or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
22 used & new from £13.50
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Risk
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

Risk (Paperback)

by John Adams (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £24.99
Price: £21.41 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £3.58 (14%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Saturday, November 14? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
14 new from £19.17 8 used from £13.50
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (1) £60.00 £60.00 Order it used

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein

Risk + Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
Price For Both: £29.76

Show availability and delivery details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

by Peter L. Bernstein
4.3 out of 5 stars (11)  £8.35
Risk Assessment in Social Care and Social Work (Research Highlights)

Risk Assessment in Social Care and Social Work (Research Highlights)

by Phyllida Parsloe
£18.54
Culture of Fear

Culture of Fear

by Frank Furedi
£12.54
Risk (Key Ideas)

Risk (Key Ideas)

by Deborah Lupton
3.5 out of 5 stars (2)  £14.99
The Perception of Risk (Risk, Society & Policy)

The Perception of Risk (Risk, Society & Policy)

by Paul Slovic
£22.70
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 192 pages
  • Publisher: UCL press; first edition edition (16 Feb 1995)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1857280687
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857280685
  • Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 94,820 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #25 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Personal Finance > Insurance

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

  • See Complete Table of Contents

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
   Download RISK - Free opens new browser window
www.SpinTop-Games.com/Risk  -  Download & Play the Hit Board Game Risk. Play to Rule the World. 
   Play 'Risk' online now opens new browser window
www.windowsgames.co.uk  -  A superb Windows Risk clone with 350 maps and Internet play 
   Risk - Play Free opens new browser window
www.iwin.com  -  Play Risk For Free - Free Risk Game Free Risk Game Play Only at iWin 
  
 

Product Description

Product Description

This work aims to bring the multifarious field of risk studies sharply into focus in a readable way for a wide readership throughout the social sciences and beyond.


From the Back Cover

Risk compensation postulates that everyone has a "risk thermostat" and that safety measures that do not affect the setting of the thermostat will be circumvented by behaviour that re-establishes the level of risk with which people were originally comfortable. It explains why, for example, motorists drive faster after a bend in the road is straightened. Cultural theory explains risk-taking behaviour by the operation of cultural filters. It postulates that behaviour is governed by the probable costs and benefits of alternative courses of action which are perceived through filters formed from all the previous incidents and associations in the risk-taker's life.; "Risk" should be of interest to many readers throughout the social sciences and in the world of industry, business, engineering, finance and public administration, since it deals with a fundamental part of human behaviour that has enormous financial and economic implications.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(8)
(6)
(6)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(3)
(3)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Risk
61% buy the item featured on this page:
Risk 4.5 out of 5 stars (8)
£21.41
Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear
23% buy
Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear 4.0 out of 5 stars (13)
£5.39
Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
8% buy
Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk 4.3 out of 5 stars (11)
£8.35
Bad Science
4% buy
Bad Science 4.5 out of 5 stars (204)
£3.58
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that must be read, 16 Oct 2000
Anyone who can grasp the concepts discussed in this book should read it; it has universal relevance. Adams strips bare the very shaky assumptions upon which much risk assessment is based in the world. It was a shock to me, and I expect it will be a shock to most people. To use a cliche: This book changed my life. More accurately, it changed my world-view. If you need more convincing, take a look at the commendations on the back cover. Any book that can debunk so much of conventional doctrine on road safety, environmentalism, medicine, and so on, yet draw such acclaim from such a diverse range of specialist publications is a book to be reckoned with! As a final note, the book is really very small. However, it is brief and to-the-point; his two hundred pages are worth a thousand from most writers.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The argument for rational fatalism, 16 May 2007
I've just finished reading "Risk" by John Adams and "Fooled by Randomness" by Nicholas Taleb. They make good companions. Both are illuminating and refreshingly entertaining. And both have the same main target: proponents of the view that risk is an objective phenomenon that can be measured and managed.

"Risk" Adams contends is a word that refers to a future that exists only in the imagination. It is inescapably subjective. Taleb, who is a New York trader, is especially [...] those who are fooled by randomness - deluded souls who believe that luck can be managed, that future prices can be divined by a study of past prices - and that such divinations will make them rich. The iconic case, with which Taleb has great sport, is the collapse of Long Term Capital Management. Two directors of LTCM, Merton and Scholes, received Nobel prizes for their development of the luck management methods that produced the collapse.

Adams, writing before the fall of LTCM, puts his finger on its cause. Merton and Scholes were not detached scientists observing something that could be objectively measured, they were players in the game, influencing, and being influenced by, all the other players.

Adams' most interesting, and sadly neglected, case study of the interactive nature of risk management is his demolition of the myth of the efficacy of seat belt legislation. Nowhere in the world, he shows, have seat belt laws saved lives. Everywhere they have resulted in a transfer of the burden of risk from those best-protected in cars to the most vulnerable outside cars, pedestrians and cyclists.

Five stars to both Adams and Taleb!

PS Your previous reviewer, Leitch, is wrong on his two "fundamental" points.
1. His belief that the risk associated with the rise and fall of shares is predictable. If he is not persuaded by Adams and Taleb, he might try When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Lowenstein, or Googling "Brian Hunter Amaranth" for examples of the disasters experienced by those who shared his belief in the predictability of share prices and natural gas prices.
2. His conclusion that Adams argues that motorists have a fixed "favourite level of risk". One of Adams' most useful insights is that propensity to take risk varies with the perceived rewards of risk taking.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Simply a superb book., 2 Aug 2006
By Les Hatton (Kingston on Thames, UK) - See all my reviews
Society in general seeks to quantify risk. This book shows why most such exercises are completely futile because of the phenomenon of 'risk compensation'. In brief, make something safer and humans typically respond by taking more risks elsewhere to compensate.

I recommend this book unreservedly. Its one of the very few I have come across which has a supremely important point to make and makes it in a clear, well-argued and compact way, supported by lots of interesting data; a revelation. Buy it now, it is every bit as relevant now as it was when it was written.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh Ideas for a society obsessed.
I attended a lecture of John Adams recently which led to me reading the book. It is really brilliant. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Luke says

2.0 out of 5 stars Simply wrong on two fundamental points
I read "Risk" a couple of weeks ago and quickly realised that it had a lot to say about the author's personal battles down the decades with people who disagreed with him. Read more
Published on 22 April 2007 by Matthew Leitch

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must-read" book
It's incredible how many well-meaning attempts to make society "safer" fail, foundering on society's apparent unwillingness to be safe. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2004 by Guy Chapman

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-read
I am an economist, and found the nature and subject of this book fascinating. It really is an important and powerful work.
Published on by Mr Anthony J Evans

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent and thought provoking book
Risk is poorly understood, and decisions arre often made on the basis of misunderstanding. Adams explores common misconceptions (seatbelts, helmets, power) and exposes many of... Read more
Published on 6 Oct 1999 by macrecumbent

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject


















i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.