A Course in Game Theory

Book Description

A Course in Game Theory presents the main ideas of game theory at a level suitable for graduate students and advanced undergraduates, emphasizing the theory's foundations and interpretations of its basic concepts. The authors provide precise definitions and full proofs of results, sacrificing generalities and limiting the scope of the material in order to do so. The text is organized in four parts: strategic games, extensive games with perfect information, extensive games with imperfect information, and coalitional games. It includes over 100 exercises.

Customer Reviews:

good read for those interested.......2007-03-01

This book is well organized in to the topics, one of the better books on game theory and explains it in a pretty easy to follow manner.

A Decent Survey.......2007-02-06

This book is a decent alternative to the Gibbons text (which I personally prefer). You could say this book is much more comprehensive and much more mathematical than Gibbons, though. My own opinion is that much of the game theory as described in this book is not general audience and sometimes very tedious if you are only interested in theory and not so much interested in real analysis.
If you find Gibbons to be too easy or way below your level, this book is one option. The more ideal option, though, would just be to start reading academic papers - as you are obviously ready to do so. That way you could get the knowledge first hand and wouldn't need to spend time on a very detailed second hand review of areas that may not be exactly what you are looking for.

Maybe for class but not for personal exploration..........2003-06-02

I agree with a previous review that this book is not good for individuals. Solutions to the excersizes are only available to educators. If the book is assigned for a class and the teacher has access to the solutions and can coach the student through the excersizes this is probably a great book because of it's depth. It is probably also a good reference book for those already familar with the subject.
However if you are like me and were looking for a strong book that will help a motivated individual learn game theory this book is not for you. I have tried many of the excersizes and I am still not positive that I my answers are correct. The material in the book is very complex but accessible, that is not the problem. The problem is the lack of development because I can not go over my answers to the excersizes and see what I did right and what I did wrong...

An essential course in game theory........2003-01-28

This was one of the first books I read in Game Theory, and definitely the hardest. Those who want a gentle introduction to the concepts of modern game theory might do better with a simpler text such as Gibbons. That said, there is no substitute for quality. The depth of analysis is entirely necessary to get to the meat of the theory.
Osborne and Rubinstein write extremely well, softening the blows of some of the more complicated concepts. Their own substantial publication records in the Game Theory literature do much to recommend their version of analysis over others.

To much Math........2002-05-04

To much math and not easy to understand.

Average customer rating:

Good stuff
Masterpiece
not bad
still on the frontier because of disinformation
An Elegant and Deep Treatment

Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict
Roger B. Myerson
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0674341163

Book Description

Eminently suited to classroom use as well as individual study, Roger Myerson's introductory text provides a clear and thorough examination of the models, solution concepts, results, and methodological principles of noncooperative and cooperative game theory. Myerson introduces, clarifies, and synthesizes the extraordinary advances made in the subject over the past fifteen years, presents an overview of decision theory, and comprehensively reviews the development of the fundamental models: games in extensive form and strategic form, and Bayesian games with incomplete information.

Game Theory will be useful for students at the graduate level in economics, political science, operations research, and applied mathematics. Everyone who uses game theory in research will find this book essential.

Customer Reviews:

Good stuff.......2007-10-18

excellent book,very comprehensive step by step approach.I especially enjoyed the sections on Nash equilibria and infinite strategies.Great for those who wish to understand the underlying foundations of decision making via both simple and intricate mathematics. The concepts are also explained well in english through generally understood examples.

Masterpiece.......2004-03-24

This book is a masterpiece: it goes from the simple and straightforward (with examples of sequential equilibria) to technical and challenging material (such as the Mertens-Zamir type space). I own Fudenberg-Tirole and Osborne-Rubinstein, but it is Myerson that gets picked up the most. What I find most rewarding is that Myerson introduces everything gently, working from examples to build a general theory.

not bad.......2003-06-07

very comprehensive book. Covers pretty much everything. It's supposed to be a graduate text but undergrads can handle it as long as they know some math and aren't too scared by all the notation. Oh and Myerson is nice guy too.

still on the frontier because of disinformation.......2003-02-09

This book is not good only because it explains all well known difficult concepts which noone so far has been able to explain clearly and rigourosly in one book but for new important topics that are less known for the majority of game theorists. I'm refering to the idea of networks and cooperation structures and also cooperation under uncertainty with the idea of virtual utility.

An Elegant and Deep Treatment.......2000-06-13

I just completed a game theory book (Game Theory Evolving, Princeton University Press, 2000). To find the best way to present various materials, I went through virtually every game theory book in existence. For the presentation of the basic material on normal and extensive form games, nothing even came close to this book in clarity of presentation and depth of understanding of the issues. Most textbooks, even highly touted ones that are mathematically challenging, do not even come close, and rarely even present the material in a coherent form at all.

