CompleteMartialArts.com - Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe and What's Really Dangerous in the World Around You
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Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 613.6
EAN: 9780618143726
ISBN: 0618143726
Label: Houghton Mifflin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 496
Publication Date: 2002-10-28
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Studio: Houghton Mifflin
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Editorial Reviews:
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An indispensable and timely guide, Risk is the authority for
assessing threats to your health and safety.
We continually face new risks in our world. This essential family reference will help you understand worrisome risks so you can decide how to stay safe and how to keeps risks in perspective. Expert authors David Ropeik and George Gray include information on:
- 50 top hazards
- your likelihood of exposure
- the consequences
- ways to reduce your risk
They cover topics such as:
- cancer
- biological weapons
- indoor air pollution
- pesticides
- radiation
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The antidote to media scares
Comment: Though its prose style is deliberately dry, this wonderful reference work is the perfect antidote to the "scare of the week" that the media continually inflict upon us. Has short sections on each of 48 risks (e.g. indoor air pollution; pesticides; firearms; X-rays; caffeine; breast implants) containing data and the relevant scientific knowledge, summarized by two scales of "likelihood of being affected" and "seriousness of being affected". Even those who consider themeselves knowledgeable about risk will learn something; I recommend it for my undergraduate seminar course at Berkeley.
Customer Rating:
Summary: great for browsing
Comment: I thought this was a really fun and interesting book to read, and it is great for learning to think about things from a public health perspective. It also introduces a wide variety of scientific terms and concepts in an interesting and easy to read way. While I believe that the general conclusions on specific risks are valid in a general sense, I also feel as though the heavy reliance on population data makes this less of a practical guide on the individual level. For example, looking at the risk of developing health problems due to air pollution for the U.S. population in general is interesting and informative but may not accurately reflect my individual risk in New Jersey. Because of the complexities involved in risk assessment, I thought the risk meter presentations (although very interesting, and truly a browser's delight) were too general and simplistic. In the author's defense, the narratives often give more practical detail, identify modifiable risk factors and acknowledge some limitations of the data and assessments. While at times I took issue with the validity of generalizing the data and the practicality of some conclusions at the individual level, I recommend this book highly for those interested in how public health risk is evaluated.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Easy to read and comprehend
Comment: This publication brings more complex concepts of risk management to a common level of understanding for many college students. It helps create a foundation for proper risk communication and arms students with the knowledge to address a large variety of issues affecting our lives today.
Customer Rating:
Summary: MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT
Comment: I recognize the authors to be significant scholars capable of important work, but this book is downright deceitful in that the title and subtitle suggest that it is a scholarly effort when in fact it is a pop culture "digest" or collection of superficial lists. There is very little discussion worthy of the researchers and you should save your money for a real text if they do one. You can find ALL the information quite easily on the internet.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Read, But Has Some Shortcomings
Comment: I've been interested in the topic of perceived versus real risks for quite some time. When I bought this book I was hoping for a source for comparisons of data that would be useful to someone with such interests. While this book addresses many common risk situations with practical advice regarding them it lacks much really hard data or statistical analysis. No specific references are provided (footnotes, end notes, sources) for teh materials in the book. However, sources for further investigation do appear regularly at the end of each chapter.
Also, despite publication in 2002, after the "9/11" attack and all of its attendant fall-out it fails to address even at a superficial level the preceived risks of terrorism in the US. In the index the word terrorism is noted "see biological weapons (bioweapons); perceived risk." In my opinion, this lack of coverage is glaring. Granted the book was doubtless in the works before 9/11; still, had I been the author or publisher, I'd have delayed publication until a relevant section could have been added.
This is a handy book, a relatively easy read, and probably a decent introduction to the basic concepts of relative risk assessment. As long as one understands this is a basic layperson's text and not a serious look at risk assessment, this may be a good book for you.
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