Games are Drivers manoeuvring in heavy traffic are playing a driving game. Bargain hunters bidding on eBay are playing an auctioning game. A firm negotiating next year's wage is playing a bargaining game. The opposing candidates in an election are playing a political game. The supermarket's price for corn flakes is decided by playing an economic game.Game theory is about how to play such games in a rational way. Even when the players have not thought everything out in advance, game theory often works for the same reason that mindless animals sometimes end up behaving very evolutionary forces eliminate irrational play because it is unfit.Game theory has seen spectacular successes in evolutionary biology and economics, and is beginning to revolutionize other disciplines from psychology to political science. This Very Short Introduction introduces the fascinating world of game theory, showing how it can be understood without mathematical equations, and revealing that everything from how to play poker optimally to the sex ratio among bees can be understood by anyone willing to think seriously about the problem.ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Professor of Economics at UCL, after holding corresponding positions at LSE and the University of Pennsylvania and Michigan. Onetime Professor of Mathematics at LSE.
Author of 77 published papers and 11 books. Research in evolutionary game theory, bargaining theory, experimental economics, political philosophy, mathematics and statistics.
Grants from National Science Foundation (3), ESRC (1), STICERD (2) and others. Chairman of LSE Economics Theory Workshop (10 years), Director of Michigan Economic Laboratory (5 years). Fellow of the Econometric Society and British Academy. Extensive collaboration with 25 co-authors.
Awarded the CBE in the New Years Honours List 2001 largely for his role in designing the UK 3G Spectrum Auction.
الحياة لعبة كبيرة او هى مجموعة من الألعاب الصغيرة المستمرة.
الدراسة و الامتحانات و العمل و معاملة الاخرين و الحياة الاجتماعية ما هى الا مجموعة من الألعاب لها قواعد و شروط و نتائج قد نعلمها او لا نعلمها و لكننا ننفذها احيانا بدون وعى.
حتى الحروب و الاقتصاد و السياسة و الاكتشافات العلمية هى فى النهاية ألعاب.
يحاول هذا الكتاب أن يقودنا إلى مفاتيح هذه الألعاب و قواعدها الأساسية و طرق النجاح فى لعبة الحياة و تحسين مهارات التفاوض و التعريف بالمغالطات المنطقية.
هو كتاب أقرب للتنمية البشرية أو كتب علم الإدارة بصورة أقل.
النجمتان لأن المحتوى أضخم مما يمكن تلخيصه فجاء غير مفهوم فى أحيان كثيرة و تشتت مواضيعه نتيجة كثرتها و عدم ترابطها أحيانا ناهيك عن تبسيط أشياء معقدة أكثر من اللازم بدون داعى و لا يمكن الإستفادة منها كثيرا عن طريق قراءة كتاب.
يصلح الكتاب للقراءة الطويلة المتأنية كل يوم عدة صفحات بطريقة المذاكرة و الا سيكون من باب العلم بالشىء فقط
"...game theory isn't able to solve all the word's problems, because it only works when people play games rationally." --Ken Bilmore, Game Theory, A Very Short Introduction
Ken Binmore's Very Short Introduction (VSI #173) to Game Theory is my second selection of Oxford's huge, gigantic VSI series (quickly approaching 500 books). It was probably closer to 3.5 stars, but mainly because of the structural problems with surveying Game Theory in less than 200 pages. At less than 200 pages Binmore is able to break down Game Theory into chapters on chance, time, conventions, reciprocity, information, auctions, evolutionary biology, bargaining and coalitions, puzzles and paradoxes.
For the beginner, the problem with this book will be how quickly the book expects the reader to pick up on some of the accepted standards of game theory thinking and explanations (boxes, game trees, subgames, etc). For the non-beginner, the book sometimes skims over areas that the reader (or perhaps, just this reader) might want to wade deeper (more maths) into. This is the inherent tension in all the VSI. It is the dance, the game of the series. You have to be able to present your information in a package designed to be broad in scope, but small in application. Binmore does a good job, however. I was very satisfied with the progression of the book, and loved getting a bit more info on such game theory notables as Nash, Von Neumann, etc.
I will admit my head hurts after this book and no its not a bad thing. I will start though by saying that to me mathematics is about numbers and not concepts - my line of work and experience makes me see numbers not symbols or concepts - so I will admit that I have had to work at this book. But why read something that is hard work - well for me the concept is fascinating - game theory has been quoted, mis-interpreted and yes even abused so many times it was about time to see what it was all about - and the "Very short introduction" book is a great way of achieving that without reducing me to a gibbering wreck.
The book tires to explain the various concepts that go to make up Game Theory without overloading the reader with loads of mathematics - wherever possible illustrations are used giving real life examples to an idea or concept. The book also gives a little bit of history of where the various theories came from both good and bad and shows a little illumination of where the theories have been used.
