New book on uncertainty

by John Q on May 19, 2008

Sorry for putting up a second plug in successive posts, but it seems as if, after the usual delays, quite a few things of mine are coming out that might be of broader interest than most of my academic work. I’m a contributor to a new book, Uncertainty and Risk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, edited by Gabrielle Bammer and Mike Smithson. It’s discussed in this piece on the ABC website, which talks about Rumsfeld and ‘unknown unknowns’, a topic I’ve talked about before (here at CT and here on my own blog).

There’s lots of interesting views of uncertainty, in all sorts of fields, from statistics to jazz. You can watch a slowTV video (parts 1 and 2) or hear a more complete podcast of the book launch, with a public lecture on uncertainty and intelligence (in the CIA sense) by Michael Wesley.

One thing that is, unfortunately, certain is that the price of the book will be far too high for all but the keenest readers, so you’ll probably have to wait for it to reach the library if you want to read it – there’s not even “Search Inside” on Amazon.


"Uncertainty and Risk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (The Earthscan Risk in Society Series)" (Earthscan Publications Ltd.)

You can, however, get 15 per cent off the UK price (save ten quid!) with this flyer

updateHere’s an extended ‘teaser‘ (4.4 Mb) with TOC and one chapter. More to come at the website of the book.

{ 10 comments }

1

Naadir Jeewa 05.19.08 at 10:43 pm

Will there be a more affordable paperback?

2

Righteous Bubba 05.19.08 at 11:07 pm

How can I tell if this book is any good? I’m worried.

3

fardels bear 05.19.08 at 11:27 pm

But can I read it on my Kindle?

4

bernard Yomtov 05.19.08 at 11:47 pm

Nearly $100 at Amazon.

Does that price make any sense at all unless the only buyers have no choice?

At least the shipping is free.

5

Ben M 05.20.08 at 1:12 am

Can you post the full table of contents?

6

dr ngo 05.20.08 at 6:07 am

I’m not sure if I’m interested or not.

7

rea 05.20.08 at 12:19 pm

Uncertainty and Risk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives

Speaking as both a lawyer and a small businessperson, I’m not sure such a book would be worth the purchase price . . .

8

dave heasman 05.20.08 at 11:01 pm

I thought the Smithson might be the Political Betting bloke. Oh well.

9

djw 05.21.08 at 10:56 pm

ToC here, but annoyingly, without authors attached to chapters.

To pricey for me, but I’ll ask my University Library to buy it.

10

John Emerson 05.23.08 at 2:05 am

Should have been published electronically. The authors won’t make any money, the publisher probably won’t either, and no one will read the book. Zero for three. If the publisher makes money, that’s actually worse since it means there’s no possibility of improvement.

Electronic publication can be print-on-demand, and it could easily be arranged to produce library-quality printed books for those who want them.

I’ve been waiting for a year for a $60 book to go down in price, and it’s not moving because only libraries buy it. No second hand.

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