Our Best Guess

It doesn't take much guessing to figure out why Old Dominion University professors John Adam and Larry Weinstein are successful.

The pair, authors of  "Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin," were featured in today's New York Times and instantly saw sales of the book rise from 20,000th to 211th on the Amazon sales list.  (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/science/31angi.html?ref=science.)

The book, which presents lighthearted problems for which ballpark solutions can be calculated by using plausible assumptions and arithmetic, has drawn broad media attention since its release a year ago, including by National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, Science magazine, Nature Physics, Games magazine, Business Week and BBC Focus Magazine.

For an article on the ODU web site, Adam notes that their publisher says they "make a good team" and they're already thinking up more books the pair can write.

That collaboration is a defining characteristic of Old Dominion and is part of what makes Adam and Weinstein -- and the university -- successful.

They are also shining examples of the innovative and engaging teaching you find at ODU. 

Adam, a professor of mathematics, uses the beautiful patterns of nature to teach a broad spectrum of students the difficult subject. Weinstein, professor of physics, is known for his use of fun and off-beat techniques (like sitting on a seat of nails or dropping a pumpkin off a tall building) to demystify the laws of physics.  Students love them and, more importantly, find a love of notoriously difficult subjects because of the professors' ability to make them relevant. 

Both men have been honored as Outstanding Faculty Award winners by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

I'm just guessing, but I think today's New York Times article is just the tip of the iceberg for these two dynamic and excellent professors.