In the bewildering days after diagnosis of a severe disease, patients learn two daunting facts: One, no doctor has all the answers, and two, there are no answers, only odds. For readers (and their families) who want to be involved in the key choices regarding treatment, Dr. Schneider is the ideal guide. A climate scientist, his life's work is decision making in the face of great uncertainty. This important book is both his own gripping story of working with his doctors to get the best treatment possible, and also a brilliant critique of the flawed system under which doctors must now operate. "Receiving a diagnosis of cancer can bring out the best or the worst in patients.... For Stephen H. Schneider, Ph.D. it brought out the fighter.... The story is compelling.... It offers a number of positive and useful messages for patients enduring chemotherapy, radiation, and other cancer treatments." ( Journal of the American Medical Association ) "Compelling...a frightening medical adventure." (Donald Kennedy, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of Science )