I used to do a lot of carpentry, and I always knew the good carpenters from the run of the mill. The latter talk about how to build stuff. The good ones talked about how you choose, preserve, treat, and sharpen your tools. Myerson is, for game theory, like the good carpenter, and this book is more about the nature of the tools of game theory than their deployment--although it is certainly that, too.

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Has history been tampered with?.......2007-10-23

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RAZQNMXM4M9CL Has history been tampered with? Yes, it has! Did events and eras such as the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Roman Empire , the Dark Ages, and the Renaissance, actually occur within a very different chronology from what we've been told? Yes, they certainly did!

The history of humankind is both drastically shorter and dramatically different than generally presumed.

Why is it so? On one hand, it was usual custom to justify the claims to title and land by age and ancestry, and on the other the court historians knew only too well how to please their masters. The so called universal classic world history is a pack of intricate lies for all events prior to the 16th century. World history as we learn it today was entirely fabricated in the 16th-18th centuries. It's likely that nobody told you before, but

there is not a single piece of firm written evidence or artefact that is reliably and independently dated prior to the 11th century.

Naturally, after what you've learned in school and university, you will not easily believe that the classical history of ancient Rome, Greece, Asia, Egypt, China, Japan, India, etc., is manifestly false.

You will point accusing finger to the pyramids in Egypt, to the Coliseum in Rome and Great Wall of China etc., and claim, aren't they really ancient, thousands of years ancient? Well, there is no valid scientific proof that they are older than 1000 years!

The oldest original written document that can be reliably dated belongs to the 11th century!

New research asserts that Homo sapiens invented writing (including hieroglyphics) only 1000 years ago. Once invented, writing skills were immediately and irreversibly put to the use of ruling powers and science.

The consensual chronology we live with was essentially crafted in the 16th century by the Jesuits.

The world history was compiled from contradictory mix of innumerable copies of ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts and other irrefutable proofs delivered by late mediaeval astronomers that were cemented by the authority of writings of the Church Fathers.

Early in life, we learn about ancient history. Children love the magical lessons of history - they are like fairy tales. Teachers recite breathtaking stories; very soon We learn by heart the names and deeds of brave warriors, wise philosophers, fabulous pharaohs, cunning high priests and greedy scribes.

We learn of gigantic pyramids and sinister castles, kings and queens, dukes and barons, powerful heroes and beautiful ladies, emaciated saints and low-life traitors.

Ancient history is based documents, manuscripts, printed books, paintings, monuments and artefacts - called primary sources.

The problem is that neither these ancient documents, nor events described therein can be irrefutably dated, moreover they contradict each other for the most part.

When a school textbook tells us that Genghis Khan in year X or Alexander in year Y, have each conquered half of the world, it means only that it is so said in some of the written sources.

There are no answers to simple questions:

When were these primary sources written?

Where and by whom were these sources found?

It is wrongly presumed that ancient and medieval chronicles, written by Genghis Khan's or Alexander the Great contemporaries and eyewitnesses, are readily available. Actually, only sources written hundreds or even thousands of years after the events are there, compiled mostly in the 16th 18th centuries, or even later.

As a rule, these sources suffered considerable multiple manipulations, falsifications and distortions by editing. At the same time,

innumerable originals of ancient documents under various pretexts were destroyed in Europe under various pretexts.

The names of persons and geographical sites often changed meaning and location during the course of the centuries.

Geographical locations became clearly defined on maps only with the advent of printing.

This made possible the circulation of identical copies of the same map for purposes of the military, navigation, education and governance tasks.

Historians from Oxford say: "hey, everybody knows that Julius Caesar lived in the first century B.C.

`Julius Caesar' statement is only a point of view as

there is simply no irrefutable documentary proof that Julius Caesar or any other great name of antiquity ever existed.

Better than that - extremely rare sources that can be reliably dated back to the 10th-14th centuries A D, do not show the polished picture of classical history.

They show a picture both contradictory and confusing.

All methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts are erroneous:

Radio-carbon C14 method produces dating with exactitude of plus minus 1500 years, therefore it is too crude for dating of events in historical timeframe!

The Almagest tractate, which lies as corner stone contemporary chronology, compiled in the 2nd century A D by Ptolemy, the founding father of astronomy, contains astronomical data of 9th to 16th century!

The Bronze Age,that has supposedly began 5000 years ago. Bronze is made of 90% copper and 10% tin, but the technology for tin extraction dates back to 14th century A D!.

