Game Theory

A Very Short Introduction

De: Ken Binmore

Narrado por: Jesse Einstein

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 groundbreaking 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.

©2007 Ken Binmore (P)2021 Tantor

Not Meant to be an Audio Book

As another reviewer has commented, the text of this book makes repeated references to supporting diagrams that are not attached as supplemental content. Without having access to the diagrams, the audio is close to non-sensical. If you're REALLY paying attention you can intuit some of what is going on, but only slightly.

The narration is also very dry as a result. Without the benefit of the diagrams as context, it is extremely difficult to follow along with the narrator. The prose itself is also self-congratulatory and comes off as pretentious.

Too academic and dry

Wish it could provide more accessible descriptions.and examples to this topic. But it failed, so the search for another book continues

No pdf supplementary materials

The audio presentation is, I suppose, just fine. But there are many many references therein to figures and charts and diagrams and tables that are not made available via this audible subscription. Okay, let the audio wash over you and maybe you'll pick up some of the aura and aroma of game theory, but it will be hard to follow the details because the often cited diagrams etc will not be available. This is a very short and very incomplete introduction to game theory.