“It is a unique approach and is sure to draw a smile from any reader, especially as they complete their assignments for the evening!” Emans wrote in an e-mail to The Crimson. “Great end of the day reading when one is weary of e-mail and the usual course textbooks.”

Howard Raiffa, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School, who is recognized as one of the founders of the field of decision sciences, said professors in all subject areas could use the quotations and cartoons from the book to illustrate points in their own lectures.

“[The book] spices up the subject matter,” Raiffa said by telephone from his home in Tucson. “It’s a light but still a profound set of materials.”

In addition to teaching, Thompson is the director of the Kids Risk Project at HSPH. The project seeks to improve the lives of children by finding cost-effective strategies for better managing the risks that children face each day.

Thompson’s recent research about increasing violence, sex and profanity in movies has grabbed the attention of parents and entertainment industry executives. Last week, she was honored in Palm Springs with the 2004 Society for Risk Analysis Chauncey Starr award, which is given annually to an outstanding young risk analyst.

For all of the serious research that she conducts, Thompson still knows how to laugh. “For me,” she says, “humor makes living in the Age of Risk Management much more fun.”

—Staff writer Andrew C. Esensten can be reached at esenst@fas.harvard.edu.