Engineering-risk Books

I was expecting a lot from this book since it is written by the very famous Michael Stabin, expert in the field of dosimetry. The book covers the subject of health physics very well, with a few typos here and there. But my biggest disappointment was to find the open-source web site wikipedia as a reference for many of the figures in the book. The author might have his reason for this, but I still think it is a little awkward for a book of this scope...

This is a much needed book. I good modern overview of what you would encounter in the field of radiation protection and dosimetry. The coverage of standards and their development is often missed in other works. Since you will spend a great deal of time referring to these standards knowing the actors and history is important. As someone in the field I would have liked to have seen a little more on international standards development. It was very refreshing to see a text where equations were defined clearly. So many physics books seem to revel in making you figure out that particulars authors flavor of equation definition.
I have found the book to be a great general reference and starting point for those new to the field. It is actually an enjoyable read. And having a joke thrown in once and a while was great.

This is an excellent book for students of radiation protection and dosimetry. It provides a great overview of health physics from radioisotope decay to non-ionizing radiation. The technical content is balanced with good practical examples. I would like to recommend this book for anyone studying health physics or preparing for the certification by the American Board of Health Physics.

This book is the coolest. Buy this book so my family can have more money, but it is a very well written, insightful book, with jokes tosses in at the right times.

Check out his beard!

The articles presented in this book definitely provide a good foundation of concepts required for FRM and Financial Markets.

The chapters on Interest Rate Option Models (Riccardo Rebonato) and Calculating Risk Capital (Thomas Wilson) are great critical surveys on their respective topic

This book is a continuation of volume 1 - being that it is purely focused on financial markets and financial products. I was looking for a book on managing risk surrounding the development of new products (i.e. goods) and services for the market place. These issues are VERY different than those surrounding financial products in a nearly efficient market. I'll keep the book for the excellent content, but beware - it's probably not what you might expect!

The chapters on Interest Rate Option Models (Riccardo Rebonato) and Calculating Risk Capital (Thomas Wilson) are great critical surveys on their respective topic

This monograph provides an integrated view of risk management to lifeline systems which include transportation, telecommunications, energy, and other vital support systems. The monograph develops tools for understanding and developing appropriate mitigative strategies. It also examines what can be done once damage occurs to minimize damage and disruption. All sections of this monograph are balanced and well developed. Interesting treatment of uncertainties and stochastic analysis.

The Genesis of this monograph is the collaboration between two ASCE committees: CDR (Council on Disaster Reduction - Risk and Vulnerability Committee) and TCLEE (Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering - Seismic Risk Committee), which started in 1999. The two committees proposed to jointly examine acceptable risk to lifelines threatened by natural disasters. Later this theme was 'upgraded' to one of ASCE's Blueprints for Change.

Lifeline systems include energy (oil, electric power, gas), water and wastewater, transportation (air, land, sea modes), and communication networks. Key elements in risk evaluations are the damage estimation and its probability of occurrence, as well as a treatment of uncertainties. The presence of many parameters in models, in which assumptions are at best only partially verified, implies that there can be a virtually never-ending search for improvements of models, data, and assumptions (according to the editors Taylor and Vanmarcke). Apart from these technical issues the monograph contains also publications on risk criteria issues, and communication, administration and regulatory issues.

The two ASCE committees have expressed the intent in subsequent publications. The reviewer is sure that many people will be looking forward to the next report.

This is one of the more thoughtful books I have read in this field with careful and precise analysis. Highly recommended.

The author proposes that we categorize software development risks like the Center for Disease Control categorizes disease. He builds on this theme by discussing risk from the perspective of symptoms, susceptibility, prevention, and therapies. The information is excellent., and is not available in this compact format from any other source (at least that I know of). This book is a 'must' for any manager intent on improving the system development life cycle. /// This book is primarily directed toward knowledgeable software professionals. It assumes you have a good understanding of development theory. Unfortunately, since the book was written in 1993, some information (related to vendor tools and products) is a little long in the tooth. That is the only reason I didn't give the book a rating of '10'. /// I would love to see a yearly update that included new symptoms, new 'diseases', additional therapies, and updated lists of vendor 'cures'. Overall content is first-rate and very relevant, not theoretical. The hard part -- detailed therapy -- is properly left to the reader, but several options are presented

While an update to this book would be nice, the fact is that the major risks cited in this 1994 classic continue to be risks in 2002. What I like about this book is the way it's organized and structured. Jones starts with two chapters that highlight the most common and the most serious software risks. In that respect the essence of the book is provided up front.

