Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe and What's Really Dangerous in the World Around You

An indispensable and timely guide, Risk is the authority for assessing threats to your health and safety.

We continually face new risks in our world. This essential family reference will help you understand worrisome risks so you can decide how to stay safe and how to keeps risks in perspective. Expert authors David Ropeik and George Gray include information on:

- 50 top hazards - your likelihood of exposure - the consequences - ways to reduce your risk

They cover topics such as:

- cancer - biological weapons - indoor air pollution - pesticides - radiation

This practical guide to public health provides an evidence-based framework for understanding the world around you:

• Risk Perception vs. Reality: Discover why our fears often don’t match the facts and learn to separate what’s truly dangerous from what only feels scary.
• Evidence-Based Information: Empower yourself with clear explanations of toxicology and epidemiology, the core sciences behind understanding modern health threats.
• 50 Common Hazards Explained: From cellular telephones and air pollution to foodborne illness and medical errors, get a comprehensive breakdown of exposure likelihood and real-world consequences.
• Actionable Safety Strategies: Move from worry to action with practical, expert-backed advice on how to reduce your risk and keep your family safe from a wide range of everyday dangers.

David Ropeik has served as Director of Risk Communication at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. He was an award-winning journalist for two decades.