This has not been an easy book to read- but for me (who is notorious for asking too many questions at the best of times) it helps answer the question about why Game Theory is seen as being so important and how what can often be seen as a high concept actually does have relevance (and even power) in our society today. This book is not for everyone and I will admit I will have to return to it to understand it more in the future but for maths I did find this accessible and interesting, I just need to stop now as my brain is full.
a mediocre introduction to a very interesting subject. the book doesn't really flow - just gives example games without connecting the subjects well. the big problem i had with the book is that the author is way too defensive about negative perceptions of game theory, and thus wastes a lot of space trying to remedy these misconceptions. also, without math it was hard for me to internalize some of the game theoretical results.
some of the interesting points:
* discussion of auction mechanisms, with examples of US and British Telecom auctions - I wish the author went into more detail on these instead of just referencing them.
* a discussion of fallacies presented as paradoxes, which are attributed to game theory, in particular those arising from the prisoner's dilemma game. the evolutionary interpretation makes a lot of sense.
* "signalling" as a way of communicating your "type" to the other player in order to push them towards a more profitable equilibrium.
* evolutionarily stable strategies - how equilibria evolve within species.
Obscure and underwritten for beginners, uninteresting for non-beginners. Some of the first figure illustrations were wrong, abolishing any reader trust (and confusing the heck out of me for a while). Stopped after four chapters. If you're looking for a great and accessible introduction to game theory, keep looking.
You hope to understand social behaviors better after reading these kind of books, but people's relationships don't work by books and are always complicated.
ผมทนอ่านจนจบได้เพราะมีความสนใจในทฤษฎีเกมมากนะครับ และหน���งสืออีกเล่มที่ช่วยผมได้มากในการช่วยให้ผมเข้าใจว่าหนังสือที่อาจารย์แปลออกมานั้นอธิบายว่าอย่างไรก็คือ "Strategy and Game Theory" ของ Felix Munoz Garcia ครับ
هذا كتاب ليس في الرياضيات فحسب، بل يتدخل في حقول علم الاقتصاد و النفس و الاجتماع و العلوم و السياسة، يعيبه أنه رغم كل التبسيط الذي فيه يبقى مستعصي الشرح على فئة واسعة من القراء غير المختصين. أرى من الضرورات إدراج تدريس نظرية الألعاب في مناهج طلاب المرحلة الثانوية النهائية و التوسع فيها في العديد من الدراسات الجامعية.
I was disappointed by this introduction. The author writes with considerable style and covers some aspects well, but I think that the core principles of game theory are not explained at all well and the examples and diagrams are explained particularly poorly. Not surprisingly, the book is best when covering the author's speciality - auctions. I also feel that the author devotes too much time to arguing against the straw man of ethical objections to game theory analyses - these could be dealt with ( as he does) just once and not bothered with over and over again in different parts of the book.
After enjoying a couple of Very Short Introduction (VSI) books, I was hoping to enjoy this. However, it was disappointing (I gave up half way) because it kept dropping terms without introduction (e.g., sub-game).
While I agree it is hard to be thorough in short introductory books, I think using terms without introducing them by examples or definition (not for short introductory books) is worst kind of mistake in books. Now, to be fair, I might have enjoyed other VSI books as I was familiar with terms used in them as opposed to this book; however, I doubt this was the case as the book does not state any prerequisite knowledge to grok its content.
Binmore's book was very interesting. It opened my eyes to understand macroeconomics better. I got bored halfway because the concept is repetitive. Fun read.
This book certainly does more-or-less what it says on the can: you will learn the basics of Game Theory from it. On the other hand there is much criticism that could be made of it. The tone is patronising, defensive, often adversarial. The mathematics (this is not the author's fault) is rather thin on the ground, which sometimes makes it difficult to follow. Not much recommended.
Un libro muy interesante aunque me ha decepcionado por la ausencia casi absoluta de matemáticas. El libro se ja centrafo mucho más en el razonamiento que en las mates pero, de cualquier manera ha sido miy interesante.
Imagine that we're watching a group of people play a game an actual board game like maybe monopoly the individuals who are playing these games make decisions but the results of that decision don't only affect that individual player it affects everyone who's playing the game. each of the players depend upon the decisions made by the overall group and this is where game theory comes into play because it reasons about and tries to predict the behaviors that we would expect to see when the individuals are playing this game.
Everything in life is game from a small price negotiation to a war that can never ended. this book cannot be an introduction you can find many math concepts, the most important is nash equilibrium which is a stable state of a system involving the interaction of different participants, in which no participant can gain by a unilateral change of strategy if the strategies of the others remain unchanged.
Chapter 8 "Evolutionary biology" is not easy at all, it can be a book by itself because it contains a revosionaly ideas. ⭐⭐⭐ is enough.
