Customer Reviews

Game Theory at Work: How to Use Game Theory to Outthink and Outmaneuver Your Competition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I bought this book before knowing these unfavorable comments of this book.

I have studied some game theory stuff at postgraduate level. I have read three chapters of this book: Ch.10 on price discrimination; Ch.14 on bargaining and Ch.15 on auctions. Frankly speaking, the materials and examples given in the book are not new. You can easily find them all in Thinking Strategically, Coopetition, Information Rules and some other game theory books. For a reader who has already read some other similar introductory books on game theory, you can save your money. However, if you are new to game theory, this book is worth reading. The writing style is entertaining and the examples are clearly explained.

First off, let me say that there is very little useful information contained in this book. The only thing I can conclude is that other 2 reviews before mine were done by friends of the author of this book, James Miller.

James begins the book with a direct insult to the reader, stating things such as quote "...Beware, however, if you end up enjoying this book, it's not because I wrote it for the purpose of making you happy. I wrote it to maximize my own payoff. I don't care, in any way, about your welfare." He also goes on to arrogantly and blatently say basically that the reader is stupid and that he has much better things to do than to be writing this book.

I totally agree...he should not have written this book. It does very little to aid in the understanding of Game Theory and its practical application in real world scenarios. Most of the information contained within the book is either common sense or flat out WRONG, both factually and practically. What is not either wrong or common sense can easily fall into the "worthless trivia" section.

Let me give you one of Mr. Miller's examples located on page 8 and 9:

Let's say that you are a parent and you are worried about your daughter becoming pregnant. If you threaten your daughter with being kicked out of the house if she becomes pregnant, his basic rationale says that if you love her and she knows it, your threats will be ineffective and she will therefore have no incentive to not become pregnant. However, James points out that the solution to the problem is to demonstrante to your daughter that you in fact do NOT love her which would in turn say to her that you would most definitely make good on your threat of kicking her out of the house in the event she became pregnant.

Application of Game Theory? Yes, kindof...but "real world" useful application of Game Theory, no way. You and I both know that in reality, things simply don't work that way between real, living, breathing people. People have feelings and emotions and many of the examples in this book do not take into account what would REALLY happen in the real world.

If that is how you view the world, then I can summarize Miller's entire book and examples by saying "The best way to use Game Theory in real world situations is to just think of the best way you can screw other people and be an arrogant SOB"...and if that is true, then I guess Miller is the world's greatest Game Theorist.

Here is my opinion as someone who has published serious academic articles with applied game theory, and has taught several political science classes in game theory:

This book is a fake. It's not about game theory and it's certainly not written by someone who is either a researcher in that field or a seasoned teacher of game theory. The book does not teach you game theory. What it is is a kind of mediocre combination of the most basic concepts in game theory with either silly or borrowed examples... Interestingly, many examples are borrowed from Dixit and Nalebuff, another very simple book which our author should be trying to outperform (as opposed to copy!). I mean, why copy Dixit and Nalebuff if they have already sold hundreds of thousands of copies of their book??? (If the author had known a bit more about game theory he would have known critical reviews like this one, or like the other one where the reviewers proves that the positive reviews were posted by the author's wife and friends!!!, would eventually appear.)

Game theory is not about learning what the prisoner's dilemma looks like or what moral hazard is. I mean, these things do appear, but they're about 1% of introductory game theory. The remaining 99% is totally missing from this book. And it is in that missing 99% that one finds what makes game theory useful and applicable: expected utility theory, utility functions and their maximization, reaction curves, bayesian games, etc. My students (even the most non-mathematically inclined ones) can easily grasp simple games using web-based resources for free. If they buy a book and pay up to 30 bucks for purchase and delivery, they (rightly) expect it to guide them through somehow more demanding territory. And this book just doesn't do that at all.

