Foolproof : why safety can be dangerous and how danger makes us safe / Greg Ip.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ip, Greg, 1964- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Risk management.

Life skills--Safety measures.

Life skills.

Danger perception.

Survival.

Industrial safety.

Physical Description:

viii, 326 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2015.

Summary:

"We have learned a staggering amount about human nature and disaster -- yet we keep having car crashes, floods, and financial crises. Partly this is because the success we have at making life safer enables us to take bigger risks. As our cities, transport systems, and financial markets become more interconnected and complex, so does the potential for catastrophe. How do we stay safe? Should we? What if our attempts are exposing us even more to the very risks we are avoiding? Would acceptance of danger make us more secure? Is there such a thing as foolproof?" -- provided by publisher.

Contents:

Progressives, engineers, and ecologists

"Please, God, not in my district": before the economy could destroy itself, first Paul Volcker had to save it

Now is the time to panic: what to do when safety fails

More risk, please: the unintended consequences of football helmets and antilock brakes

The trouble with savings: from gold standard to euro

Unnatural disaster: the high cost of taming Mother Nature

Good risk, bad risk: balancing safety with disaster

The rescuer's dilemma: chaos today or chaos tomorrow?

The price of peace of mind: why insurance protects us from small disasters but not big ones

"If you think you are dangerous, you are safe": why airplanes hardly ever crash

A foolproofer's handbook: how to make the most of our best instincts.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-312) and index.

ISBN:

9780316286046

0316286044

OCLC:

902831348