Risk is everywhere - from genetically modified crops, dams, and stem-cell therapy to heartbreak, online predators, inflation, and robbery. This Very Short Introduction examines what science has learned about how people deal with risks, what we can learn through decision theory, and how we can evaluate risk in our own lives.

• 1: Risk decisions


• 2: Defining risks


• 3: Analyzing risks


• 4: Risk perceptions


• 5: Risk communication


• 6: Reconciling risks


• 7: Risk, culture and society

Baruch Fischhoff is Howard Heinz University Professor in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences and Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
John Kadvany is a consultant to government agencies and engineering firms and has published on risk, public policy and the philosophy of science.