The rest of the book is a catalog of the top 43 risks, presented in a quasi-pattern format (that predates the GoF patterns movement), using a medical metaphor, based on the US Public Health Service publication titled "Control of Communicable Diseases in Man" as the pattern. The format is highly effective and intuitive, and also plants a subtle notion that the risk can be cured. The risks are arranged alphabetically for easy reference and range from Artificial Maturity Levels to Slow Technology Transfer, with the usual suspects that have plagued software engineering since its inception: corporate politics, excessive schedule pressure, low user satisfaction, malpractice (project management and technical staff), silver bullet syndrome ... sound familiar? In my opinion, until cures are found for the risks cited in the book we, as a profession, don't need an updated list of more.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who manages software engineering projects or processes. If you want a more condensed version of this book get Jones' "Software Systems Failure and Success", which was published in 1996. That book distills critical success (or failure, depending on your perspective) factors into a manageable group of twelve attributes. It doesn't fully replace this book, but does augment it well.

The book is a great resource for brainstorming potential risks to your projects and strategies to handle them. Almost all are timeless. However, the book is 10 years old and much has changed over the last 10 years. The Internet is a prime example. This new medium has most of the risks of legacy systems, but the Internet brings new possibilities and new expectations.

This book was my first real introduction to the area of computer security. In it, Neumann set down a complete set of the problems that were appearing in the (mis)use of computers. Published in 1995, it was certainly an eye opener to the dangers of being lax in the use of computers. It was a bit scary when I read it, although at the time, I was optimistic that the danger could be managed.
However, my position since then has changed in the negative sense. In rereading this book, it is clear that the dangers are the same and are greater in both breadth and depth. This book was written before the explosive growth of the Internet has turned nearly every computer into a potential node in an evil botnet. Also, the use of computers in the management of the modern world has dramatically expanded, increasing the possible ways in which danger can make an appearance.
In looking through the risks, there is not a single one that has disappeared rather than increased in the level of the danger. Some examples are e-mail spoofs, insider misuse of data, denial of service attacks, threats to privacy, viruses and other malware, security vulnerabilities, computer errors in election results and financial fraud. And so it goes. If you are interested in looking back and seeing how little has changed in terms of the risks inherent with computer use, then read this book. It was and remains the original "canary in the coal" mine concerning the dangers that universal use of computers will generate.

Neumann, founder and moderator of the Internet Risk Forum, is the pope of the legitimate computer risks community. This is the bible.

This book is manages to be entertaining while discussing an important subject. The author's experience as a moderator of the risks forum provided him with authoritative knowledge, which is put to good use. The reading can light at times when the subject is catatrophic. Nevertheless, once you read this book, you'll understand that it's us - humans - that are at the center of all problems.

"Why didn't our grandparents and parents fall over dead from all these hazards?"

Our grandparents didnt have to cope with all the chemicals we have today! They didnt get allergic, 1/3 of all americans are allergic today. In my book that is due to poison coming from products we have in our homes, combined with not enough ventilation.

If you wrap the house in plastic and use buildingmaterial of formaldehyde inside it, whats going to happen? Myself I got allergic just a few years after moving into such a house, built 1974. Nowadays there are many more toxic stuff to breath in.

