Customer Reviews

Risk Analysis: Foundations, Models and Methods (International Series in Operations Research & Management Science)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The book covers all essential stages of quantitative risk analysis, from identifying risk sources to calculating rational decisions under risk. Though it announces health risks as its main target, the methods and techniques are equally applicable to other areas, e.g. finance and engineering.

The book is well written using a clear and rigorous style. However, it is not an easy-reading. A reader is supposed to be closely familiar with basic concepts of calculus, linear algebra, probability and statistics, and differential equations. Reading the book with pen and paper would bring much more than just glancing through. The resulting benefits worth these efforts.

The book is best for deep studying of risk analysis, and as a handbook for skilled professionals. I would also recommend it to everyone wishing to gain clear understanding of quantitative decision-making under risk.

This book is essential to all serious users of risk assessment and management. It is accessible, well written and has many examples that illustrate the issues discussed. Dr. Cox's book spans from cancer model to decision and game theory. Its broad coverage and depth make the book an essential companion to those who must account for uncertainty and variability when assessing the potential outcomes of alternative choices. Because the book consider the single decision makers, as well as situations characterized by several decisionmakers, it is of much importance to current debates having to do with uncertain causation in health and environmental decisionmaking. I now look forward to a text on ecological risk assessment by this Author because this area of risk assessment requires a unifying framework, much like he has done for human health.

I note that the first reviewer is Daniel Byrd, a colleague that Dr Cox works with at times.

I cannot agree with Dr Byrd's view. I found this book to be impossible to read. It is highly mathematical, poorly laid out, written in a very heavy, formal style and focuses entirely on human health risk, which is not apparent from the book title.

I also know that some of the analyses that were performed in the book, and models Dr Cox created, have turned out to be extremely dubious, if not simply wrong.

I am afraid that I cannot recommend this book at all.

I note that the first reviewer is Daniel Byrd, a colleague that Dr Cox works with at times.

I cannot agree with Dr Byrd's view. I found this book to be impossible to read. It is highly mathematical, poorly laid out, written in a very heavy, formal style and focuses entirely on human health risk, which is not apparent from the book title.

I also know that some of the analyses that were performed in the book, and models Dr Cox created, have turned out to be extremely dubious, if not simply wrong.

I am afraid that I cannot recommend this book at all.

Louis A. Cox, Jr., Ph.D., President of Cox Associates and Professor at the University of Colorado, published Risk Analysis: Foundations, Models, and Methods approximately a year ago. The book is volume 45 of the International Series in Operations Research & Management Science. Order this magnificent text here. Armed with the ISBN number, 0792376153, which the book does not display, I could not locate this gem on the Kluwer Academic Publishers net site. The book costs a little too much in the hardbound version for most of us to purchase just
for extra informational purposes.

Too bad!

Right now, Cox's Risk Analysis is the definitive text in risk analysis. You can purchase it, study it, and with sufficient time, pull together additional source materials to gain a comprehensive understanding of this exciting new discipline. At last the community has an advanced text about the analysis of human health effects risk analysis that covers modeling, causality, and management in a coherent way. Tony Cox's book covers many topics, including ones like multicriteria decision making, so that it has a real world feel and appropriate complexity. Where else can you find a text that moves, in an integrated way, from a detailed treatment of data to estimate human mortality risks to applications of principles of ethics in managing the same risks, such as utilitarianism, game theory, prisoners' dilemma, and moral hazards?