The Ostrich Paradox: Why We Underprepare for Disasters

The Ostrich Paradox boldly addresses a key question of our time: Why are we humans so poor at dealing with disastrous risks and what can we humans do about it? It is a must-read for everyone who cares about risk.  Daniel Kahneman winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of Thinking Fast and Slow We fail to evacuate when advised. We rebuild in flood zones. We dont wear helmets. We fail to purchase insurance. We would rather avoid the risk of crying wolf than sound an alarm. Our ability to foresee and protect against natural catastrophes has never been greater; yet we consistently fail to heed the warnings and protect ourselves and our communities with devastating consequences. What explains this contradiction? In The Ostrich Paradox Wharton professors Robert Meyer and Howard Kunreuther draw on years of teaching and research to explain why disaster preparedness efforts consistently fall short. Filled with heartbreaking stories of loss and resilience the book addresses: How people make decisions when confronted with high-consequence low-probability events and how these decisions can go awry The 6 biases that lead individuals communities and institutions to make grave errors that cost lives The Behavioral Risk Audit a systematic approach for improving preparedness by recognizing these biases and designing strategies that anticipate them Why if we are to be better prepared for disasters we need to learn to be more like ostriches not less Fast-reading and critically important The Ostrich Paradox is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand why we consistently underprepare for disasters as well as private and public leaders planners and policy-makers who want to build more prepared communities.