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David Ropeik

How Risky Is It, Really?: Why Our Fears Don't Always Match the Facts Hardcover – Illustrated, 17 February 2010

by David Ropeik (Author)

61 ratings

Edition: 1^st

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Clear, balanced, and lively. -- Steven Pinker, bestselling author of How the Mind Works

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE RIGHT RISKS?

Do you worry more about radiation from nuclear power or from the sun?

Are you more afraid of getting cancer than heart disease?

Are you safer talking on your cell phone or using a hands-free device when you drive?

Do you think global warming is a serious threat to your health?

GET THE FACTS BEHIND YOUR FEARS--AND DISCOVER . . . HOW RISKY IS IT, REALLY?

International risk expert David Ropeik takes an in-depth look at our perceptions of risk and explains the hidden factors that make us unnecessarily afraid of relatively small threats and not afraid enough of some really big ones. This read is a comprehensive, accessible, and entertaining mixture of what's been discovered about how and why we fear--too much or too little. It brings into focus the danger of The Perception Gap: when our fears don't match the facts, and we make choices that create additional risks.

This book will not decide for you what is really risky and what isn't. That's up to you. HOW RISKY IS IT, REALLY? will tell you how you make those decisions. Understanding how we perceive risk is the first step toward making wiser and healthier choices for ourselves as individuals and for society as a whole.

TEST YOUR OWN RISK RESPONSE IN DOZENS OF SELF-QUIZZES!

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Product details

Publisher : McGraw-Hill Education; 1st edition (17 February 2010)

Language : English

Hardcover : 288 pages

ISBN-10 : 0071629696

ISBN-13 : 978-0071629690

Dimensions : 16 x 2.29 x 23.37 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 652,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

654 in Cognitive Psychology Textbooks

1,575 in Leadership Training

3,219 in Emotional Mental Health

Customer Reviews:
61 ratings

Product description

About the Author

David Ropeik is an international consultant and widely sought-after public speaker on risk perception and risk communication. Ropeik is an instructor at the Harvard University Extension School's Environmental Management Program and taught risk perception and risk communication at Harvard School of Public Heath (2000-2006). He was a commentator on risk for NPR Morning Edition program and has been a guest host for NPR's "The Connection." He has written articles about risk perception for The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, LA Times, and The Boston Globe, and Nova among others.

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Customer reviews
4.4 out of 5
61 global ratings

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J Garstang
soft back please
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 September 2018
Verified Purchase
not enough real life examples
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MMurphy
Informative in these times
Reviewed in Japan on 25 May 2020
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Good reality check for those with anxiety.
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Kindle Customer
Half a Book
Reviewed in the United States on 5 April 2020
Verified Purchase
A very good discussion of the subtitle (why our fears don't always match the facts). A little weak in the "how risky is it really" .And for good reason. Because a person's reaction to risk is rarely based on "good reason" but rather on the welter of emotions that prove that whoever stuck the word "sapiens" on our species was either sorely mistaken or had an incredible sense of humor.

The book was a mostly enjoyable,informative read on risk PERCEPTION. And it makes the strong point that risk perception is more important than actual risk ,which is definitely the case as far as managing risk in the public arena goes. My 'spidey sense' starts tingling,however,when time after time what I feel are real risks are downplayed by the author. No,I do NOT know the specific risk of certain chemicals that get into the water system. But,as a recently retired physician in New Jersey ,the home of the Toxic Avenger , I do know that I cared for years for a patient who died of a cancer directly attributable to toxins around Pompton Lakes and plumes of chemicals that affected her water supply.And as I was reading this book i had the distinct feeling that the author was underemphasising risks.And underemphasising the power and political will of groups that have an economic stake in the field of risk perception. When an organization founded by the foundations of Scaife and Olin goes unidentified as a representative of the political Right, I have a problem with that.

I have read enough in this topic to understand that people are very poor Innate Statisticians. This was a pretty good presentation of how and why this is. And it was even pretty good at explaining why that fact is relatively unimportant.I think what put me off is that I felt that at a lot of points the author was explaining why people should be less suspicious of the chemical industry and the radiation industry and various other industries which, in my opinion ,if they were immune to financial penalties,would not bat an eye at poisoning our water supply or our air.Or kill my patient (whoa, he Personalized it so the event was more impactful!!And if I fabricated that she was only 4 years old,it would have been even MORE impactful! Cuz the victim would have been a CHILD ( which is Impact Gold) No,she was a grown-up.It was quite tragic enough,thank you. And all the people in that area should not be expected to have to work out a specific mathematical risk with a specific biochemical mechanism of injury before they are protected from potentially predatory financial interests that might poison them.
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Michael P
Great book especially considering the Corona Virus panic
Reviewed in the United States on 15 March 2020
Verified Purchase
The author ties together a lot of relevant psychology, sociology and cognitive science into an easy to read book on both the causes of our fear biases and things we can do to live in a world with danger while avoiding anxiety and actually being safer AND achieving the improvements we want.

His work aligns well with the studies of other heavy weights like Antonio Damasio, Jonathan Haidt, etc.
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6 people found this helpful
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David J. Aldous
Lively analysis of the misperception of risks
Reviewed in the United States on 5 June 2011
Verified Purchase
This book focuses on the psychology of how we perceive risk, complementing an earlier book Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe and What's Really Dangerous in the World Around You giving hard data on what is actually risky. The author, who lectures on risk communication, knows how to hold an audience's attention, and succeeds admirably in conveying serious content in popular style and language. To me, the central feature is a list of 13 factors which can make a risk seem more threatening or less threatening than it really is (Trust; Risk vs benefit; Control; Choice; Natural vs human-made; Pain and suffering; Uncertainty; Catastrophic vs chronic; Can it happen to me? New vs familiar? Risks to children; Personification; Fairness). Also noteworthy is his discussion of the role of the media in making the world seem scarier than it really is -- a well-informed discussion, because the author worked as a TV reporter for 20+ years.

The book points out how the "perception gap" can be harmful: individuals continue risky behavior unaware, while over-worrying about the
wrong things; public policy is shaped by self-interested or ideological pressure groups, or by public opinion driven by scaremongering media.
There are suggestions for you as an individual on how to identify and counteract these psychological risk factors. The book concludes with a
discussion of the public policy aspect of risk communication. It is hopeless to try to impose some purely rational cost-benefit analysis on
the public, rather one should start by taking these predictable psychological factors into account.

All these points are discussed via entertaining real examples. So the book deserves 5 stars for significant interesting content not readily
found elsewhere. My only quibble is that the people who will read this book are probably those predisposed to rational analysis, not the ones who might benefit most.
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34 people found this helpful
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