Includes bibliographical references and index.

Setting the scene -- Introduction / Gabriele Bammer and Michael Smithson -- The many faces and masks of uncertainty / Michael Smithson -- Adopting orphans : uncertainty and other neglected aspects of complex problems / Gabriele Bammer -- More than a cabinet of curiosities : disciplinary and practice perspectives on uncertainty -- When action can't wait : investigating infectious disease outbreaks / Aileen J. Plant -- Uncertainty and religion : ten provisional theses / Stephen Pickard -- Uncertainty in the physical sciences : how big? how small? is it actually there at all? / Stephen J. Buckman -- Statistics : an essential tool for model citizens / Robyn G. Attewell -- A philosopher's guide to probability / Alan Hájek -- Musical improvisation, creativity and uncertainty / John Mackey -- Uncertainty as a creative force in visual art / Sasha Grishin -- Historians and disputes over uncertainty / Ann Curthoys -- Approaches to uncertain futures / Kate Delaney -- Embracing social uncertainties with complex systems science / Pascal Perez -- Heroin : injected with uncertainty / Alison Ritter -- Political practice : uncertainty, ethics and outcomes / Michael Moore -- Smoke and mirrors : managing uncertainty in the public health sector / Liz Furler -- Economists and uncertainty / John Quiggin -- Psychology's ambivalent view of uncertainty / Michael Smithson -- Uncertainty in decision-making : intelligence as a solution / Steve Longford -- Emergency management thrives on uncertainty / John Handmer -- Uncertainty, complexity and environment / Stephen Dovers ... [et al.] -- Uncertainty, terrorism and law enforcement / Michael McFadden, Rod Lyon and Roy Pinsker -- Certainty as illusion : the nature and purpose of uncertainty in the law / Judith S. Jones -- Unifying diversity -- The nature of uncertainty / Gabriele Bammer, Michael Smithson and the Goolabri Group -- Uncertainty metaphors, motives and morals / Michael Smithson, Gabriele Bammer and the Goolabri Group -- Coping and managing under uncertainty / Michael Smithson, Gabriele Bammer and the Goolabri Group -- Implications for risk assessment and management -- Coping with deep uncertainty : challenges for environmental assessment and decision-making / Roger E. Kasperson -- Risk, uncertainty and social controversy : from risk perception and communication to public engagement / Nick Pidgeon.

Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2009. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries.