In the Interests of Safety: The Absurd Rules that Blight Our Lives and How We Can Change Them

Does an airline pilot really need to surrender his tweezers at airport security when he's about to board an aircraft equipped with an ax on the back of the cockpit door? Can a mobile phone really cause a major explosion at a petrol station? And is there really a good reason why you should be prevented from swimming in a lake more than a foot deep? These rules exist, and they exist in the name of our own protection. But in this engrossing dissection of global health, safety and security regulations, authors Tracey Brown and Michael Hanlon dig a little deeper to discover the real reasons behind many of the instructions we obey without questioning their creators' motives. Their conclusions range from the startling to the staggering, and in presenting them the authors seek to empower readers to question the people and organizations who come up with them in the first place.

Michael Hanlon is a London-based science journalist and author who writes regularly for national newspapers as well as The Spectator and New Scientist. Michael is the author of five popular science books, including Eternity: Our Next Billion Years, The Science of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Ten Questions Science Can't Answer Yet. Tracey Brown is the Director of Sense About Science, a charity that campaigns for better evidence in public debate and policy making in the UK, and worldwide through international collaboration. She has led award-winning national campaigns to defend sound research and to stop misleading medical claims. Tracey has contributed to books and journals on science, policy and the public, including Better Science Communication.