Engineering-risk Books

This book is an update to the author's earlier work in the convergence of risk management and quality as keys to successful software development and delivery.

What makes this book worthwhile to software engineering managers, applications delivery teams, project managers and proposal teams is the seamless way Ould connects the dots between two critical functions - risk and quality. The material on risk identification, analysis and management reflect best practices. Moreover, it serves as a primer on risk management, which is clear, logically sequenced and contains no gaps or omissions. I especially like the way he thoroughly covers various process models related to software development lifecycles (including the V-model, DSDM, evolutionary and incremental delivery). The risk planning approach he proposes can be easily aligned to any of these models based on the chapter on Risk Planning.

Ould approaches quality as both a verification and validation activity, as well as a control function. This approach is suitable for project-oriented teams and organizations, and ties nicely into the risk approach set forth in the beginning of this book.

I like the resource management material that has been refined and carried over from his earlier book. The work breakdown structures are invaluable aids, and his advice on monitoring and controlling resources is realistic and workable.

A good deal of this book is slanted towards organizations that provide contracted services and development. This makes it ideal for scoping projects and building project plans from a provider perspective. However, this can be also used to great advantage by organizations who are seeking contracted development and issuing RFPs because they will gain a clear understanding of what to demand from a provider. It is also useful to internal development organizations since the risk and quality management principles so clearly described in this book are critical success factors in that environment as well.

In `Managing Software Quality and Business Risk' Martyn Ould travels further down the road on which he set out in his excellent 1990 book, `Strategies for Software Engineering'. His basic premise then, and here, is that successful and achievable plans for software development must be based on both the assessment of risk and the achievement of quality - and the activities that flow from addressing these two concerns. The author has advice for us both as managers and engineers in this very readable book. His arguments are based on sound principles and amplified with excellent real-life anecdotes and experiences that bear out his ideas. He puts you in the driving seat and stands quietly behind you, giving you clear, well-considered, and, above all, practical advice on how to plan your software project. If you enjoyed his first book, this one is definitely for you. If you haven't yet read him, then do so now! Slightly disappointingly, the book does not set out to help you run your project. We could well do with such sensible advice here as well. How about another book, Martyn?

I think this book is very easy to read even for non-native people.
I am satisfied with the quality of contents.
The information of each article is very practical and useful.
Thank you so much.

How often have I wished I had the publications of particularly productive scientists bound together in one document. Despite modern IT-technique, which increases the availability of such publications, an appropriate book is still superior. Now there is such a book for those who are interested in risk from a psychological point of view. Its title is: "The Perception of Risk" and it contains 26 of the most important publications by Paul Slovic from the last 25 years. It starts with an introduction in which Paul summarizes and gives his perspectives on his papers.

No one who has come across the term risk perception can have missed Paul Slovic's name. As one of the leading scientists in the field of risk perception, Paul has covered large areas and tackled various problems in order to show how we view, react to, and handle situations and problems related to what we in common language call risk.

To call him one of the founders of the psychometric paradigm is too plain a characterization of the scientific contribution of Paul Slovic. The psychometric methodology is just the means he has used to study how human beings perceive, judge and make decisions about risk in various situations. He has introduced psychological aspects of risk into natural sciences, where risk earlier has been considered as a numerical and objectively assessable quantity. Now physicists, chemists, and even engineers realize that risk perception cannot be ignored and is influenced by many factors (e.g. voluntariness, familiarity, dread, equity) relating to risk and how risk is described. For those who want to make risk comparisons, inform people about risks or do anything else regarding risk, it is necessary to be familiar with risk perception.

With his great openness, Paul has been able to collaborate with scientists from many different areas, both scientifically and geographically. In this way he has improved and enriched his work with practical aspects in many domains, particularly radioactivity and use of chemicals. Therefore it possible for most scientists to find in this book interesting reading related to their own problems. The book only contains about an eighth (but a representative sample) of Paul's total scientific production. As the papers are ordered chronologically, it is easy to follow the development in time of different ideas and conclusions and to see how later studies derive from earlier ones in a logical way. Thus, in the two last chapters of the book, the ideas and views on risk are further expanded and offer exciting vistas for the future. In the same way as many of Paul's earlier ideas have been accepted and continued by later researchers, his recent views about "the affect heuristic" most certainly will be the subject for many future scientific publications.

t.malmfors@chello.se

Well written and very thorough in its treatment of how probability methods are used to quantify cost risk; excellent textbook for students (lots of exercises), as well as for professional cost analysts.

This is a must book for engineers, scientists, and engineering managers. Garvey's book presents how probability theory is applied to model, measure, and manage risk in the cost of a systems engineering project. The work is a first of its kind in the engineering, cost engineering/analysis, and operations research communities.

