Read what people have to say about Should We Risk It?

John S. Evans, Science, September 17th, 1999 "[A] fascinating tour of the field."
           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.  Each chapter includes an extensive set of solved problems, which provide a grounding in the scientific concepts and analytic methodologies underlying the field. These examples introduce the reader to many of the substantive environmental health problems where risk assessment has been instrumental in the analysis
of public policy.
           Should We Risk It? would serve well as the textbook for an introductory undergraduate course in risk assessment or, with supplementary readings from the current literature, as the basic text for a graduate course. Perhaps more importantly, the book is written in a way that it should be accessible to nearly any scientist with an interest in the field."

James K. Hammitt, Harvard 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."

 William Ruckelshaus, former Administrator of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
            "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."

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

J. Clarence "Terry" Davis, Former Director, Resources for the Future Center for Risk Management
            "Dan Kammen and David Hassenzahl have filled a long-standing need and have done it brilliantly. Their book provides the bridge between the technical books 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."

Baruch Fischhoff, Professor of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University
            "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."

Booknews, Inc.
            This book develops a training program for risk analysts, synthesizing theories and methodologies for risk analysis developed specifically for various disciplines<-->namely health care, environmental science, and high technology<--> but previously not discussed in tandem. It addresses specific risk analysis problems such as order-of-magnitude estimation, dose-response calculations, exposure assessment, extrapolations and forecasts based on experimental or natural data, modeling and the problems of complexity in models, fault-tree analysis, managing and estimating uncertainty, and social theories of risk and risk communication.