Bestselling author Cass R. Sunstein examines how to avoid worstcase scenariosThe world is increasingly confronted with new challenges related to climate change globalization disease and technology. Governments are faced with having to decide how much risk is worth taking how much destruction and death can be tolerated and how much money should be invested in the hopes of avoiding catastrophe. Lacking full information should decisionmakers focus on avoiding the most catastrophic outcomes When should extreme measures be taken to prevent as much destruction as possibleAverting Catastrophe explores how governments ought to make decisions in times of imminent disaster. Cass R. Sunstein argues that using the maximin rule which calls for choosing the approach that eliminates the worst of the worstcase scenarios may be necessary when public officials lack important information and when the worstcase scenario is too disastrous to contemplate. He underscores this argument by emphasizing the reality of Knightian uncertainty found in circumstances in which it is not possible to assign probabilities to various outcomes. Sunstein brings foundational issues in decision theory in close with real problems in regulation law and daily life and considers other potential future risks. At once an approachable introduction to decisiontheory and a provocative argument for how governments ought to handle risk Averting Catastrophe offers a definitive path forward in a world rife with uncertainty.