All eclipses contained in manuscripts, like Thucydides one, relating 'ancient' events have exclusively medieval dating. All horoscopes cut in stone or painted in Egyptian temples, like Dendera have exclusively early medieval dating solutions.

Not quite what you have learned in school? Open your eyes, and, you will find sufficient proof to reach step by step the inevitable conclusion that the classical chronology is false and therefore, that the history of ancient and medieval world universally accepted today, is also false. Have a fresh outlook on everything said or printed about "ancient" and "enigmatic" Roman, Greek and Egyptian, medieval as well as all other "lost and found" civilizations.

Antiquity and Dark Ages are phantoms invented in the 16th 18th and polished in 19th 20thcenturies. Human civilization is in fact barely 1000 years old!

This book will change your perception of History forever!
What if Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt were invented during Renaissance?
What if The Old Testament was a rendition of events of the Middle Ages?
What if Jesus Christ was born in 1053 and crucified in 1086 AD?
Sounds Unbelievable?
Not after you've read "History: Fiction or Science?" by Anatoly Fomenko, the genius mathematician.
Armed with astronomy and computers Anatoly Fomenko turns History into a rocket science.

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

Mathematics for 3D Game Programming and Computer Graphics, Second Edition (Game Development Series)

Average customer rating:

One of a kind
Great book
Math majors rejoice
Great book on the math needed for 3D games and graphics
An Essential Source for Robust 3D Graphics Engine Design

Mathematics for 3D Game Programming and Computer Graphics, Second Edition (Game Development Series)
Eric Lengyel
Manufacturer: Charles River Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1584502770

Book Description

This completely updated second edition illustrates the mathematical concepts that a game programmer would need to develop a professional-quality 3D engine. Although the book is geared toward applications in game development, many of the topics appeal to general interests in 3D graphics. It starts at a fairly basic level in areas such as vector geometry and linear algebra, and then progresses to more advanced topics in 3D game programming such as illumination and visibility determination. Particular attention is given to derivations of key results, ensuring that the reader is not forced to endure gaps in the theory. The book assumes a working knowledge of trigonometry and calculus, but also includes sections that review the important tools used from these disciplines, such as trigonometric identities, differential equations, and Taylor series.

Customer Reviews:

One of a kind.......2007-03-23

As a professional 3D graphics programmer, I can not stress enough the quality of this book. This book covers 3D math fundamentals, algorithms, and it is complete with easy to understand (!) proofs. The math is difficult because there is so many problems to be solved in 3D (and they draw from many different branches of mathematics), but it is written in such a clear way that every topic is made approachable. Unlike esoteric Ph. D papers, you aren't assumed to have any specific knowledge of math idioms or jargon. You simply need a decent grasp of college calculus and trigonometry to make the most of it. There are a few samples too to test your knowledge.

Expect to spend at least a solid year to really make the use of this book. Treat it as you would a two - three semester course in college. During this process, you'll find yourself occasionally wanting to get more practice and referring to a respective book on it.

If you could only own two books for 3D programming, buy this first and buy Ericson's book on collision detection next.

In summary, Eric Lengyel's attention to detail and mastery of 3D math / algorithms really shines and this book is an example of it.

Great book.......2007-03-08

This book is great for anyone interested in computer graphics. Even for people who do not have a lot of math/graphics experience, this book starts you off with the basics of vectors and matrices and has exercises/solutions for each chapter. It saves you the time of looking through your old linear algebra and differential equation math books and contains the must know information you will use as a graphics programmer.

Math majors rejoice.......2007-03-02

To be honest, while I find this book to be a decent reference, I find it to be pretty inaccessible in terms of sitting down and reading through it in an attempt to learn the concepts. As a non-math major (I'm actually an engineer and software developer) these math concepts are by no means beyond me. But rather than simply being presented with equation after equation, proof after proof, what I find a lot more valuable is more discussion on the usage of these equations. Specifically I'd like to see examples, diagrams, and code, and there is precious little of any of that in this book.

In other words, this book is very much like what you expect to find in a very dry upper devision college math text for the consumption of math majors who are used to such things. But for a non math major just trying to make use of these concepts in order to get the job done and make games? eh, not so much.

Still, I do think this book is useful as a reference when I want to look up an equation as there are a ton of them crammed into this book, but for me, I just don't find this book to be very good as a learning tool.

