Engineering-risk Books

Real-Time Stability in Power Systems: Techniques for Early Detection of the Risk of Blackout (Power Electronics and Power Systems)

The book is just an overview of the theoretical issues related to real time stability with no practical considerations. The book is just a collection of different papers without detailed explanation of the methodology used.

This book covers the topic very well. It is clear and concise. Useful for anyone who wants an overview of risk management concepts. But if you are like me who understands better with lots of numbers and examples, this is not it.

A good book to tell you methodical risk analysis in the area of fincance and marketing. If more interpretaions of analysis results written there, I would have rated it as "5" stars.

Written in a straightforward and almost conversational style, this book provides an introductory text on the topic of risk assessment. The book describes complex concepts in simple language and is thus effective in presenting the subject matter, Moreover, the exercises within each chapter are clearly designed to reinforce understanding of the topics covered. Overall, an excellent book for a student of risk assessment.

This book provides a lot of good example problems in the field of environmental risk assessment. However, it seems to lack follow-up discussion of the case studies. It is intended, perhaps, that the reader would work through the problems and then perhaps discuss them as in a class situation. There are questions following the problems that might be considered adequate to lead the reader to the point the authors were trying to make. Nonetheless, it would help the cohesiveness if there were some discussion of the problems rather than just going from one to the next.

This is profoundly important work on the culture of safety, written from an anthropologists perspective which deconstructs the meaning of people in nuclear power plants who see extreme risk around them all the time and have created devices to identify threats and respond, sometimes more appropriately than others. I highly recommend this boo.

I read this book in an effort to better understand the civilian nuclear industry (which I have worked in since 1986). Having held various technical and management positions in the US Navy nuclear program and civilian nuclear industry, my experience is broad enough to conclude that Constance Perin has done her homework. She brings a cultural anthropologist's view to the management of risk at nuclear power stations, which are often run by and for technocrats, so her perspective is refreshing. She takes a balanced approach and appears to have no personal agenda regarding nuclear power. Much of what she says rings true, although I found her writing style to be stilted and distracting. I do not recommend SHOULDERING RISKS for anyone looking for a casual read, but it is worth the effort for those seeking to learn more about humans perceive and manage risks in complex, high-stakes environments.

Lewis makes the good point here that too often we fear the unlikely while remaining complacent about true dangers. Many, for instance, believe nuclear power plants impose great risks, ignoring the greater threat from automobiles. The public spends excessive money and time looking for ways to bury toxic waste, or eliminate possible carcinogens from food,while overlooking natural health risks. Regulations created to make us safer often have the opposite effect. Citizens should acquire a greater understanding of risk and how it influences our lives.

The book is divided into three sections. The first gives an overview of risk and the issues involved, the second examines the role risk plays in air travel, radiation and pollution, and the third gives the reader a small mathematics lesson in probability.

It should be made clear right from the start this is not the sort of book to curl up with by the fire. It is written to educate, not entertain. One can hear the scientist speaking through the writing, wringing his hands at out ignorance and disbelief. Unfortunately Lewis is likely preaching to the converted. Those who agree with him already may make up the bulk of his readership. Others will likely stop reading about twenty pages in.

An excellent book on the risks associated with modern technology. Looks at the risks of car and plane travel, food additives, nuclear power, and other controversial topics. Lots of interesting examples. Did you know, for example, that the US government measures incoming wine for radiation, and rejects it if it's not radioactive enough

As someone who is doing my research in Project Risk Management I should say that not so many books are published on Project Risk with an academic perspective. In you search for your books in risk management you may find dozens of them in the market but most of them have a professional view and what they discuss in them do not have much academic value.
The book "Appraisal, Risk and Uncertainty" edited by Nigel Smith is book which I have used in my own research as reference several times. It is comprised of 10 chapters which 7 chapters of it are from Nigel Smith himself. Chapter 4 is written by G. Wood and R. Ellis. Chapter 8 is by P. W. Hetland and Chapter 9 is from T.Merna. The first three chapters are devoted to the introduction to project risk, project life cycle and the appraisal phase of the project. Chapter three emphasises on the essence of risk management in the appraisal phase. Chapter four is about the existing approaches to risk management in civil engineering. Making a review of the different methodologies and tools including the existing commercial softwares. Chapter five introduces a good classification of project risk within two main group of global and elemental risk. Chapter six and seven are mainly introduces the formal risk management process known as RAMP. Chapter eight is from P. W. Hetland about uncertainty management. Personally I am very interested in this topic and found that Hetland introduces a new approach. Basically a social scientists approach rather than the usual engineering approach. But unfortunately this chapter lacks an organization and the reader finishes the chapter while being confused about many of the issues discussed there. Even the chapter do not make a conclusion in relation to the issues been discussed in it. Chapter nine by T.Merna takes a strategic approach to management of risk in the corporation and analyses the risk in corporate business unit in accordance to corporate aim and objectives. Chapter ten is a summary of the developments in risk management. I would recommend to anyone in academia doing research in project risk management to read this book. There are many thoughts presented there which further work on them can be better quality academic outputs. But for a professional it can be a bit confusing. However in a subject like Project Risk Management which there are not much publications the enthusiastic readers should never miss any resources which would sparkle further thoughts and ideas.

Shrader-Frechette discusses the problem of radioactive waste, with primary emphasis on that originating from nuclear reactors. She also focuses on the proposed radwaste-storage site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

The early part of the book is a description of the effects of radiation. For example, depending upon radiation exposure models, a single 10-rad exposure would cause anywhere between 560 and 10,630 excess cancers among one million exposed persons. (p. 35)

The author elaborates on many of the uncertainties regarding long-term predictions of radwaste storage. And, using Yucca Mountain as an example, one must come to the sobering realization that the uncertainties can be nonlinear and interactive (p. 162)

Shrader-Frechette dwells on the logical fallacies used by proponents of long-term safe radwaste storage. For instance, the appeal to ignorance posits that absence of evidence of problems means that there will be no problems. Then there is the appeal to authority. Authorities have been wrong before, notably in matters related to risk assessments of radiation (p. 156)

In this book, some authors describe about same themes. It would be better if the editor had made the staff in the better order. But the staff is very tactical. So if you have clear aims, the book will be a rich resource.

This article by Harry Hutchinson originally appeared in "Mechanical Engineering-CIME" (volume 127, issue 1) on January 1, 2005. It outlines steps that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking to institute quantifiable Risk Analysis (RA) methodologies in addressing terrorist threats against American infrastructure.

The article doesn't get into the details of assigning quantities to the components of risk; the article defines risk only as the product of frequency, vulnerability, and cost of the consequences (R=FVC). Lawrence Stanton, a DHS specialist in this area explains the methodology of deriving these values, and then applying the results to a nationally implemented antiterrorist strategy dubbed "RAMCAP," short for Risk Analysis and Management for Critical Assets Protection. The methodology is explained and key concepts are introduced, none of which will surprise most safety professionals. The article really doesn't draw extensive comparisons between RAMCAP and RA in the nuclear industry specifically, despite what the title would have you believe, but the article is, nonetheless, a valuable and quick introduction for anyone interested in Risk Analysis in a national security framework.

There are two ways to write a book: provide a lot of specialist information on a specialised topic (well) or provide a lot of superficial information that covers everything relevant (lake). Surprisingly, this book achieves both of these objectives.