Any good books on game theory?

Factual Questions
1

Hello, I’m a high school student that is interested in getting interested in game theory, if you know what I mean. It seems that almost all books on this subject that I might find in book stores or the library remove most or all mathematics so that the layperson can understand the book. I realize that the alternative to reading one of these is to purchase a college game theory textbook. However, is there a book any of you can recommend that is somewhere in between a college game theory textbook and a no-math watered-down layperson introduction? I think I can handle any high-school mathematics, but do is it all or nothing in terms of college-math or no-math?

Joey.

2

Prisoner’s Dil-ema by William poundstone.

An Honorary doper, if there ever was one.

3

Philip D. Strafin, Game Theory and Strategy. This is one of the books in the New Mathematical Library series, which are introductions to advanced mathematical topics written for high-school students. It uses only basic algebra.

4

Sorry, that’s Straffin ( double f).

5

I have one, (in storage). If you’re interested, contact me and I’ll send it to you. Hope you can handle statistics.

6

I love Prisoner’s Dilemma, but it’s pretty light on the math. I flipped through my copy just now to confirm my recollection of this, and didn’t encounter a single equation or mathematical figure, other than tables of outcomes of various games, in the whole book. Don’t have a good alternate recommendation based on personal experience, but this one looks pretty close. If not, a search on Amazon for “game theory” turns up nearly 900 hits. Bound to be something in there.

7

Yeah, but which ones are good ones?

8

I can recommend Game Theory: A Nontechnical Introduction by Morton D. Davis. I have no idea how it compares to other available books, but it is a good read (and not too expensive, either). In my nonexpert opinion, it strikes a pretty good balance between being easy to understand and being meaty and mind-stretching; between outlining the broad general concepts and showing worked-out details of specific examples.

9

I would most strongly recommend Thinking Strategically, by Dixit and Nalebuff. They do some math, but it isn’t heavy.

If that looks too fluffy, then go to Game Theory For Applied Economists by Robert Gibbons.

There are a lot of resources on the internet, btw. Try:

Al Roth’s page – www.economics.harvard.edu/~aroth/alroth.html

David Levine’s page – http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/

Also www.gametheory.net might be helpful. Check out the online lecture notes.

Poundstone’s book is good, but I’m guessing that it isn’t what you are looking for.

10

What is your goal in learning about game theory? Is it to actually write your own computer game? If so, a dry book on statistics manipulation isn’t for you. Check out:

Game Design: The Art & Business of Creating Games by Bob Bates. Amazon Link

11
      • The classic book on the subject is “Theory of Games and Economic Behavior” by John Von Neumann and Oskar Morganstern, ISBN# 0-691-00362-9. I got mine at Borders a long time ago for $30. Amazon doesn’t seem to list it anymore but Google ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=0-691-00362-9&btnG=Google+Search ) finds this:
        http://pup.princeton.edu/titles/2114.html
        The first chapters cover the 72 (?) games that Von Neuman detirmined to exist, and most are easy to understand --but the later ones are confusing because the distinctions between them are rather small. The rest of the book is dry, mathematical complex theory–I flipped through that part of it and never attempted to read it.
        ~