Great book on the math needed for 3D games and graphics.......2006-11-27

This book illustrates the mathematics that a game programmer would need to develop a professional-quality 3D engine. Although the book is geared toward applications in game development, many of the topics appeal to general interests in 3D graphics. It starts at a fairly basic level in areas such as vector geometry and linear algebra, and then progresses to more advanced topics in 3D game programming such as illumination, visibility determination, and collision detection. Particular attention is given to derivations of key results, ensuring that the reader is not forced to endure gaps in the theory. The book assumes a working knowledge of trigonometry and calculus, but also includes sections that review the important tools used from these disciplines, such as trigonometric identities, differential equations, and Taylor series. This book has plenty of examples and figures, making it much more illustrative than your average math book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in implementing more advanced mathematics into their games or graphics applications. The following is the table of contents for this second edition:
Chapter 0 The Rendering Pipeline (NEW)
Chapter 1 Vectors
Chapter 2 Matrices
Chapter 3 Transforms
Chapter 4 3D Engine Geometry
Chapter 5 Ray Tracing
Chapter 6 Illumination
Chapter 7 Visibility Determination
Chapter 8 Collision Detection
Chapter 9 Polygonal Techniques
Chapter 10 Shadows (NEW)
Chapter 11 Linear Physics
Chapter 12 Rotational Physics
Chapter 13 Fluid Simulation
Chapter 14 Numerical Methods (NEW)
Chapter 15 Curves and Surfaces (NEW)
Appendix A Complex Numbers
Appendix B Trigonometry Reference
Appendix C Coordinate Systems
Appendix D Taylor Series
Appendix E Answers to Exercises

Note that there are four new chapters in this second edition.

An Essential Source for Robust 3D Graphics Engine Design.......2004-11-21

I have not yet been able to purchase the second edition of this book. However, since it is a refinement of the first edition, I feel that I am somewhat competent to review this later version of Lengyel's text on this knowledge of the fundamental chapters which are included in both editions.

Definitely, the subject of 3D Computer Graphics draws programmers and gamers inward like a bug lamp draws insects inward. The ability to express one's own inspiring representation of the world seems to attract the deepest longings of the subcreative nature of the human person. However, the coder quickly realizes that the realization of this dream is extremely difficult due to the complexities of visualization in nature. Lengyel's text helps to break through many of these complexities.

In order to make sure that the reader is "up to speed" on the essentials in mathematics which are necessary for a 3D engine, Lengyel gives a quick, but thorough, review of Vector and Matrix operations. I was indeed impressed by the amount that he condensed into the beginning of the text. While this is far from a complete treatise on Linear Algebra, this material gives the reader the basics which will be necessary for all the other chapters. This is further augmented by his treatment of 3D geometry, its representations, and calculations relevant to it.
Using this, he treats on various subjects that are extremely important for making a lean, mean, and beautiful rendering machine.

His treatment of transformations gives the reader a base in this knowledge that is independent of the rendering context. This is an excellent approach because knowledge of how something works allows for one to use it more fully. He also goes further in introducing Quaternions and deriving rotations around any arbitrary axis.

The chapter on Ray Tracing gives the necessary background for the work done in the following chapter on illumination. While the latter is often implemented by the graphics environment that the coder is using, the full knowledge of this allows for further application in subjects such as bump mapping (which he treats) as well as reflective surface simulation.

Perhaps the most interesting and important subject covered in the text, however, is the chapter on visibility determination. Since this is critical to the speed of rendering, this topic is central to game engine design. Lengyel works through the various methods for bounding box construction as well as bounding spheres, ellipsoids, and cylinders and then explains how these can be tested against the view frustrum in order to determine if an object should even be rendered. Another chapter on various techniques which can be applied to polygons outlines procedures for reducing the complexity of meshes, without compromising quality.

The remaining chapters touch on collision detection, linear and rotational physics, and fluid simulation. These topics allow for the addion of various levels of realism to be added to 3D engines and are of importance once the rendering environment has been established. Furthermore, his appendices are a nice addition for those times when our memories fail to recall various facts.

And so, I give this book my definite approval. It is hard to come by a text so compact, yet thorough, on the foundations truly needed for 3D Graphics. These mathematical foundations allow for greater things to be explored and should interest any 3D programmer as well as individuals with a general interest in mathematics, especially in the applications of linear algebra and calculus.

Co-Opetition : A Revolution Mindset That Combines Competition and Cooperation : The Game Theory Strategy That's Changing the Game of Business

Average customer rating:

Decent, old ideas in new packaging
A classic, an introduction to negotiation and its links to game theory and business strategy
Insightfull
Not a book to skim through
co-opetition is fascinating, innovative and practical

Co-Opetition : A Revolution Mindset That Combines Competition and Cooperation : The Game Theory Strategy That's Changing the Game of Business
Adam M. Brandenburger , and Barry J. Nalebuff
Manufacturer: Currency
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385479506
Release Date: 1997-12-29

Book Description

Now available in paperback, with an all new Reader's guide, The New York Times and Business Week bestseller Co-opetition revolutionized the game of business. With over 40,000 copies sold and now in its 9th printing, Co-opetition is a business strategy that goes beyond the old rules of competition and cooperation to combine the advantages of both. Co-opetition is a pioneering, high profit means of leveraging business relationships.