The book provides readers a clear discussion on the nature of uncertainty, how it affects the cost of a systems engineering project, and how probability methods are used to model, measure, and control risk from a systems engineering perspective. Readers benefit from the numerous mathematical and professional anecdotes, case discussions, results, observations, and interpretations found throughout the chapters.

The book contains 110 applied and theoretical exercises. It is an outstanding text for students in engineering and the related fields.

This is a very practical book dealing with quantitative aspects of microbial risk assessment. Nicely written and very useful!

This book synthesizes diverse materials from microbiology, statistics, and risk assessment, covers applications to water, food and other exposures to infectious pathogens

First, know that this is NOT a political book. It's a piece of academic research that explores, in depth, the sociocognitive process of situation awareness, risk assessment, decision making, and learning/adjustment. This general process is generic and ubiquitous--essentially the same for businesses, emergency responders, the press, even doctors in addition to this domain of international relations in dealing with complex, changing, often critical situations. Doubtful? Read this along with Jerome Groopman's book How Doctors Think--it addresses the same basic challenges and behaviors only in a different domain (even leveraging some of the same sources, like the classic Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases by Kahneman, Slovic, & Tversky). It describes, merely from a different perspective, the same cognitive blinders/bounded awareness also written about by Max Bazerman of Harvard Business School.

This book forensically investigates five international case studies: US interventions in Grenada (1981), Panama (1989), and Vietnam (1964-68); Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia (1968); and Israel's intervention in Lebanon (1982-83).

What is shocking is that most of the book ends up also being an amazingly detailed postmortem description of the run up to the decision to intervene in Iraq and the decisions and actions that have followed so far.

This book is densely written--it's not popular press. Not something you'd take to the "rose room" for quick-read snippets. But it clearly illuminates issues that are CRITICAL today: habits of ignorance, bias, and hubris, and patterns of inattention, misperception, cognitive error, unwise actions & missed opportunities, and unintended consequences that have repeated in history, are repeating in Iraq, and will repeat in the future if not consciously avoided. It deserves a yellow highlighter and concerted critical thinking. I consider it REQUIRED READING for all citizens and media as well as congress, the DoD, and this administration.

This is not on the best-seller list, but it SHOULD be. If you only read one book this year, this should be it. It provides a template for understanding today's situation and guidance for learning how to deal with analogous circumstances in the future.

I don't always use superlatives and am not given to handing out five star recommendations liberally, as some reviewers are, but this gem of insight, prose and scholarship deserves both.

Although this book is ostensibly about the risks of foreign intervention (more about that in a minute) this book is actually two books in one. The first part, which runs 168 lucid, pithy pages, provides one of the most concise and cogent descriptions of risk management that I have seen anywhere. The first two chapters are pure theory; the latter two apply the theory to foreign intervention decisions in general. Vertzberger breaks with the prevailing dogma in risk management (rational choice theory) and instead pursuasively advances an alternative approach - the socio-cognitive model. Good for him - having been in the operational risk management business for a decade, I think his view holds a lot of sway. The author manages to pack so much information into this part that it could easily stand on its own - all of it written in crisp fluid prose, and masterfully referenced, indexed and endnoted, with a very thorough bibliography.

The second part of the book (which runs another 200 pages) applies the theory in Part One to five case studies (Grenada, Panama and Czechoslovakia - all deemed low to moderate risk)and Vietnam and Lebanon (both deemed to be high risk)

This is capped off and tied together by conclusions and implications that address the military, economic and political consequences, especially as they play out over time (usually for the worse).

Vertzberger drills deep and wide into many rich veins of understanding and his material is extremely relevent to the world situation today. It was a delight to read in 1998 when this book was first published, and just as much a delight, albeit hauntingly so, when I pulled it out, post Iraq-II, and wondered how many of Vertzberger's wise cautions had been considered by those responsible for the now current adventure there.

If I have one regret about this book, it is not writing this review back in 1998 when I first read the book. Who knows if that would have made any difference, but if reading this book, or writing this review, could save even one life, it would be worth it. If you are a risk manager, a foreign service officer, a military official, active in the political sphere or just a concerned citizen, you ignore this book at the peril, not just of the reader, but in the case of foreign military interventions, of many.

Vulnerability Assessment of Physical Protection Systems is a "must have" for anyone tasked with the protection of assets. What sets this book apart from any other on the market is the systematic way it approaches the issue of vulnerability assessment. Anyone knowledgeable of the subject knows the rigor that must take place to legitimately conduct a vulnerability assessment. It is not a simple process of touring a facility and throwing money and equipment at obvious weaknesses in the system. A systematic approach is needed in which you can actually quantify improvements made. This text provides the tools to do just that.

One of the strengths of this text is the approach it uses in dealing with the problem of vulnerability assessment. The book provides a step by step process in which to conduct such an assessment. The unique feature is the depth of the coverage. The methodology which is introduced and the process involved is state of the art. The process has been used for decades to protect our country's nuclear assets but, as pointed out in the book, the same process can be used to protect any asset. The methodology and approach to assessment are the same whether you are protecting nuclear assets or any other asset that is critical to your business.