This is an exceptional book with obviously good scholarship and scientific reviewers and information drawn from primary sources. Although it began with well-intentioned concern, the "asbestos hazard" became one of the most costly mistakes of the 20th Century, and it continues to cause damage through exploitation of fear. There are few better examples of the costs incurred through making sweeping regulation based on political activism rather than on science. "Radon" promises to become an issue cast in the same manner. This book furnishes a case study on the larger issue of why a government agency charged with regulation incurs a conflict of interest that prevents its doing objective research about seriousness of a hazard-the more fear raised over a potential hazard, the more important and influential a regulatory agency becomes. Where influence and funding depend on fear, research that discloses fear as largely unfounded is invariably unwelcome. As result, government has little interest in providing the public with facts or solid information that reveals severe misjudgments and expensive mistakes. One has to dig through the primary science literature to deduce this--a chore few can or are inclined to do. Moore's book documents mistakes of enormous magnitude that negatively impact homeowners. It gathers enough primary information in readable form to show how it occurred and the vehemence with which it is perpetuated. Critical thinkers will love this book; those who thrive on promoting baseless fear will hate it.

For the last 20 years, I've rehabbed old houses and loved the work. I've always wondered about the EPA's wild statements regarding HOW UNSAFE old houses are. Why didn't our grandparents and parents fall over dead from all these hazards?

While writing an article about radon in the home, I discovered Casandra Moore and her book and even had a chance to interview her. I was so impressed with her, I came right to Amazon.com and bought her book. **It is one of the finest books in print.** Period.

She speaks the truth about these hazards in our home and each statement is substantiated and supported.

It is a very interesting read and a very reassuring read. No, our grandparents and parents did *NOT* fall over dead from the hazards in these old houses and there's a reason they did not!

Too often, the so-called hazards are completely overstated and blown out of all proportion by a massive governmental bureaucracy's creative imagination or a misplaced hope to save us from ourselves.

Moore's book reveals that lead levels [measured by blood lead levels] have fallen from 60 micrograms in 1970 to about 10 micrograms in 1990. That is a significant decrease.

She also reveals that the US Public Health Service keeps lowering the bar. Three times in 15 years, they've decreased the *safe* number for blood lead levels, which makes the numbers or percentages of children at risk APPEAR to jump way up. Makes for hot headlines, but bad information.

Her book is stuffed full of this kind of information. Very very interesting.

This is a good read, an interesting topic, an important book and a wonderful resource. I'd recommend it as a *must read* for anyone who lives in a pre-1970 built house.

TO conclude, Moore has good news to share. The EPA is not the final word on on our health and well being. We are indeed, "safe at home."

Rose

Gets into concepts and theories that you need to have some sort of power industry background to understand. At the time I was looking for more intro level and this was a bit challenging.

Somewhat similar to Wood and Wollenberg. Not nearly as detailed or rigorous as the other, but more "modern", i.e., market-oriented. 200 pages on using neural nets in price forecasting (probably useful if you believe in nets). Interesting for me were sections on ancillaries, comittment/dispatch and congestion management. For those, authors provide a good introduction: mostly narrative with some formulas to show exactly what they mean.

This was one of the best books I read on the subject of power market.

This 656 p. compendium is the most comprehensive English-language chronology I have found in an intensive search over the past several years. Focused on science and technology, it has more than twice as many scientific events than the Grun "Timetables of History" compilation (which deals with many more fields). It divides its subject by General, anthropology/archaeology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, math, medicien, physics, and technology, each presented in separate columns, using the same style as the Grun chronology. Unfortunately, the last publication was around 1991, and we badly need an update. Though the expansion of science may complicate things, the tremendous advance in electronic communications means that editors could upgrade this volume in a fraction of the time required for the existing editors - at least from an operational point of view. So come on, publishers, take up this attractive challenge. One should mention that there is another formidable challenger in the field - the massive German Chronik der Technik. But it too is out of print.

I would really recommend this for classroom use, or perhaps to add to your school library. It begins with a few pages, organized in a separate row for each division of (first) a few hundreds of thousands of years, in the Stone Age; then every few hundred years, during the age of Sumer and Egypt; every few years, as you leaf through the days of Greece, Rome, the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, and eventually it works up to having multiple entries in each category for every single year that goes by. I should note that this not nearly as eurocentric as my last few sentences might suggest -- there's plenty of material about developments in China, the empires of Songhay, Mali, etc. in Africa, the Islamic world, the Incas and Aztecs, and so on.