Intel, Nintendo, American Express, NutraSweet, American Airlines, and dozens of other companies have been using the strategies of co-opetition to change the game of business to their benefit. Formulating strategies based on game theory, authors Brandenburger and Nalebuff created a book that's insightful and instructive for managers eager to move their companies into a new mind set.

Customer Reviews:

Decent, old ideas in new packaging.......2007-08-29

You'd be better off working through Competitive Strategy by Michael Porter, there's nothing in here that isn't in Porter's book. This books is a little easier to read for the casual reader however and does have more examples to explain the topics.

A classic, an introduction to negotiation and its links to game theory and business strategy.......2007-07-17

The book starts showing that business is not always the adversarial relationship that is usually presented in many strategy books. The authors contend that business is war and peace at the same time, hence the name: cooperation and competition contract to co-opetition.

The book develops further the well known five-forces analysis to create the value net, and show that a company is interested in the well-being of some of the other market participants -a typical example is the DVD player makers and the movie producers, the more records are on offer the more DVD players are available, which makes more interesting to keep publishing records. Game theory is introduced as the method to link competition and cooperation opening the second part of the book, which shows a structured method how to approach and improve your position in negotiations.

The method follows the acronym PARTS, which stands for:
-Players, who profits from taking part in a negotiation.
-Added-values, what are you and other players bringing to the negotiation.
-Rules, how can you improve contracts.
-Tactics, how perceptions influence the results and how you can change it.
-Scope, are there other issues or negotiations that can be linked to the negotiation.

Every point is well developed linking it to the points mentioned earlier, or the idea of the value net, and with plenty of examples from real life.
If you want to read a basic book on negotiation this is a great choice.

Insightfull.......2007-01-09

It is book to be re-readed and "worked" because it is thorough and with lots of ideas that transform in some way the way we should see competition and the interaction of a company with the market, its competitors, etc....

Its clear for all that the world is not so simple as us and the rest that compete with us but the authors books elaborate a framework for better understanding of the market complexity.

Enrique.

Not a book to skim through.......2006-10-20

I took Co-opetition with me to a coast-to-coast flight hoping to start practicing a fast reading method. Brad Feld explained on his blog how he succeeds to read 8(!) books a week: "(a) no TV, (b) no kids, (c) four to six hours a night of reading, and (d) the willingness / ability to skim when things are dull". So I thought to try the method with Co-opetition and to complete it on my way from Atlanta to Palo Alto. From all the requirements only the willingness/ability to skim wasn't provided upfront. After the first dozen of pages I understood that that's not a skim-through book.

Adam and Barry made a book sharing principles of strategy, tactics, and planning carrying away your attention by clear reasoning, crystal logic, plain English, and bright examples. The book can takes it place on one's shelf next to "Good to great", "Marketing warfare", and the books of Jeoffrey Moore but unlike the latter doesn't goo too far in the academic direction. Quite the contrary, it oozes real, top brand examples, spending 90% of the text describing the stories of failure and success and only 10% devoting to formulating principles and recapping the arguments.

The book consists of two parts: the game of business and the PARTS of strategy.

The first part (about 1/3 of the book) introduces the concept of the value net reminding in a certain way Porter's five forces. The authors present a square graph with the business placed in the crossing of the diagonals and customers/suppliers and competitors/complementers taking the opposite corners of the square. The book explains the theory of balanced forces and promotes principles and approaches symmetrically applicable to the corners of the net.

The war/piece preamble breaks the concept of known in advance friends and foes. Introducing multiple perspectives the authors claim that in the modern business world everything should be viewed through the prism of the net and simple definitions don't work anymore.

The PARTS (Players, Added value, Rules, Tactics, and Scope) are the components describing the game and depending on particular circumstances and targets the components have to be re-evaluated and re-mapped.

After introducing the concept the authors in the rest of the book religiously describe each of the components bringing tens of examples following and breaking the principles (and leading to success or failure correspondingly. Bright and bold marketing strategies of great companies leading to win-win situations with competitors, customers, suppliers, and complementers captivate you and don't let skim over. For every case of success the book brings a counter-example of failure as well cementing the principle and equally teaching and convincing the reader.

Among many other topics particular attention is devoted to such as how to manage negotiations, how to deal with perceptions, how to plan prices and avoid wars, how to establish and change rules, which tactics to apply, and how to analyze scopes.

