S.O. Funtowicz is a Visiting Scientist at the European Community Joint Research Centre at Ispra (Varese), Italy. He has taught mathematics, logic and research methodology in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

J.R. Ravetz is the Chairman of the Council for Science and Society in London. He was formerly Reader in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds. His previous writings include Scientific Knowledge and its Social Problems (Oxford, 1971) and The Merger of Knowledge with Power (Cassel, 1990).

Prologue.
Introduction: Some Illustrative Examples.
1. Science for Policy: Uncertainty and Quality.
2. Uncertainty and its Management.
3. The Mathematical Language.
4. Craft Skills with Numbers.
5. Measurement.
6. Maps.
7. Mathematical Notations: Functions and Design.
8. The NUSAP Notational Scheme: Introduction.
9. The NUSAP Categories: Numeral, Unit and Spread.
10. The NUSAP Categories: Assessment and Pedigree.
11. The Pedigree for Statistical Information.
12. Mapping the Uncertainties of Radiological Hazards.
13. Further Applications of NUSAP.
Epilogue.
References.
Index.

This book explains the notational system NUSAP (Numeral, Unit, Spread, Assessment, Pedigree) and applies it to several examples from the environmental sciences. The authors are now making further extensions of NUSAP, including an algorithm for the propagation of quality-grades through models used in risk and safety studies. They are also developing the concept of `Post-normal Science', in which quality assurance of information requires the participation of `extended peer-communities' lying outside the traditional expertise.