Acknowledgments

I first met the psychologist Paul Slovic at the Instituto de Astrofisica in the Canary Islands and so it was amid models of the solar system and other astrophysical phantasmagoria that I first discovered the psychology of risk perception. The universe is interesting, I concluded. But the mind is fascinating.

It is to Paul Slovic’s patience and generosity that I most owe this book. Many thanks. I am similarly indebted to Susan Renouf at McClelland and Stewart, and Stephen Morrow at Dutton for his steady hand and cheerful words. Peter Bobrowsky, Rudyard Griffiths, Dr. Barry Dworkin, Ron Melchers, and Carl Phillips all contributed mightily.

A special note to my editors at the Ottawa Citizen, who have given me freedom and opportunities the like of which most journalists can only dream. Thanks to Neil Reynolds, Scott Anderson, Tina Spencer, Lynn McAuley, and Leonard Stern.

And lastly, I must thank my children, Victoria and Winston, for pulling down my books, scattering my papers, smashing my laptop, shrieking at the most inopportune moments, banging relentlessly on my door, and infecting me with every virus bred in that Petri dish known as junior kindergarten. I have realized that if I can write a book under that onslaught, I can do anything, and so I shall go forward with new confidence. Bless you, darlings.