Overview

Risks seem to abound in our everyday lives, especially the risks flowing from the explosion of our modern technology, with its pesticides, pollution, nuclear power, microwave radiation and chemical trace elements in food of all kinds. Two questions face all of us: how real are these risks and, if real, how do we manage our lives in order to avoid personal damage from them? The book examines these questions, delving into the nature and true seriousness of risk (as opposed to how bad the risk seems to be), into how we measure risk and how we regulate it. Lewis includes the latest scientific information on carcinogens and the greenhouse effect as well as detailed discussion of road safety, the risk of air travel, nuclear power and acid rain.

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9780393308297

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Reviews

A stiff, rational breeze in a debate which has hitherto been stultified with muddy thinking and political hidden agendas. -- William H. Press, Professor of Astronomy and Physics, Harvard University

A stiff, rational breeze in a debate which has hitherto been stultified with muddy thinking and political hidden agendas.--William H. Press, Professor of Astronomy and Physics, Harvard University

"""Occasionally a volume on some controversial issue comes along that is so balanced, so sensible, so down-to-earth, it clears away all the fogs and miasmas surrounding the question and leaves people a little smarter than they were before. [This] is such a work."" -- Barry Gewen - The New Leader ""A valuable, clearly written appraisal... Should be widely read."" -- John Allen Paulos - New York Times Book Review ""A first-rate text on the art and science of risk measurement and management... Offers a breath of fresh air to blow at the artful dodgers who pooh-pooh any risk and the Forever Fearful who would avoid risks at all costs... Three cheers to Lewis for leading us down the straight and narrow."" -- Kirkus Reviews ""A stiff, rational breeze in a debate which has hitherto been stultified with muddy thinking and political hidden agendas."" -- William H. Press, Professor of Astronomy and Physi"

Author Information

H. W. Lewis is a professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has chaired numerous government risk-assessment committees on defense, nuclear power, and other matters.

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