Should We Risk It? Exploring Environmental, Health, and Technological Problem Solving [Hardcover]

Daniel M. Kammen (Author), David M. Hassenzahl (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0691004269 | ISBN-13: 978-0691004266 | Publication Date: April 19, 1999 | Edition: 1

How dangerous is smoking? what are the risks of nuclear power or of climate change? What are the chances of dying on an airplane? More importantly, how do we use this information once we have it? The demand for risk analysts who are able to answer such questions has grown exponentially in recent years. Yet programmes to train these analysts have not kept pace. This book addresses that problem. The authors draw together, organize, and seek to unify previously disparate theories and methodologies connected with risk analysis for health, environmental, and technological problems. they also provide a variety of case studies and worked problems.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Should We Risk It?, an exciting new text, explores the nature and the methods of risk analysis through a set of carefully selected, critically analyzed and clearly explained problems. . . . [A] fascinating tour of the field." -- John S. Evans, Science

"This book will be very useful as a text in a risk-analysis class. It will also be a valuable reference for practitioners of risk assessment in industry, government, and consulting. . . . The organization of the book is logical and effective." -- James K. Hammitt, Harvard University

Should We Risk It?, an exciting new text by Daniel Kammen and David Hassenzahl, explores the nature and methods of risk analysis through a set of carefully selected, critically analyzed and clearly explained problems. An introductory chapter provides an overview of the history and philosophy of the field. Nine substantive chapters cover the scientific and analytic foundations of risk assessment: modeling, statistics, uncertainty, toxicology, epidemiology, exposure assessment, technological risk, decision analysis, and communication. -- John S. Evans, Science, September 17th, 1999

This book starts off slowly, picks up speed, and quickly hits a very impressive tempoIn a tour de force of a chapter, they discuss among many other things biologically based, one-hit, two-hit and multistage cancer as well as noncancer models, maximum likelihood methods, safety factors and species extrapolation. And they do it in a way that is uniformly interesting and challenging, and with an awareness of the practical implications of the theory (for example, by discussing how the quality of data that can be expected is affected by the cost of lifetime rodent experiments). Successive chapters deal with epidemiology and exposure assessment in the same charged and entertaining manner. This book isfor anyone who wants to be provoked into thinking about the real world of the environment, health and technology. -- Risk Analysis, October, 1999

This is a truly innovative and timely book that addresses the concepts of risk and its management from a problem-solving perspective. . . . It leads the reader step-by-step through many of the dimensions of risk management. -- Review

This statistician found the book quite intriguingAlmost all of the examples are "real-world" in the truest sense. [T]he book is not a bunch of formulas and models. They [the authors] "seek to bridge the gap between the qualitative 'discussion' books" and the "advanced modeling books and journal papers. -- Mathematics Association of America, November 1999

From the Inside Flap

"Should We Risk It? is a timely and unique book. Its 'hands-on' approach to diverse risk problem-solving and decision-making methods fills a long-existing void. Using real-world problems, it introduces basic and more advanced methods in a clear, evenhanded, and thought-provoking manner. The more people who read it--both those already active in risk policy and those with a general interest--the better we as a society will be ready to cope with increasingly complex risk decisions. This book will improve both risk-based decisions and the associated public discourse."--William Ruckelshaus, former Administrator of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency

"This is a splendid book. It should be of interest to a wide range of students and professionals across the environmental and health sciences."--John Harte, University of California, Berkeley; author of Consider a Spherical Cow

"Dan Kammen and David Hassenzahl have filled a long-standing need and have done it brilliantly. Their book provides the bridge between the technical tooks of risk analysis and the real world of health and environmental problems. Mastering the contents of this book should be a requirement for anyone--student or policy maker--who wants to understand risk analysis."--J. Clarence "Terry" Davis, Director, Resources for the Future Center for Risk Management

"The authors have done a remarkable job of showing the common structures underlying the variety of risks that we face in our personal and professional lives. Moreover, their approach allows integrating the diverse forms of knowledge needed to address these complex problems. Readers will think differently after reading this book."--Baruch Fischhoff, Professor of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

"This book will be very useful as a text in a risk-analysis class. It will also be a valuable reference for practitioners of risk assessment in industry, government, and consulting. . . . The organization of the book is logical and effective."--James K. Hammitt, Harvard University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; 1 edition (April 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691004269
• ISBN-13: 978-0691004266
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,105,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introductory Text on Risk Assessment, August 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Should We Risk It? Exploring Environmental, Health, and Technological Problem Solving (Hardcover)

Written in a straightforward and almost conversational style, this book provides an introductory text on the topic of risk assessment. The book describes complex concepts in simple language and is thus effective in presenting the subject matter, Moreover, the exercises within each chapter are clearly designed to reinforce understanding of the topics covered. Overall, an excellent book for a student of risk assessment.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but more explanation needed., March 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Should We Risk It? Exploring Environmental, Health, and Technological Problem Solving (Hardcover)

This book provides a lot of good example problems in the field of environmental risk assessment. However, it seems to lack follow-up discussion of the case studies. It is intended, perhaps, that the reader would work through the problems and then perhaps discuss them as in a class situation. There are questions following the problems that might be considered adequate to lead the reader to the point the authors were trying to make. Nonetheless, it would help the cohesiveness if there were some discussion of the problems rather than just going from one to the next.

5.0 out of 5 stars Should We Risk It?, November 10, 2011

By 

Sue - See all my reviews

This review is from: Should We Risk It?: Exploring Environmental, Health, and Technological Problem Solving (Paperback)

Good Book, Very Helpful, It was very informative, Flowed with class letcure. Good seller. Quick Delivery, Do recommend. This book will help.