The headings include Anthropology/Archaeology, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics, and Technology. The book is subdivided into several sections --

1.) Science before there were scientists: 2,400,000-599 B.C.

2.) Greek and Hellenistic science: 600 B.C. -- 529 A.D.

3.) Science in many lands and medieval science: 530 -- 1452

4.) The Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution: 1453 -- 1659

5.) The Newtonian Epoch: 1660 -- 1734

6.) The Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution: 1735 -- 1819

7.) Nineteenth century science: 1820 -- 1984

8.) Science in the twentieth century through World War II: 1895 -- 1945

9.) Science after World War II: 1946 -- 1988

10.) The coming era: 1989 -- 2000 (Yes, 1988 is the last year that this book covers. I don't know why they haven't updated it. This is a flaw, of course, but I stand by my five star ranking, because anything that recent can be looked up on the internet, etc.)

Each section is prefaced by a helpful essay, to place matters in context. Also, there are many small "boxes" interspersed throughout the text, to give more complete information on particular figures.

I don't think this book has quite as much material as Bernard Grun's "Timetables of History", but it's layout is better, and more helpful. I think this book is worth having.

What you see is what you get with this book,and that's plenty. It's a great aid to teaching science,because it helps students more easily and quickly visualize when and where and to a small degree, how various scientific discoveries were made.What I like most about it is that the book doesn't make the assumption that science existed only in the West. Discoveries in the East,Middle East and even the Americas are mapped in "Timetables". To be honest I wouldn't have bought this one for private use but it's invaluable in a classroom setting.

As project risk management is a daunting factor to mitigate failures in software engineering, I bought this book to learn ways to mitigate risks in project management by using techniques presented in this book. As a veteran in software engineering field and have been leading critical projects, I still use it as a good tool to learn and adopt suggestions and techniques from the book in my professional career.
I strongly recommend for project managers and technical leads in software and automation development.

All projects involve risk and risk involves both threat and opportunity. In today's world of project management, perhaps the single most important skill that a project manager can possess is risk management. Organizations that better understand the nature of the risks can manage them more effectively.

This book provides a framework for integrating risk management into the management of projects. It explains how to do this through the definition of generic risk management processes and shows how these processes can be mapped onto the stages of the project life cycle.
Another feature is the risk management processes provided can be used for either project or product management because of the fine granularity of the project life cycle used - instead of the typical 6-stage Requirements, Design, Build, Test, Implement and Operate stages the authors use an 8-stage project life cycle that begins with conception and includes post-planning allocation and post-delivery review milestones. Moreover, the typical risk management cycle of Identify, Analyze and Quantify, Prioritize and Manage is expanded into a much more detailed cycle that includes focusing, clarifying ownership issues, and scenario analysis. In particular, the scenario analysis sub process is an excellent approach and allows going well beyond the typical expected monetary value and probability & impact types of analyses.
The authors have set main emphasis on processes rather than analytical techniques. This book provides the reader with a fundamental understanding of project risk management processes but avoids being over prescriptive in the description of the execution of these processes. Instead, there is positive encouragement to use these generic processes as a starting point for elaboration and adaptation to suit the circumstances of a particular application, to innovate and experiment, to simplify and streamline the practical implementation of the generic processes to achieve cost-effective and efficient risk management.
The Authors have made good comparisons between their work and both PRAM and RAMP, as well as with the Project Management Institute's PMBOK 2000. They have developed and named the generic framework SHAMPU (Shape, Harness, and Manage Project Uncertainty) process and compare it with PRAM, RAMP, and PMBOK 2000.

The notion of risk efficiency is central to the theme. All risk management processes consume valuable resources and can themselves constitute a risk to the project that must be effectively managed. The level of investment in risk management within project must be challenged and justified on the level of expected benefit to the overall project.

