Submitted by Daniele Campello on Fri, 21/06/2019 - 09:09
The new book is called “Risk and Uncertainty in a Post-Truth Society” as part of the Earthscan Risk in Society Series and covers public trust in numbers and science and how to communicate uncertainty about contested facts under the looming spectre of a post-truth society. The foreword is written by Baruch Fischhoff, Professor of Decision Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Contributions to the book are from leading experts including Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, the Director-General of the UK Statistics Authority to the Head of Policy at the Royal Society.
Review
"The question of what constitutes acceptable risk has always involved a judgement about both science and politics. This issue is brought into sharp focus in this volume about the changing relationship between science, novel risks and society. The contributors, drawn from academia and the world of government policy, show how this relationship is of critical importance for the ways we now think about trust in institutions and risk governance. The important message of the book is that while we have not yet reached a ‘post-truth’ world in decision-making about risks, we need to guard against such a situation happening in the future. A timely and welcome contribution to a critical contemporary societal debate." -- Nick Pidgeon MBE, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Understanding Risk Research Group, Cardiff University, UK
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