Which is safer, taking the train or flying? Just how risky is skydiving? And will consume that additional sausage harm you? All of us have heard the statistics regarding dangerous activities, but what do they actually imply in practice? Journalist Michael Blastland and risk analyst David Spiegelhalter investigate these issues in their book The Norm Chronicles by using the stories of everyday people like Norm and a clever statistic called the MicroMort, which represents a one in a million probability of dying. They explain why total anesthesia is nearly twice as unsafe as a parachute jump, giving birth in the US is nearly twice as deadly as in the UK, and eating a banana exposes you to radiation that shortens your life by three seconds. The Norm Chronicles is a humorous look at personal risk data that will enlighten everyone who has ever been concerned about the risks we face on a daily basis.
