Playing by the Rules: How Our Obsession with Safety Is Putting Us All at Risk

Can a cell phone cause a major explosion at a gas station? What would happen if the 3 oz rule at airports was abolished? And are all the child protection measures really making children safer?

These rules exist in the name of our own protection, but has anyone ever stopped to consider exactly how and why? In Playing by the Rules, authors Tracey Brown and Michael Hanlon dig deeper to discover the real reasons behind many of the global safety rules and security regulations we obey without question, and their conclusions range from the surprisingly pointless to shockingly dangerous.

Does it make sense to surrender your nail clippers to board a plane equipped with an axe on the back of the cockpit door? And is there really a good reason to prevent an adult from swimming in a lake more than a foot deep? This engrossing study will inspire readers to question the people and organizations who come up with life's little guidelines – and empower you to live life to the full.

TRACEY BROWN is the Director of Sense About Science, a science education charity in the UK. She has led award-winning campaigns to stop misleading medical claims, including some that resulted in the UK’s 2013 Defamation Bill. In 2015-2016, she will be completing a fellowship at Princeton University in New Jersey. She frequently travels to the U.S. and around Europe for speaking events and conferences.