“Flying without Fear” is an invaluable guide for the nervous flyer. The authors Keith Godfrey and Gordon Redrup – who have combined backgrounds in science, self-help and children’s books – offer an easy to follow and reassuring read for anyone who is afraid of stepping aboard a plane.

The book is amazingly detailed, but never layers its content with vast amounts of technical jargon. The type of questions it answers can vary dramatically, from the basic description of air turbulence to more detailed information about how a plane stays up in the air and the process of fuel dumping. The style of the content is entertaining and sometimes reassuringly frank. The very first sentence of the book sets the tone straight away: “If the engines stopped at cruising height you can glide for 30 minutes before you’re on the ground”. This would obviously strike fear into the hearts of many, but what the authors do brilliantly is highlight how flying is rarely like the movie-style disasters that can so often spring to mind.

To date, this book has helped many people conquer their fear of flying, and with the number of questions it answers will no doubt cover the topic that you may be unsure about. What is also brought to light in the book is how many safety features there are installed on a plane. If you have a phobia of flying, after reading this guide you could be well on your way to booking your flight to Cairo or Sydney.