The Authors document numerous examples drawn from real project experience to substantiate the benefits of a formal process-oriented approach. Ultimately, project risk management is about people making decisions to try to optimize the outcome, being proactive in evaluating risk and the possible responses, using this information to best effect, demonstrating the need for changes in project plans, taking the necessary action and monitoring the effects. Balancing risk and expectation is one of the most challenging aspects of project management. It can also be exciting and offer great satisfaction, provided the project manager is able to operate in a climate of understanding and openness about project risk. The cultural change required in organizations to achieve this can be difficult and lengthy, but there is no doubt that it will be easier to accomplish if risk management processes are better understood and integrated into the practice of project management.

The interesting part of the book is the large number of insights imparted through cases and real-life situations and these are thought provoking. This book is largely about how to achieve effective and efficient risk management in the context of a project. This book is an excellent literature on risk management and will be of interest to all involved in project management.

This is the most comprehensive treatment of project risk management processes I have read. The focus is on the process itself, using techniques to illustrate the advice and insights that are heavily interspersed throughout. Because techniques are used to reinforce the information on process and insights this book is better suited for readers who have a good understanding of risk management techniques.

Another feature is the risk management processes provided can be used for either project or product management because of the fine granularity of the project life cycle used - instead of the typical 6-stage Requirements, Design, Build, Test, Implement and Operate stages the authors use an 8-stage project life cycle that begins with conception and includes post-planning allocation and post-delivery review milestones. Moreover, the typical risk management cycle of Identify, Analyze and Quantify, Prioritize and Manage is expanded into a much more detailed cycle that includes focusing, clarifying ownership issues, and scenario analysis. In particular, the scenario analysis sub process is an excellent approach and allows you to go well beyond the typical expected monetary value and probability x impact types of analyses.

The authors assume that you have a good grounding in both probability and fundamental quantitative analysis techniques, and while both probability and a variety of techniques are used as examples they are only superficially explained. The best part of the book, though, is the large number of insights imparted through cases and real-life situations. These are thought-provoking, but require careful reading (especially for American readers who may not be used to the norms of the British vernacular).

If you are interested in a mature project or product risk management process and have some background in risk management this is a five-star book that absolutely should be in your library.

This was an interesting book to read due to its offering of some alternative ways to look at risk assessment. The fresh approach was enjoyable, as was the emphasis on making risk assessment practical and something that's done over time, not just at the beginning of a venture or project.

The layout of the book was split into two major divisions in my mind. The first half seems to be most focused on how to be a trainer or risk assessment expert. It offers guidance on how to make risk assessment a part of an organization's process and how to increase acceptance of these techniques. The second half focused more on the technical background for risk assessment, including a discussion of probability distributions for modeling uncertainty and then a number of examples (including computer code presumably used in the author's risk software). The second half of the book was much more technical than the first half, which seemed a little unusual to me.

One thing I wasn't too sure about in the book was its characterization of different risk types. The author argued against all the technical names for distributions, but then proposed a variety of distributions that were simply renamed versions of these distributions. Frankly, I found the names to be silly and of no value except for the novelty factor. Further, in discussing the distributions, the charts to go with each distribution are outputs of distribution sampling, rather than raw distributions. This struck me as odd and seemed to be much less useful than it could have been. (An example is the uniform distribution which should represent an equal probability of all values within the range; the figure in the book doesn't show a uniform probability for each value.)

This is a good managerial-type book for risk assessment. It's a worthwhile read and addition to a practitioner's or academic's library. It lacks basics on statistics and risk assessment and really needs to be accompanied by a traditional risk-related book to be most useful.

I give the book 4 stars because it's a good book but has a number of quirks discussed above that detract from the content and made me scratch my head.

This book does an excellent job of laying out the basic of risk assessment, including all of the non-mathematical aspects, such as office politics and educating others in the use of risk models. It's easy to understand, even if you don't have a strong math background. I'm an English major, so I should know!

This is a great book for someone who is starting to practice Risk Assessment, either as a consultant, or internally. It covers the practical aspects of risk assessment studies which are usually overlooked, such as working and communicating with stakeholders. The 'softer' side of risk assessment theory is covered i.e. what does all this mean in plain english - how do you communicate the results etc.

The author has a good style, and the text does not contain the usual fluff and buzzwords often found in business-oriented books. Check it out!