Create your Book of Odds – It's FREE | Already registered, Login 
Login with Facebook 
Login with Yahoo
Login with Facebook Login with Yahoo
Suggest Odds
Founder's Blog
FILTERS
Author: Amram Shapiro
WILL THE WEB REWARD TRANSPARENCY?
One of the inherent virtues of the Web is the greatest expansion of free speech in history. But it is fair to ask whether the Web will develop a taste for higher standards of evidence, citation, sourcing, vetting, and transparency than it does today.
AT THE BOSTON MUSEUM OF SCIENCE (PART 2)
While presenting at the Boston Museum of Science to about 200 museum-goers, I was able to run a modest experiment. Its purpose was to show that, contrary to some reports, people often show remarkable ability to deal with numbers and abstractions.
AT THE BOSTON MUSEUM OF SCIENCE (PARTS 1 AND 2)
The idea that people are underestimated has spurred the creation of Book of Odds and I explored this issue recently at the Boston Museum of Science.
HOW TO SEARCH ON BOOK OF ODDS
As Justin Refi describes in his recent blog post, we have done a major overhaul of our search functionality, and the following is a helpful guide for users.
STREAKS: ROSENCRANTZ VS. GUILDENSTERN
The subject of Book of Odds in its broadest sense is the relationship between the past and the future. If we have an accurate count of past events such as incidents of arson, how much can we infer about the likelihood of arson in the future?
THE SWOOSH AND THE SPIDER
The fallibility of famous men has been on display this season, with public men held “much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect” over the roaring flames of notoriety.
GIFT BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THOSE WHO LIKE BOOK OF ODDS
We are blessed by some of the most superb writers tackling the issues of probability, science, risk, prediction, and what can be learned about the future from our experience of the past. To help those who love Book of Odds or to help find gifts for those who do, we have suggested book gifts, some new and some older, but each remarkable in its own right in making sense of these topics.
THE TIGER WOODS QUESTION
With Tiger Woods’ personal life among the most talked about tempests in the public teapot, we have been asked by many sources about the odds of car accidents, golf accidents, and above all, male marital infidelity.
WHEN ULCERS CAME OUT OF THE WOODWORK
The numbers we can see are interesting, but so are the ones we can’t, the dark matter of the odds of everyday life.
WILD SURMISE
When you propose to do something new people ask you whether it hasn’t already been done. Are you on a fool’s errand, about to put effort nto something already done? And if it hasn’t been done, why not? Won’t you encounter the same impediments which blocked others?
Amram Shapiro
President and Founder
Why Book of Odds? "Book of Odds began with a simple question: Why are we able to get information about so many subjects so easily, yet not about the most vital and interesting subject—the probabilities of everyday life? Answering this question became my mission and the business idea that followed met the criteria I had set for myself when I looked for the next thing to do in my life: it is worthwhile, meaningful and has a reason to exist long after my lifetime."
Favorite Quote -
"Chance favors the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur and a biased sample of world-class scientists
"The more I practice, the luckier I get." - Gene Sarazen and a biased sample of world-class athletes
As Founder and President of Book of Odds, Amram Shapiro, has seen Book of Odds from its birth in 2006, through its three-year development phase, to its launch in October 2009, to its present growth and redesign phase. Amram is responsible for setting strategic direction at Book of Odds and building strategic relationships with other organizations interested in the Book of Odds mission.
Prior to Book of Odds, Amram served as Director at Arthur D Little (ADL) and at Pittiglio, Rabin, Todd & McGrath (PRTM). At ADL he led the Strategic Management of Technology practice and developed the strategies of large, successful startups such as FlightSafety International. As part of PRTM’s management team, he helped grow a $20 million regional firm into a global firm with revenues over $250 million. As practice leader for PACE, he built it into the premier new product development consulting offering around the globe. He developed the PRTM benchmarking organization and helped launch the Asian Region. He was co-author of the ground-breaking "Product Development, Success through Product And Cycle-time Excellence" (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1992). He has also contributed to numerous journals including PRTM’s Insight, Research Technology Management and CFO.
Amram graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College and has received his Masters of Business Administration degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.
Favorite Odds Statement: The odds an adult has ever eaten cold pizza for breakfast are 1 in 2.56 (US, 5/2005).
