Significant, and usually unwelcome, surprises, such as floods, financial crises, epileptic seizures, or material rupture, are the topics of "Extreme Events in Nature and Society." The book, authored by foremost experts in these fields, reveals unifying and distinguishing features of extreme events, including problems of understanding and modelling their origin, spatial and temporal extension, and potential impact. The chapters converge towards the difficult problem of anticipation: forecasting the event and proposing measures to moderate or prevent it. "Extreme Events in Nature and Society" will be interesting not only for specialists, but also for the general reader eager to learn how the multifaceted field of extreme events can be viewed as a coherent whole.

Sergio Albeverio: Studied mathematics and physics; professorships and research positions at several universities (in Europe, USA, Russia, Japan, China); now professor at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Director of Interdisciplinary Center for Complex Systems at the University of Bonn.

Volker Jentsch: Studied physics and geophysics; worked in Max Planck Institutes, universities and scientific administration; now co-director at the Interdisciplinary Center for Complex Systems at the University of Bonn.