How Risky Is It, Really?

Why Our Fears Don't Always Match the Facts

By: David Ropeik

Narrated by: TJ Johnson

Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

"Clear, balanced, and lively." (Steven Pinker, best-selling author of How the Mind Works)

Are you afraid of the "right" risks?

Do you worry more about radiation from nuclear power or from the sun?

Are you more afraid of getting cancer than heart disease?

Are you safer talking on your cell phone or using a hands-free device when you drive?

Do you think global warming is a serious threat to your health?

Get the facts behind your fears—and discover...how risky is it, really?

International risk expert David Ropeik takes an in-depth look at our perceptions of risk and explains the hidden factors that make us unnecessarily afraid of relatively small threats and not afraid enough of some really big ones. This audiobook is a comprehensive, accessible, and entertaining mixture of what's been discovered about how and why we fear—too much or too little. It brings into focus the danger of The Perception Gap: when our fears don’t match the facts, and we make choices that create additional risks.

This book will not decide for you what is really risky and what isn't. That's up to you. How Risky Is It, Really? will tell you how you make those decisions. Understanding how we perceive risk is the first step toward making wiser and healthier choices for ourselves as individuals and for society as a whole.

©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (P)2020 Upfront Books

The gold standard of science writing

This book is phenomenonal and idk why it’s so underappreciated. This book has some of the best examples for understanding the cognitive biases that underly risk perception. I learned so much about concepts in behavioral econ, psychology, and journalism. The book manages to be firm and evidence based without being condescending or paternalistic. It’s empowering and I think one of the best books to think about covid (despite being written over a decade ago. Great stuff

Interesting look at what drives our fears

The fundamental lesson here is a good one: realizing that because we feel more fearful about one thing than another doesn't necessarily mean we SHOULD be more afraid of that. The book is filled with many examples. It also strives to look into why we fear one thing more than another: novelty, sensationlism and recency are examples. I also appreciate the author's admission of what he wished he had done differently in his journalism career, including one very sad story involving a child.

On the other hand, I wished he had cited more sources to support some of his allegations. In particular, his suggestions about what could be done differently to work with this aspect of people's flawed perceptions of fear. It seems to be more based on conjecture than on anything empirical. His dismissive, even insulting attitude towards people who are overweight is also troubling - in particular, the idea that if obese people had to pay more for health insurance, that they would change their sinful ways and be skinny.