{"product_id":"the-shape-of-risk-gilles-laur-9781764681216","title":"The Shape of Risk","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis book examines a defining paradox of modern life: despite unprecedented gains in safety, longevity, and technological control over uncertainty, contemporary societies have become\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eless tolerant of risk and more anxious about its residual presence. It argues that risk has not disappeared but transformed-from an accepted condition of survival in earlier eras into a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emoralised and politicised phenomenon shaped by expectations of preventability, institutional responsibility, and technological promise.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRather than treating risk as a purely statistical problem, the book reframes it as a cultural, ethical, and psychological construct embedded in relationships between individuals, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003einstitutions, and generations. It explores how social media amplifies rare harms, how modern medicine struggles to reconcile autonomy with genuine understanding, and how the shift\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efrom inevitability to expectation has reshaped public responses to uncertainty, error, and suffering. Across domains such as healthcare, finance, law, and public policy, it shows how\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe demand for perfect safety erodes resilience and distorts judgment. Ultimately, the book calls for a restoration of meaning to risk-not by rejecting science or\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eprogress, but by recognising that uncertainty is inseparable from human life. It asks how societies can live responsibly with vulnerability in an age that promises control yet cannot\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eeliminate unpredictability.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Gilles Laur\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1764681215\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781764681216\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Dr Gilles Laur\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/15\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 436\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 1.31d","brand":"Gilles Laur","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48997668454655,"sku":"9781764681216","price":124.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-shape-of-risk-gilles-laur-9781764681216","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}