Bibliography

Here is a list of books, by no means complete, on risk perception and risk communication that you might want to read. There are also two books listed that explain the correlation between chronically elevated stress and health problems. They’re fun to read, and illustrate the importance of effective risk communication to help people make informed and hopefully healthier choices

Perception of Risk, Paul Slovic, editor. A collection of many of the seminal papers in risk perception, and fabulous bibliography of many more.

Judgment Under Uncertainty; Heuristics and Biases  Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, Paul Slovic eds. Academic, but an important volume on the groundbreaking work on the heuristics…the mental shortcuts…we use to make decisions. Optimism Bias, Loss Aversion, Availability, etc. This work identified why people make “irrational” choices about money, but it laid foundations for the mental shortcuts we use to make judgments about risk.

The Emotional Brain This is a fascinating and accessible book on the neuroscience of fear. The human brain is hard wired to fear first and think second.

The Social Amplification of Risk  Nick Pigeon, Roger Kasperson, Paul Slovic, eds.
Our perceptions of risk lead to choices and behaviors which can sometimes lead to secondary risks, as when news of a plane crash causes some people to drive instead of fly. This work recaps the theory, and has lots of case examples.

Risk Communications and Public Health Peter Bennett and Kenneth Calman eds. A terrific work on a more modern view of risk communication, with emphasis on its importance to societal health issues.

Mad Cows and Mothers Milk Doug Powell and William Leiss. A cautionary tale, offering compelling  case studies of how NOT to do risk communication.

Risk Communication, A Mental Models Approach M. Granger Morgan, Baruch Fischhoff, Ann Bostrom, Cynthia Atman.  A careful in-depth risk communication process based on initial research to determine what the experts say about the risk, what the target audience knows about the risk, and identifying and closing the gaps.

Improving Risk Communications National Research Council. A bit out of date but a seminal overview of the field by the top people in it at the time.

Risk Communication Regina Lundgren, Andre McMakin. If there is a text book on risk communication, this is it.

Responding to Community Outrage Strategies for Effective Risk Communication
Peter Sandman. A wonderful little volume by one of the pioneers in the field that describes how risk communication is more than just a matter of explaining the facts.

On stress and ill health effects of worrying too much

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers Robert Sapolsky. Stress, when it lasts more than a couple hours, can damage our heart, impair our immune system,  reduce fertility, make it harder to remember things, increase depression. This terrifically entertaining work explains how that happens, and why. (Hint: Zebras don’t stay worried when under attack. They either get away or turn into a lion’s lunch.)

The End of Stress As We Know It Bruce McEwen. Another clear, short, easily readable book on the effects of chronic stress on human