'Risk is a plea for logic and common sense to prevail … Written in a reader-friendly fashion, with comprehensive research to back its claims, Risk is compelling reading.'

Thuy On (Age)

'His research and engaging style, underpinned by a very timely message, are ultimately compelling.'

Claire Scobie (Sydney Morning Herald)

A 'compelling analysis of how we judge risk ... Gardner aims to get us thinking more carefully about how we run our lives — and make it harder for politicians, the media and advertisers to lead us astray.'

Michael Bond (New Scientist)

'an excellent work ... What could easily have been a catalogue of misgovernance and stupidity instead becomes a cheery corrective to modern paranoia.'

(Economist.com)

'Gardner is a journalist at the Ottawa Citizen, and he displays the best virtues of his profession: compelling story-telling backed up by hard facts gleaned from specialist research ... an invaluable resource for anyone who aspires to think clearly.'

(guardian.co.uk)

'What scientists took decades to prove, marketing executives and politicians have known all along: fear sells. Gardner is forensic in his dissection of bogus claims in advertising and politics, just as he is lucid about the science explaining why they work. His chapters on the risk of being a victim of crime or terrorism provoke a peculiar mix of comfort and despair. It is heartening that the danger is slight; it's unsettling how skewed our political system and consumer culture are towards convincing us of the opposite.'

Rafael Behr (Observer (UK))

'Gardner’s vivid, direct style, backed up by clear examples and solid data from science and psychology, brings a breath of fresh air and common sense to an emotional topic.'

(Publishers Weekly)

'A fascinating insight into the peculiar and devastating nature of human fear, while training the reader to be ever wary of misleading media announcements.'

(The Telegraph (UK))

'Those of us who spend our careers in research hope that someone like Daniel Gardner will come along and bring our findings to the world in an engaging and scientifically accurate way. Thank you, Dan! Some books can change the world. This one might.'

Paul Slovic, Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon, past President of The Society for Risk Analysis

'Where writers such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Francis Wheen have been content largely to enumerate the errors of less rational men and women, Dan Gardner has collated part of what we need to diagnose the problem. If skeptics spent less time moaning about the propensity of their fellows to believe what they want to believe and more time asking why they do so, there might not be such a crisis of reason in the West today.'

(The Independent (UK))

'Entertaining, often jolting account of why trivial risks terrify us, even as we engage in wildly dangerous activities with hardly a qualm ... Readers may squirm to learn the sheer silliness of so many of their fears. They will squirm again to realize that, despite this knowledge, those fears will persist.'

(Kirkus Review )