This book is a follow up to my favorite security book, Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems, which was published in 2001. I have been using that text in my classes continuously since it was published and have been very pleased. Students enjoy it and really learn something from it. This new book by Mary Lynn Garcia tackles the specific issues of conducting a vulnerability assessment and issues touched on in the early book, but not at the same level. As such, this text is an excellent follow up that adds some much needed detail to this process. This book builds on the earlier book. The methodology used is the same and a reader of the earlier book will appreciate how both books complement each other.

Another key strength to this book which sets it apart from all others in the field is the approach it takes to actually test the effectiveness of a physical security system. A major plus is how the author tackles both qualitative and quantitative approaches to test the effectiveness of the system. The key is testing. The author presents the methodology in a clearly understandable fashion and provides detailed explanations of all formulas and charts used. This is a very user friendly book, but one that has great depth.

I honestly feel this book will become an instant classic. It will become the benchmark by which other security books will be measured. It just takes the discipline of security to a new level and is an important addition to the libraries of anyone tasked with security.

Dr. Dennis Giever
Professor and Chair
Department of Criminology
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

The success of Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems in 2001 by Mary Lynn Garcia as determined by the international security profession has induced a second book of equal statute from the author. This follow-up book Vulnerability Assessment of Physical Protection Systems provides an extension and amplification of the process of protection of assets for critical infrastructure. The security of assets whether they be financial, commercial, or national require physical protection systems that are comprehensive, robust and reliable. This 2006 publication provides the principles and concepts necessary to develop a comprehensive physical security system that is both robust and reliable. Mary Lynn Garcia has extended the approaches presented in the design and evaluation book to provide the reader with a detailed process of vulnerability assessment for the protection of assets. Again, a well-balanced account of theory and application of vulnerability assessment has been presented with a scientific methods approach.

A feature of the text is the step-by-step details for conducting the vulnerability assessment of a physical protection system applied to facilities and infrastructure. The process commences with data gathering, through an analysis phase, improvement in design, and finally concludes with the reporting process to principals in the organisation. Mary Lynn Garcia is to be commended for the structure and rigour of the presentation, with comprehensive description and discussion of the process of assets protection and assessment. There is no comparable book to Vulnerability Assessment of Physical Protection Systems on the international market and as such is at the leading edge of advanced security related texts for the serious consideration of asset protection.

I was personally pleased to see the section on analysis of the vulnerability assessment process in terms of both qualitative and quantitative analyses where the final decision on the quality of the effectiveness of the security can be assessed according to a recognised process. The analyses component certainly adds weight to the outcomes of the vulnerability assessment. A most useful set of appendices on threat and facility worksheets, data collection sheets, and penetration times and representative delays enhance the publication and offer additional significance of the book to security profession. Again, this book will be most valuable for a range of academic, managerial, and practitioner security professionals who have responsibility for the protection of assets in financial, commercial and national infrastructure facilities.

Dr Clifton Smith
Associate Professor, Security Science
School of Engineering & Mathematics
Edith Cowan University
Perth, Western Australia

As a new aircraft owner, I am trying to learn as much as I can about my aircraft. This book is well-written and easy to understand. Although not everything in it relates directly to my plane, all the information is valuable in understanding aircraft systems.

This book has taught me many things that were never covered in my training, and reinforced those that were.

I highly recommend this book to both aircraft owners and renters. Knowledge is power and will help keep you safe.

This modest-sized book contains much information on the history, properties, manufacture, and value of asbestos. There are some quaint photos, such as that of an asbestos-based fallout shelter, and that of "giant candle snuffers" used effectively by British firefighters during WWII against German magnesium-thermite incendiary bombs. Statistics are provided on the production of asbestos as well as the hundreds of everyday items that contain asbestos.

The Our Lady of the Angels School Fire (pp. 127-131) is instructive. The lack of sprinklers and the prevalence of wooden-interior trim were bad enough, but so were the combustible ceiling tiles, made as they were out of wheat straw. Maines makes the following strong statement: "If Our Lady of the Angels had had asbestos-containing ceiling panels, flooring, and wall finishes, there would almost certainly have been time for all the building occupants to reach the exits and little or no loss of life...The role of combustible ceiling panels, so significant in the loss of life in the Chicago school fire, had drawn the attention of fire-safety professionals [much earlier]." (p. 131)

Maines puts the cancer and other risks of asbestos in perspective. For instance, she comments: "For parents sending their children in, say 1959, to what were widely known as firetrap schools, the possibility of disease in a relatively small number of adults three decades later...Almost as many persons in that one fire [Our Lady of the Angels School] as in all of the fatal cases of asbestos-related disease reported in publications by that time..." (p. 164)