Also, this book is full of inaccuracies, and these end up being very confusing for students new to the topic. For example, the author says that players are always egoistic (i.e. that they only care about their own interest, and not about anyone else). That's totally wrong. You can very well imagine a player with a utility function which has a term that reflects the well-being of other individuals. Just think of a possible coordination game between the Red Cross and UNESCO... Another example: the pregnant daughter who would be better off if her parents had loved her less. What on Earth is that about?!? You just can't publish this kind of non-sense without some discussion about utility functions, time-discounting, risk posture, etc.

One advice: do not buy this silly and superficial book. Do not buy any book that just illustrates standard off-the-shelf games without telling you how payoffs depend on the values taken by the independent variables, and how it is changing payoffs that make the game look (and be solved) one way or another. If you suffer from serious numerical illiteracy, try Dixit and Skeath -- but not this.

While I'm for any book which may prove useful in life and grant that Mr. Miller's might be one of those, I see by other reviews and by my own investigation that Mr. Miller's wife, Prof. Debbie Felton Miller, has not only given her husband's book a 5-star rating but has co-authored at least two other articles & books with him. This info is from the umass.edu website in the "faculty" section as follows:
Recent Publications
2002. With James D. Miller. Using Greek Mythology to Teach Game Theory. The American Economist 46.2.

2002. With James D. Miller. Truth Inducement in Greek Myth. Syllecta Classica 13.104-25. <end>

This calls into question the ethics and honesty of both the author and this "educator" who is tenured at the University of Massachussets. Another point worth mentioning is that David Miller is a contributing editor at Tech Central Station which is an online platform for conservative and right-wing political types. (I've been reading his and other articles there) - [...]

I would not recommend this book, unless one is interested in being persuaded to accept questionable ideologies and questionable ethics of the "me first" variety.

Do not buy this book if you want to learn anything meaningful or "real world" about game theory. The author's examples are irrelevant and in some cases not applicable to game theory constructs.

The fact that the authors wife has reviewed the book without revealing her relationship to the author does indeed suggest that Miller has a bit of the "Lott" in him. It is fine if your family reviews your work, but it is simply good form to inform others of this. (And, five stars - perhaps a bit of grade inflation.)

This type of "cheating" really undermines the review process, so I would advise buyers beware. Perhaps your money is better spent elsewhere.

Market situations are everywhere: when you look for a job, when you buy insurance, when you shop, when you date, when you negotiate. Miller shows you how to play markets to your advantage; how to make better choices. Also, Miller's Game Theory approach is like a mirror that makes it easier for you to see the assumptions that other people are making about you. You learn about yourself, about how other people perceive you. These are keys to success in work and in life.

I have to say I had high expectations when I picked up this book. Miller's Ph.D. advisors included a Nobel Laureate economist who helped invent Game Theory, and America's most prolific legal genius, Judge Posner.

What Professor Miller's astral credentials don't prepare you for is the fun. I had a blast reading Game Theory at Work. Miller had me cracking up page after page. And there's remarkably little fluff, it's so densely packed with ideas and concrete examples. You'll hesitate to put the book down before finishing it - especially if you are impatient - because you'll want to start putting the life-changing approach of Game Theory to work right away. I found it so relevant to so many things in my life. Miller's Game Theory at Work gives you an edge.

This book was an excellent read. It provided some very useful food for thought. Miller gave a fresh perspective on the Game Theory and how to apply it to the real world. For someone who is not that familiar with this theory, the author was able to apply the concept to some very practical concepts. The humor helped to make this an enjoyable experience. I have suggested my friends in business to read this as well as my students in my Economics courses. The author has convinced me to apply the theory when asking for my next pay raise.

There are many useful game theory books on the market now, many of which are aimed at the lay reader. Nalebuff and Dixit is still the best non-technical introduction. At a slightly higher level, Dixit and Skeath is the gold standard. Gibbons, followed by Tirole, would round out the sequence.

By the way, if indeed, as one reviewer claims, that Deb Felton Miller (a "five-star" reviewer) is Miller's spouse, then it does tend to vitiate the usefulness of the review process.

Nice review your wife wrote for you (see below, Debbie Felton Miller).

Don't waste your money - the book is pabulum. Readers interested in game theory pitched at an introductory level should read the far superior Dixit and Skeath.