The year 2022 was supposed the best year of my career. Being in my early 50s I was about to complete my first decade working in the pharmaceutical industry. I would be lying if I said that the transition from the energy industry to pharmaceuticals had been easy, but after a few difficult years I felt confident about the future. Then one day, I was rushed to hospital because I had collapsed in the garden. A scan showed that I had a brain tumour. From that day onwards matters changed dramatically – things that were important to me before lost all their value whilst other things that I had taken for granted before became suddenly very important to me.

This book is my attempt to make a difference to all people who are suffering from a terminal illness, or indeed all people who must make personal decisions at difficult and emotionally charged times. This book is intended for individuals who wish to improve their decision-making skills by using structured and analytical thinking. In this personal book, I am using examples and thought experiments to illustrate how decision analysis can be used to increase our awareness of available choices and uncertainties that we are exposed to.