Risk: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Making Decisions

Author: Baruch Rischhoff and John Kadvany

ISBN-13: 978-0199576203

This Oxford University book is easy to read and very understandable. We find risks everywhere--from genetically modified crops, medical malpractice, and stem-cell therapy to intimacy, online predators, identity theft, inflation, and robbery. They arise from our own acts and they are imposed on us.

In a Very Short Introduction, Baruch Rischhoff and John Kadvany draw on the sciences and humanities to explore and explain the many kinds of risk. Using simple conceptual frameworks from decision theory and behavioral research, they examine the science and practice of creating measures of risk, showing how scientists address risks by combining historical records, scientific theories, probability, and expert judgment. The book describes what has been learned by cognitive scientists about how people deal with risks, supplies these lessons to diverse examples, and demonstrates how understanding risk can aid choices in everyday life and public policies for health, safety, environment, finance, and many other topics.