Rate this book

Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory In Everyday Life (2000)

by Len Fisher(Favorite Author)
3.36 of 5 Votes: 2
ISBN
0465009387 (ISBN13: 9780465009381)
languge
English
genre
publisher
Basic Books
review 1: The author achieved his stated goal : I now find myself shouting "Game theory!" at things that happen in life that I hadn't previously thought of in those terms. So that's good, I suppose. It's a good introductory primer to the concepts of game theory, and how we might use them to cooperate better, but it goes a little strange at the end with something called quantum game theory, which I am not going to profess to understand even with his attempts to dumb it down, and I think that subject might have been best left elsewhere. He also has a tendency, in the name of readability, to highly compress topics, or refer you to footnotes for more explanation. Having to flip back and forth from the text to the end got very old, very fast, particularly in a book that wasn't that big t... moreo begin with. In an attempt to give a wide understanding, he perhaps goes too wide, and might have been better served by narrowing his focus and giving a better understanding of the issues he chose to include.
review 2: I knew I had seen too many TV explanations of Game Theory.Fisher does an excellent job of explaining Game Theory in a non-mathematical way. Though I suppose most people interested in Game Theory are also math buffs. But for those of use who can barely function without a calculator the book sheds some light on the subject.Mostly, however, Fisher talks about examples and little about practical application. In fact he spends a lot of time pining away about how Game Theory could end war. Which made the book more about the theoretical uses of this mathematical science. And since there is very little math in this book, no conclusions are made, only hopes.Still, if you just want to know what people are talking about when they say Game Theory its a good book. Though in the end I wasn't as impressed by the science as I thought I would be. less
Reviews (see all)
iger
Interesting collection of facts and stories related to the basics of game theory.
christine
Fun and brainstretchy. I'll probably check it out again sometime.
Sothpa
A good start to game theory for amateurs.
sarah
Good read, clever, accessible.
Write review
Review will shown on site after approval.
(Review will shown on site after approval)