The modern world can be a dangerous place, filled with fast cars, smart phones, drugs and extreme sports. Meanwhile, we humans are as fragile as ever. In fact, after a century of lengthening life span and a decline in injuries and accidental deaths, avoidable life-threatening accidents are on the rise again. The question is - why?
Steve Casner has devoted his career to studying the psychology of safety, and he knows better than most that there's not a safety warning we won't ignore, or a fool-proof device we can't turn into an implement of disaster.
Careful! is a user-guide to our injury-prone minds. It will help us understand why we behave in such contradictory ways by, for example, insisting on fat-free salad dressing but then habitually texting while driving. Casner explains the psychological traps that can lead us to the scene of an accident. Based on years of research and understanding of human behaviour learnt as a research psychologist at NASA, Casner shows how and when injuries happen, so that we learn what we should really be worrying about. Careful! will help keep our fingers attached in the kitchen, our kids afloat at the pool and teenagers safe behind the wheel. It will show us all the ways we can take control of our own safety and get through the day in one piece.