Living Dangerously

Americans do a poor job of measuring and reacting to the risks we face in our everyday lives. John Ross does a good job of explaining the basics of how risk can be measured and applies those basics to common situations in a science for non-scientist (or statistical for non-statisticians) kind of way. After dealing with risk in this manner, he moves on to more immediate and interesting topics of how we perceive risk and then react and overreact to perceived risks, often while ignoring or underreacting to some very real risks. Ross also discusses how we make tradeoffs in dealing with some risks that result in taking on new risks in other areas that are more serious than the ones we commonly find unacceptable.The author points out that Americans almost universally believe they are exposed to more risks today than their grandparents were exposed to, yet we are living much longer and healthier lives. Anyone overwhelmed with putting the constant stream of risk stories from television, newspapers and magazines into context could benefit from Ross' interesting and readable treatment of the subject.