Game theory is in many ways the way we interact with games as example of life situational happenings so choosing theorem that best indicate how two people will act in zero sum problems or noncooperative games for example competitive play then we can deduce our rivals next move
نظرية الالعاب تلك النظرية التي يحاول مجموعة من العلماء استخدامها في مختلف بقية العلوم ، نظرية الالعاب انتقلت من مساحاتها الضيقة الخاصة بمجموعة الالعاب التنافسية الى تطبيقات شتى لفهم سلوكيات الافراد والجماعات في شتى المواضيع ، هي تخبرنا لماذا نقرر بطريقة ما دون أخرى ، تعلمنا ان قرارتنا الانانية هي في عمق قرارات الجماعة التعاونية ، بل ان المجتمعات الانانية هي التي يسود فيها التعاون ، ولذلك اصبحت تلك التطبيقات ممارسات عملية تقرب الصورة لنا عن كل ما يتعلق بالانسان واعتقاداته وتصوراته عن الحياة ، هذه النظرية التي تكشف ان سلوكياتنا الاخلاقية لها مسارات لا ترتبط بالضرورة بالقوانين والمبادئ الدينية والفلسفية بل هي امتداد طبيعي للانسان ككائن طبيعي ينتمي لبقية الكائنات ، لا يحتاج لمن يبرمج سلوكياته بطريقة تؤدي مفعول الانسجام والتراحم والتعاون الايثاري بل هي مُبرمجة ذاتياً طبيعياً متكونة من مئات السنين كآلية لحفظ النوع البشري .
Es un libro sobre Teoría de Juegos como "El dilema del prisionero" de William Poundstone, pero, a diferencia de ese, este tiene un estilo diferente para tratar más o menos los mismos temas. En lugar de un estilo narrativo cronológico, en este se trata de ir presentando conceptos, así como tipos de juegos, y poniendo ejemplos de cada uno. Y un enfoque menos bélico, de grandes conflictos históricos, y más económico de situaciones hipotéticas o reales de la vida diaria. Un poco más teórico y filosófico, pero nivel introductorio. Aunque me gustó más el anterior libro, este lo leí años después y también me gustó.
I get it...you're smarter than I am. So, you write a book that doesn't exactly explain a concept, but instead confirms a concept for those who already understand the concept. Well...maybe I'll learn about the concept and then come back and read your short introduction again so I can understand it.
En realidad mas que introductorio el libro analiza únicamente juegos de dos jugadores, con varios ejemplos, y a pesar de ello no me pareció un libro muy didáctico. Es mas bien un libro de consulta para cuando se necesitan tener ejemplos de análisis de juegos de dos jugadores.
Ken Binmore is the right person for introducing Game Theory. He knows what he is talking about. Although, at times I felt like a short introduction like this could be easier to read. Some pages, I really needed to stop a few mins and read it a few times.
Pretentious garbage - this is what happens when a mathematician tries to write a book Only read if you are autistic and think that your entire life experience comes down to a game of heads or tails.
Už jsem se namlsal odborných publikací a začal se považovat téměř za vzdělance, který rozumí všem slovům a dokáže ohromovat společnost cizími termity (ano, četl jsem i knihu o hmyzu). Ale tedy, u Teorie her jsem narazil. Přestože znám princip, tak buď díky překladu, suchému popisu autora či prostě mé idiocii jsem tady koukal na věty a nechápal téměř nic. Celá kniha je postavená na matematice a na tom kdy je výhodnější držet basu a kdy soupeře spíš podrazit. Což je téma rozhodně zajímavé. Pokud jde o jednorázovou akci, je vždy výhodnější kolegu zradit… jenže většina her je dlouhodobá a v delším celku je pak lepší (aspoň částečně) držet basu. Přesto jsem z toho něco pochopil… třeba to, že při volbách fakt každý hlas nerozhoduje, takže klidně můžete být doma. To, že vy se budete flákat, neznamená, že by lidi, co uvažují stejně jako vy, nešli hlasovat. A že v pokeru je nejlepší co nejvíc blafovat a skládat… což je možná z globálního hlediska funkční, ale potřebujete na to docela dost peněz. A že někdy moc informací škodí – pokud víte, co váš soupeř udělá, automaticky se mu přizpůsobíte. A že klíčovými prvky při vyjednávání je ochota riskovat a dostatek času. Spousta postřehů není špatná, ale obvykle jsem moc nepochopil, jak dospěli k tomu řešení. Plus si myslím, že v reálu nehraje role jen „užitkovost“, ale i emoce. Na druhou stranu, i emoce se dají započítat do užitkovosti, tak proč ne. Podle autora se teorii her dá vlastně řídit cokoliv, včetně rozdělení domácích prací a evoluce. Není to nezajímavá kniha, ale už je to dost komplikovaný (aspoň pro mě) útok informací a vzorečků, bez velké popularizační omáčky.
Håller inte mitt intresse hela väger igenom, och den tappar lite av sin slagkraft genom att undvika matematiken bakom.
Men vad gör man inte för att få läsa otroliga instick som:
"The fat cats who get regulated squeal a great deal about the virtues of the free market, but they know that the pleasant properties of perfectly competitive markets only apply when there are large numbers of small buyers and sellers. When there are only a small number of sellers, they always end up using their market power to screw the consumer unless restrained by government regulation."
Eller
"Auctions are nothing new. Herodotus describes the auctioning of unwanted wives in ancient Babylon. Nor are big-money auctions a novelty. In AD193 the Pretorian Guard auctioned off the Roman Empire to one Didius Julianus. Some of the kinds of auctions in regular use are listed below."