw you in. Also useing common events in time where all sorts of atrocities have happened.. making the listener sit up and listen... what a journey!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Amazing life of a true adventurer

You can’t help wondering if Mr Fiennes has spent his life wondering if he was good enough. The British public school has a lot to answer for. He examines fear but ignores himself.
Ranulph it is alright mate you have nothing to prove. Is what my son would say.
This is not to say that the book worth reading. I believe it is. Cover to cover

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Laborious listen

I found Ranulph fiennes voice lacked emotion and was told in one droning tone which made for dull listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

top class

A phenomenal man and a dying breed. Lessons contained within this book are life changing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Be afraid, be very afraid

Ok the title of this review is not fair, Ranulph Fiennes helps explores a range of fears and putting them in perspective, and coping with them.

It does however make quite grim reading in parts as he explores fears beyond what most of us will have in mind if asked "what do you fear".

It feels like a good book to have read, but some of the actual reading (a few chapters) is not emotionally a terribly pleasant experience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The only thing to fear, is not reading this!

Comprehensive overview of not just Fiennes' own stories of his expeditions and personal fears, but of different world events throughout history and the part fear plays in the human condition.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding!

A great, great book read extremely well, taking and explaining fear in every form in life, how it is good and bad, whilst covering his own and others amazing life experiences.

You could easily read or hear this again referencing many parts into your own everyday life. Very glad I chose this. also read by an amazing human being!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not as good as expected

Very random: more an unedited draft than completed work. Wanders off topic. Sometimes really interesting, other times like reading the Daily Mail. Overall OK insight into authors life and philosophy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful