Games are everywhere: Drivers maneuvering in heavy traffic are playing a driving game. Bargain hunters bidding on eBay are playing an auctioning game. The supermarket's price for corn flakes is decided by playing an economic game. This Very Short Introduction offers a succinct tour of the fascinating world of game theory, a ground-breaking field that analyzes how to play games in a rational way. Ken Binmore, a renowned game theorist, explains the theory in a way that is both entertaining and non-mathematical yet also deeply insightful, revealing how game theory can shed light on everything from social gatherings, to ethical decision-making, to successful card-playing strategies, to calculating the sex ratio among bees. With mini-biographies of many fascinating, and occasionally eccentric, founders of the subject--including John Nash, subject of the movie A Beautiful Mind--this book offers a concise overview of a cutting-edge field that has seen spectacular successes in evolutionary biology and economics, and is beginning to revolutionize other disciplines from psychology to political science.
Game Theory: A Very Short Introduction
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Ken Binmore is Emeritus Professor of Economics at University College, London. He has held Chairs in Economics at the London School of Economics and the University of Michigan.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful
By Historied
Format:Paperback
This is a frustrating book to review because it so variable. Clearly Ken Binmore knows much about his subject and there are moments when the book comes alive with insights and crystal clear explanations. You want to cheer. By the time I had finished I knew a lot more about Game Theory than when I started, as is the case with most titles in this excellent series from Oxford. But then you continually hit rather over condensed technical explanations which clearly mean a lot to Ken Binmore, but leave the general reader floundering. He finds it difficult I suspect to put himself in the other's shoes and his editor did not push him hard enough to be clear.The book would benefit from either a technical glossary of key terms used or concise and clear boxed definitions in the text of, for example, Nash Equilibrium. There is not a lot of doubt in this book, which sometimes comes over as arrogant. His dismissal of probably the most useful (to a professional negotiator like myself) book on bargaining 'Getting to Yes' is telling: 'This best seller argues that good bargaining consists of insisting on a fair deal. Thinking strategically is dismissed as a dirty trick!'This misses the fundamental point of Getting to Yes: Interest based bargaining and expanding the size of the pie to be divided creatively. I hope his dismissal of others he disagrees with (and with whom I am less familiar) is more balanced and realistic. Yet there is clearly a very interesting, well informed, intelligent Ken Binmore there to be had, but not consistently. His short explanations of evolutionary game theory and reciprocity are exemplary. And this book made me want to read some of his other work, to see if he is more balanced when he has more space. When he is not being flip his bibliography is outstanding. On balance I would still say: read it!
52 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I avoid writing negative reviews, but am willing to do so when there is a need to warn other readers about wasting time and money on a book. This book presents one such occassion.
The problem is simply that this book works very poorly as an introduction. The early parts of the book fail to provide the lay of the land, definitions of terms are unclear, many topics are poorly explained, and all sorts of necessary details are missing.
I see that another reviewer loved the book, but I also get the impression that this reviewer already has some background in game theory (which I don't). Readers with that background might find this book to be a fun and breezy review since they can fill in the missing content but, again, the problem is that this book purports to be an introduction.
Lest anyone think that the real problem was that this book was over my head, I'll just note that I'm an engineer, and I've done fine with plenty of books dealing with math, science, and other analytic subjects, many of which are a good bit more advanced than Binmore's.
I had to cut my losses and abandon this book about a third of the way through, and I'll now be looking again for a game theory book which is genuinely a proper introduction. After reading such a book, perhaps I'll come back to Binmore's book and see if I can get more out of it.
The problem is simply that this book works very poorly as an introduction. The early parts of the book fail to provide the lay of the land, definitions of terms are unclear, many topics are poorly explained, and all sorts of necessary details are missing.
I see that another reviewer loved the book, but I also get the impression that this reviewer already has some background in game theory (which I don't). Readers with that background might find this book to be a fun and breezy review since they can fill in the missing content but, again, the problem is that this book purports to be an introduction.
Lest anyone think that the real problem was that this book was over my head, I'll just note that I'm an engineer, and I've done fine with plenty of books dealing with math, science, and other analytic subjects, many of which are a good bit more advanced than Binmore's.
I had to cut my losses and abandon this book about a third of the way through, and I'll now be looking again for a game theory book which is genuinely a proper introduction. After reading such a book, perhaps I'll come back to Binmore's book and see if I can get more out of it.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Put me down with those who think this book is too much for an introduction. It clocks in at 175 pages, but I almost think it should have been longer to allow for more explanations (the text feels compressed in many places). For many of the key ideas that repeat throughout the book (e.g. Nash equilibrium, subgame perfect, maximin) I found myself flipping back to re-read original explanations, which weren't clear enough to sink in the first time through. And does the general reader really need graphs like the ones on, say, page 144?
That being said, there's a lot of important information here that you should know. With explanations of the Game of Chicken, Prisoner' Dilemma, Winner's Curse and the Monty Hall problem, this could have been a fun book. Too bad Binmore tried to do too much with it.
That being said, there's a lot of important information here that you should know. With explanations of the Game of Chicken, Prisoner' Dilemma, Winner's Curse and the Monty Hall problem, this could have been a fun book. Too bad Binmore tried to do too much with it.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A thorough introduction to the intuition of game theory
I do believe that "Game Theory: A Very Short Introduction" by Ken Binmore is a good, informal introduction to game theory. Read more
Published 3 months ago by David Tigges
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Short Review is a better title
Not particularly good as an introduction. Defintions are skimped, steps are missed, results whose significance is not immediately obvious are simply stated. Read more
Published on January 25, 2011 by Ken Braithwaite
3.0 out of 5 stars
an all right book
It was an all right book but got somewhat technical and isn't for the casual reader. This is a book for someone needing some reference and a brief introduction to Game Theory who... Read more
Published on October 4, 2010 by joenathan
2.0 out of 5 stars
Inconsistent and frustrating, but I think I emerged a bit wiser
I read Prisoner's Dilemma by Poundstone and mustered up enough interest to dip my toe into Game Theory. This VSI called to me from the library shelves and I settled in. Read more
Published on August 14, 2009 by Aquient
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not A Very Good Introduction
The reviewers for this book are forming into two different camps, those who find it a good introduction and those who feel that it does not do a good job introducing the subject... Read more
Published on June 20, 2009 by WT
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent qualitative survey of game theory
Within the framework of the "a very short introduction" written as a qualitative and popular work rather than a formal text or a text for a specific audience Ken Binmore turned out... Read more
Published on April 3, 2009 by E. M. Van Court
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horrible Introduction
I agree with all of the other negative reviews of this title. I have read a fair number of books from the very short introduction series, most of which I highly recommend. Read more
Published on January 21, 2009 by Speed Racer
3.0 out of 5 stars
fair job of explaining game theory
All in all, the book is only OK. It is a little long for a very short introduction at 175 pages. I found his descriptions somewhat confusing. Read more
Published on January 17, 2009 by Charles Whitman
1.0 out of 5 stars
An introductory book for people who already understand the subject
I wanted to like this book, but after getting about halfway through it I decided to stop reading and return it because I found the author's explanations difficult to embrace. Read more
Published on July 30, 2008 by Steve
2.0 out of 5 stars
C for effort
This short introduction lacks an introduction. Important ideas such as the Nash Equilibrium are not clearly defined. Assumptions are not explicitly stated (e.g. Read more
Published on December 29, 2007 by Bernard VdS
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