Risk Savvy


41ekFGrpmtL A fascinating, practical guide to making better decisions with our money, health and personal lives from Gerd Gigerenzer, the author of Reckoning with Risk.Risk-taking is essential for innovation, fun, and the courage to face the uncertainties in life. Yet for many important decisions, we’re often presented with statistics and probabilities that we don’t really understand and we inevitably rely on experts in the relevant fields – policy makers, financial advisors, doctors – to analyse and choose for us. But what if they don’t quite understand the way the information is presented either?How do we make sure we’re asking doctors the right questions about proposed treatment? Is there a rule of thumb that could help choose the right partner?

This entertaining book shows us how to recognize when we don’t have all the information and know what to do about it. Gerd Gigerenzer looks at examples from every aspect of life to identify the reasons for our collective misunderstanding of the risks we face. He shows how we can all use simple rules to avoid being manipulated into unrealistic fears or hopes, to make better-informed decisions, and to learn to understand risk and uncertainty in our own lives.

‘Gigerenzer is brilliant and his topic is fabulous’ Steven Pinker

‘Catchily optimistic and slyly funny’ Guardian

Gerd Gigerenzer is Director of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and former Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. He is the author of several books on heuristics and decision making, including Reckoning with Risk.

About the Author
Gerd Gigerenzer is director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and director of the Harding Center for Risk Literacy in Berlin. Previous positions he held include Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and John M. Olin Distinguished Visiting Professor, School of Law at the University of Virginia. He is also a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the German Academy of Sciences, and Batten Fellow at the Darden Business School, University of Virginia.He received honorary doctorates from the University of Basel and the Open University of the Netherlands. Awards for his work include the AAAS Prize for the best article in the behavioral sciences, the Association of American Publishers Prize for the best book in the social and behavioral sciences, the German Psychology Award, and the Communicator Award of the German Research Foundation.
Gerd Gigerenzerger: 'We can teach kids to understand risk.'

Genre: Financial Risk, Risk Psychology