The Right Books

I had expected Searching for Safety (Transaction Books, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903; $32.95), by Aaron Wildavsky, to be an extended discussion of what P. J. O’Rourke has called “the safety Nazis.” I was surprised, but not disappointed, to discover that it is instead a theoretical discourse on the subject of prudence versus adventurousness in the development and application of human ingenuity, and of the wisdom of modern society’s attempts at eradicating the last vestige of risk not just to the whole but to each and every one of its parts. Like everything of Professor Wildavsky’s that I have read, Searching for Safety is well researched and well thought out, well organized— though repetitive in places—and well written. It is a book that will be of interest to philosophers engaged in exploring the unreality and hubris of the contemporary mind in yet another of its fascinating permutations, as well as to political scientists and serious journalists embroiled in a loud and vigorously waged public debate.

“Thinking about risk,” Professor Wildavsky writes in his introduction,

CW

About the Author

Chilton Williamson Jr.

I had expected Searching for Safety (Transaction Books, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903; $32.95), by Aaron Wildavsky, to be an extended discussion of what P. J. O’Rourke has called “the safety Nazis.” I was surprised, but not disappointed, to discover that it is instead a theoretical discourse on the subject of prudence versus adventurousness in the development and application of human ingenuity, and of the wisdom of modern society’s attempts at eradicating the last vestige of risk not just to the whole but to each and every one of its parts. Like everything of Professor Wildavsky’s that I have read, Searching for Safety is well researched and well thought out, well organized— though repetitive in places—and well written. It is a book that will be of interest to philosophers engaged in exploring the unreality and hubris of the contemporary mind in yet another of its fascinating permutations, as well as to political scientists and serious journalists embroiled in a loud and vigorously waged public debate.

“Thinking about risk,” Professor Wildavsky writes in his introduction,