Many new ideas flooded by almost detective business examples preclude me from skimming a paragraph in the book. A great pace with which the book expounding the matter, vivid examples, clear language, and strong (at times shocking) ideas make this book a solid must for everybody who deals with building, positioning, and rolling out products or services. Highly recommended!

co-opetition is fascinating, innovative and practical.......2006-08-09

I was lucky enough to read this book while being taught Game Theory & Business Strategy by Adam Brandenburger, who is unequivocally one of the best Professors I've had in B-school.

To the criticisms of this book that it does not include the theoretical aspects of game theory and modeling, that may be true, but the purpose is not necessarily theory but practical application. When I read this book, I was also in the process of reading and learning about specific game theory and actual games, so it tied together well. If that is what you are looking for, I recommend this approach.

In terms of what you will get: many "A-ha!" moments with regard to analyzing a competitive situation and how to take advantage of the opportunity available, including changing the game and learning who is really in a position of power.

A must read for anyone interested in learning how to leverage their position in the game of business strategy!

Snipers, Shills, and Sharks: eBay and Human Behavior

Average customer rating:

Good read
Enthralling. It gets better as it goes on.
Engaging, informative, and entertaining!
Not terribly substantive, and not even that fun to read

Snipers, Shills, and Sharks: eBay and Human Behavior
Ken Steiglitz
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0691127131

Book Description

Every day on eBay, millions of people buy and sell a vast array of goods, from rare collectibles and antiques to used cars and celebrity memorabilia. The internet auction site is remarkably easy to use, which accounts in part for its huge popularity. But how does eBay really work, and how does it compare to other kinds of auctions? These are questions that led Ken Steiglitz--computer scientist, collector of ancient coins, and a regular eBay user--to examine the site through the revealing lens of auction theory.

The result is this book, in which Steiglitz shows us how human behaviors in open markets like eBay can be substantially more complex than those predicted by standard economic theory. In these pages we meet the sniper who outbids you in an auction's closing seconds, the early bidder who treats eBay as if it were an old-fashioned outcry auction, the shill who bids in league with the seller to artificially inflate the price--and other characters as well. Steiglitz guides readers through the fascinating history of auctions, how they functioned in the past and how they work today in online venues like eBay. Drawing on cutting-edge economics as well as his own stories from eBay, he reveals practical auction strategies and introduces readers to the fundamentals of auction theory and the mathematics behind eBay.

Complete with exercises and a detailed appendix, this book is a must for sophisticated users of online auctions, and essential reading for students seeking an accessible introduction to the study of auction theory.

Customer Reviews:

Good read.......2007-08-27

This is a good book and I thought it was entertaining. Some may find it a bit dry because it is written more like a text book but it does have some interesting information, some interesting stories, and it has a lot of math in the back. We all love math right? The math is just for reference and is in the appenedix, it was a good book I thought. However, it was not so much about trading safely on ebay, it was more about how real life auction rings fix prices, some statistical analysis of online auctions etc.

This is a good book but if you are looking for something that explains ebay fraud and how to avoid it, look for Scams and Scoundrels, it describes more of what I thought this book would be about. While this is good, it does not have the information on identifying fraud auctions, fraud sellers, or how to protect yourself from ebay scams like Scams and Scoundrels does. Get them both, they are both good, just different takes on ebay criminals.

Enthralling. It gets better as it goes on........2007-07-08

I've never liked auctions, but that has not reduced the interest of this book in any way. It gives clear and engaging explanations of how different auctions work, both in theory and in practice. Special attention is given to eBay of course, and why it works the way it does.

The main text discusses strategies and the effects of different auction rules without resorting to any math, allowing the reader to gain an excellent grasp of the issues without concentrating on technical details. But the underlying theory is not shortchanged in any way by this, since the math is contained in substantial appendices, where it is laid out with complete, easy-to-understand explanations.

I highly reccommend this book both as an introduction to eBay, and to auction theory. For me, it's both.

Engaging, informative, and entertaining!.......2007-07-03

Snipers, Shills, and Sharks is an instant classic that will appeal to anyone interested in understanding why ebay works the way it does and how it relates to a beautiful economic theory developed over the past few decades. How do English, Dutch, and Vickrey auctions work? Why do experienced ebayers snipe? When should a seller set a secret reserve? Why is ebay a second-price instead of first-price auction? Why does ebay post the second highest bid and not the highest one? These answers and much more are crisply explained and supported by real-world and laboratory experiments. I opened the book knowing next to nothing about auctions and ebay (other than as a participants), and now I feel that I understand a great deal.

