Safeware : System Safety and Computers, SPHIGS Software

Rating:
Summary: A book that is still relevant 8 years later
Review: The key to understanding safety lies in the understanding that no one component failure or no human error ever occurs in isolation - an accident is a result of some systemic problem, and this is the fundamental theme of this book. No single book could ever address in detail all of the finer points of system safety analysis (indeed this would take a series of books) but Leveson is able to capture the core issues in an engaging manner. This book is a must read for any student of software and system safety, and will continue to be relevant in an age where automated technology is ubiquitous.

Rating:
Summary: Software Safety
Review: This is an OK book that should have been an excellent book. Frankly, it was a big disappointment. The author is the grand poo-bah of software safety, and so I expected the book to be deep and profound. Instead it is rather shallow with lots of generalities. A lot of what is said is the type of common sense discussion that I would expect from a social scientist, rather than a scientist. I was particularly surprised to see but one page on independent verification and validation. This is a very important topic for ensuring software safety, yet one evidently not on Professor Leveson's radar screen.