Everyone remembers the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Or at least most people do. Like all baby boomers remember about the JFK assassination or Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon. Exactly like the other two history altering events, news of the disaster hit the headlines all over the world. All those who read, saw or heard about it heaved a sigh of despair. In brief, for the benefit of those who are challenged on their recall abilities, the Bhopal gas tragedy involved the release of Methyl Isocyanate gas from a pesticide manufacturing plant in Bhopal, Central India. Forty tonnes of the poisonous cloud, that was released from the factory settled over the low-lying areas of the city. Within minutes innocent people, living in surrounding shanties and squatter camps, were transported into a lethal gas chamber facing a holocaust. It happened around midnight on December the 2nd, 1984. By sunrise of the 3rd over 2000 people lay dead or dying in homes and on the streets.

Morehouse and Subramanium's book on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy is a well-researched study about the Union Carbide and the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. The book starts with the history of Union Carbide, a company that came to colonial India in 1905. The company started the manufacture of "Eveready Flashlight Batteries" in 1926. "Eveready" and portable lighting became synonymous and was remembered with fondness in households across the cities, towns of villages of India. In 1969 the by now huge multinational corporation started a plant in Bhopal, to manufacture pesticides. By 1983, the company had 14 plants in India manufacturing chemicals, pesticides, batteries and other products. In December 1984, Union Carbide brought permanent darkness to the lives of thousands of residents in Bhopal, maimed and injured several hundred thousands more. The events of that fateful night left a swath of destruction and desolation that has only been rivaled by the nuclear explosions at Hiroshima.

What Morehouse and Subramanium have done is to take us backstage to the events that happened at the plant before the release of the gas, and the response of the various agencies after the disaster. The authors help us get a clearer understanding of what led to the disaster, the chaos and confusion that secondarily led to failure of the relief organizations. Later they explore the tangled web of litigation that followed. The authors critically evaluate the plant and point out the defects in the design of the plant, as well as the failures in the safety devices that led to exothermic chain reaction that caused the accumulation of the large quantities of the poisonous gas, and its final release into the atmosphere.

According to the authors, and this has been substantiated by several other publications, besides the failure of the plant management several other factors compounded the tragedy. Relief measures were botched, disaster sirens not blown, orderly evacuation not planned all leading to chaos and confusion. Later, lack of experience in dealing with mass disasters or knowledge on how to treat the suffering significantly influenced the mortality and morbidity. Political considerations paralyzed the Governments relief efforts while well meaning volunteer efforts were perceived as threats to Governmental stability. The post disaster record keeping and documentation was conducted so haphazardly as to prove worthless. Even today we remain with inadequate scientific evaluation of the disaster to develop preventive scenarios.

In later chapters, the authors describe the jurisdictional battles, the attempts by Union Carbide's Corporate lawyers to disown the subsidiary, transfer the case to India and several other legal maneuverings. The last three chapters answer two important questions (a) Can it happens here in the US? Yes, of course it can happen here, it has happened here at a subliminal level but a major tragedy could strike any chemicals factory in say Thailand or New Jersey, any day. The other question gives very creative information on what can we do to prevent future Bhopal's from happening. The book was written with Subramanium covering the first set of chapters about the situation in India and Morehouse writing the latter half. However, the book reads very seamlessly and has an absorbing narrative. It is eminently readable and extremely thought provoking.

The book is a classic study about the cause and effect of environmental disasters. It is also a clarion call for action by concerned activist groups for legislation on the "Right To Know Laws" about hazardous chemicals that are manufactured, stored or utilized in a community. Despite the numerous reassurances from the chemical manufacturers, occurrence of another Bhopal like tragedy cannot be ruled out with certainty. The authors suggest, preventing a future environmental disaster from happening can only be done by concerned public action, effective legislation and efficient enforcement of safety regulations. As they describe it, the calamity in Bhopal could have been used as an opportunity to revamp the existing imperfections in the hazardous chemicals industry.

Unfortunately the legal maneuvering in the Bhopal case precluded the judiciary from giving the chemical industry a sound warning. Those in the know of the turn of events know that the legal settlement failed in this important aspect, adding insult to injury heaped upon the citizens of Bhopal. Ultimately, the judicial failure in censuring the chemical industry absolved it of responsibility in vaporizing a city. Moreover as it did not serve a punitive warning to Multi-national corporations, it condoned the view that it was okay to place corporate greed above interests of the people and, company bottom line above human dignity. This book eloquently reveals that man really is at the mercy of mammon.

Outstanding reference book. The chapters on biomedical waste management and incineration crisply and coherently describe the problems and concerns and provide excellent examples to underscore the author's points. Mr Turnberg fills in a gap that has long been missing: a single text that covers all the issues related to this complex and controversial field.