Steiglitz begins in Chapter 1 with classic auctions, including English and Vickery. He explains the theory underlying each auction, including the seminal result that bidders should be truthful in a second-price auction such as Vickery or English (with a few caveats). Chapter 2 motivates ebay as a natural evolution of the English auction where bidders participate over time, with a fixed deadline. Chapter 3 analyzes real bidding histories on ebay and other experimental results. He explains when practice agrees with the theory, but also when it doesn't on account of human behavior. It also explains the benefits of sniping. Chapter 4 explains why ebay is not a first-price auction; Chapter 5 discusses strategies for the seller, including how to set the opening bid and secret reserve; Chapter 6 discusses strategies for the bidder, including how much to bid and when. Chapter 7 describes various ways that participants cheat and the theory underlying it.

The theory is inherently mathematical, but Steiglitz does a masterful job of replacing the math with easy-to-understand intuition in the main text and deferring the technical details to the appendices. That being said, the appendices are definitely a worthwhile read if you remember single variable calculus. The theory is extremely elegant. Appendix A treats the class Vickrey results; Appendices B and C cover various extensions. Appendix D describes a number of experimental results. Numerous references are provided for further study.

One of the most charming features of the book is the author's conversational tone and his personal anecdotes, both as an avid coin collector and as a professor who performs classroom experiments. For example, Steiglitz illustrates the "winner's curse" via a classroom experiment where he auctions off a jar of nickels to the highest bidder.

Not terribly substantive, and not even that fun to read.......2007-05-01

I picked this book up with great anticipation after hearing about it from Marginal Revolution. As an avid ebay user for the past 5 years and an economics major back in college, I was hoping that I'd find some insightful nuggets on the inner workings of auction economics and psychology.

What I found instead was a somewhat tired text that did not have a whole lot to offer. The introductory chapters on various auction types were the best and mildly entertaining, but it went slowly downhill from there. It read more like a textbook than a book you'd want to read for pleasure. There is no math in the main text, by design. The author has chosen this to keep it readable to everyone, and keeps the formulas in the appendix. That's fine by me, and I wouldn't take off stars for that. The thing that boggs this book down is that there isn't much substance. He cites a few small studies here and there that aren't very conclusive and don't give me much insight on what works and doesn't work on ebay.

Average customer rating:

Excellent!
Great book for serious students!
good text book, but takes time and lots of thinking
Very good
excellent introduction (it's worth the money!)

Game Theory for Applied Economists
Robert Gibbons
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691003955

Book Description

This book introduces one of the most powerful tools of modern economics to a wide audience: those who will later construct or consume game-theoretic models. Robert Gibbons addresses scholars in applied fields within economics who want a serious and thorough discussion of game theory but who may have found other works overly abstract. Gibbons emphasizes the economic applications of the theory at least as much as the pure theory itself; formal arguments about abstract games play a minor role. The applications illustrate the process of model building--of translating an informal description of a multi-person decision situation into a formal game-theoretic problem to be analyzed. Also, the variety of applications shows that similar issues arise in different areas of economics, and that the same game-theoretic tools can be applied in each setting. In order to emphasize the broad potential scope of the theory, conventional applications from industrial organization have been largely replaced by applications from labor, macro, and other applied fields in economics. The book covers four classes of games, and four corresponding notions of equilibrium: static games of complete information and Nash equilibrium, dynamic games of complete information and subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium, static games of incomplete information and Bayesian Nash equilibrium, and dynamic games of incomplete information and perfect Bayesian equilibrium.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!.......2007-03-13

I had heard of game theory but had never been exposed to what it actually was or how games were viewed, setup or resolved. This book was part of a PhD Micro course and I found it very readable. We actually used two books, this one and the game theory section of MasColeel. The Mas book is very encyclopedic to me and dense reading. Gibbons' book gives the concepts and applictions in a straight-forward readable manner. Highly recommended, especially if you are new or somewhat new to game theory.

Great book for serious students!.......2006-11-07

Many readers have commented on how technical this book is. I agree, but keep in mind, this book was written for students who aim to become economists, and a certain degree of technical difficulty is imperative. I confess that I struggled through the book, and I often came upon huge obstacles. But none of the difficulties that I faced were due to the book itself, all of the struggles were due to my own limited ability. But I guarantee, once you get through this book, you will be able to "use" game theory, and probably even incorporate it in your next research project!

This book was written for those who wish to use game theory in their next research paper, and it does an excellent job of it. If you are only searching for a book to understand game theory, then this book is not for you. But if you want to "use" game theory, then look no further!

good text book, but takes time and lots of thinking.......2006-07-10

This is the kind of book that cannot be scanned through, but needs to be read word by word. Some steps are not fully described and thus readers need to put in some thoughts in the game process. It presents some very interesting ideas and teaches a good range of game-solving methods.

