CORRECTIONS

[ScienceWriters has leaned that a number of factual errors appeared in a previous book review of RISK. To save further confusion, the review has been rewritten in its entirety. SW regrets the errors and apologizes to the authors-Ed.]

RISK: A Practical Guide for Deciding What’s Really Safe and What’s Really Dangerous in the World Around You by David Ropeik (NASW) and George Gray, published by Houghton Mifflin.

Every day there are new reports about hazards to health and safety-from air travel to air bags, cell phones to salmonella-that leave people feeling frightened and insecure. But fears often don’t match the facts, say authors David Ropeik and George Gray. Fears of relatively low risks often run high while concern about other larger risks is often lower than it should be. Ropeik and Gray’s book is a practical guide for figuring out how to put risks in perspective. Ropeik is director of risk communication at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a regular commentator on National Public Radio. George Gray is a toxicologist also at the Harvard Center. The authors found, based on the number of people who get sick or die from exposure to various hazards, that the health risks from pesticides, water pollution, hazardous waste, and mammograms are lower than many people believe; while the health risks from alcohol, air pollution, solar radiation, accidents in the home, and medical errors are much more serious than many people realize. “This book is a guide for living a longer, healthier, less worried life,” Ropeik says. “The more we know, the better we’re able to make informed and healthy choices.”

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