The topic is smack in the middle of headlines these days in connection with nuclear power plants in Japan, and the world watches how the power of the recent earthquake and tsunami simply
overwhelmed the plants' design. According to the prologue, this work emphasizes "improving the number of things that go right, [rather] than reducing the number of things that go
wrong"--complementing investigation of the causes of accidents, risk assessment, and safety management with maximization of the "ability to respond to events, to monitor ongoing developments,
to anticipate future threats and opportunities, and to learn from past failures and successes alike." This defines resilience engineering. Contributed chapters thoroughly discuss strategies for
dealing with critical situations and anticipating failure, as well the particulars of numerous cases. Contributors are from many countries and include engineers of various types (e.g. civil,
aerospace, ergonomics, cognitive systems, human factors) and some social scientists involved with safety. The editors are affiliated as follows: Erik Hollnagel (MINES ParisTech, France); Jean
Pari癡s (D矇dale SA, France); David Woods (Ohio State U., US); and John Wreathall (consultant based in the US). Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
