Cellular Phones, Public Fears, and a Culture of Precaution

Adam Burgess' study is the first account of the health panic surrounding cellular phones that developed in the mid 1990s. Explaining that the related health anxieties had little substantial basis, Burgess traces the origins of the panic and how and why it grew so significantly in some societies, but not in others. The book also outlines a history and sociology of the cell phone, and compares popular reactions to other technologies, such as x-rays and radar.