Very good.......2006-06-25

This is a very good textbook for scholars who are instereted in applying game theory into the modelling of practical problems. It is quite application oriented.

excellent introduction (it's worth the money!).......2006-04-25

I've used this book both as a textbook and as a reference in three game theory courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It doesn't cover some critical applications to contract theory, but other than that it's absolutely thorough and clear.

I don't know if it would be all that fun for someone just looking to dabble in game theory without any academic interests. I can recommend Strategy by Joel Watson for those folks - much more intuitive and has lots of examples. But if you're academically interested in game theory at all, you have to get this book. It's a great reference, and absolutely worth the money (I can't usually say that about my textbooks!).

Average customer rating:

A Comprehensive Introduction
A Great Cook offers an Immensely Varied Menu of Ideas

Playing for Real: A Text on Game Theory
Ken Binmore
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195300572

Book Description

Ken Binmore's previous game theory textbook, Fun and Games (D.C. Heath, 1991), carved out a significant niche in the advanced undergraduate market; it was intellectually serious and more up-to-date than its competitors, but also accessibly written. Its central thesis was that game theory allows us to understand many kinds of interactions between people, a point that Binmore amply demonstrated through a rich range of examples and applications. This replacement for the now out-of-date 1991 textbook retains the entertaining examples, but changes the organization to match how game theory courses are actually taught, making Playing for Real a more versatile text that almost all possible course designs will find easier to use, with less jumping about than before. In addition, the problem sections, already used as a reference by many teachers, have become even more clever and varied, without becoming too technical. Playing for Real will sell into advanced undergraduate courses in game theory, primarily those in economics, but also courses in the social sciences, and serve as a reference for economists.

Customer Reviews:

A Comprehensive Introduction.......2007-07-31

As the author of an excellent and innovative text on game theory (Game Theory Evolving, Princeton University Press), Herbert Gintis is far better qualified than this reviewer to provide a substantive evaluation of Ken Binmore's new book; I encourage all prospective buyers to read Gintis' comprehensive review very carefully.

I would, however, like to offer some additional information for the specific audience of mathematicians and students of mathematics who are searching for an introductory text on game theory.

Ken Binmore studied mathematics before becoming an economist; thus, one might expect that this book would provide rigorous proofs for all the results used, and mathematically inclined readers will be happy to hear that this is indeed the case. The intended readership is quite broad, however, and so Binmore ensured that it is possible for those who are inclined to skip the proofs to do so without suffering serious loss of continuity.

In determining whether this text is appropriate for one's specific study or instructional needs, one encounters two problems: (1) the table of contents is not available on Amazon, and (2) even when the chapter titles are made available, they are written in somewhat whimsical language that makes it difficult to determine precisely how the book is organized and precisely what it contains. In order to provide a bit of help in this area, I have provided the prospective buyer with both the chapter titles AND the section headings at the end of this review; I sincerely hope this helps in the process of determining whether this book represents a worthwhile investment, based on the specific needs of the buyer.

One cautionary note for university instructors, especially instructors of mathematics; in the Preface, Binmore states that his book contains enough material for at least two courses in game theory. He writes

"I have tried to make things easy for teachers who want to design a course based on selection of topics from the whole book by including marginal notes to facilitate skipping."

Thus, the instructor who is used to "possible course" charts, showing clear interdependence of chapters and identifying sections that might be skipped without penalty, will not find them in this book. The inclusion of this material would definitely have been a great kindness to university instructors; scouting one's way through this 639-page text to find a realistic and effective one-semester course is not easy!

Table of Contents

1 Getting Locked In

1.1 What is Game Theory?
1.2 Toy Games
1.3 The Prisoners' Dilemma
1.4 Private Provision of Public Goods
1.5 Imperfect Competition
1.6 Nash Equilibrium
1.7 Collective Rationality
1.8 Repeating the Prisoners' Dilemma
1.9 Which Equilibrium?
1.10 Social Dilemmas
1.11 Roundup

2 Backing Up

2.1 Where Next?
2.2 Win-Or-Lose Games
2.3 The Rules of the Game
2.4 Pure Strategies
2.5 Backward Induction
2.6 Solving NIM
2.7 Hex
2.8 Chess
2.9 Rational Play?
2.10 Roundup

3 Taking Chances

3.1 Chance Moves
3.2 Probability
3.3 Conditional Probability
3.4 Lotteries
3.5 Expectation
3.6 Values of Games with Chance Moves
3.7 Waiting Games
3.8 Parcheesi
3.9 Roundup

4 Accounting for Tastes

4.1 Payoffs
4.2 Revealed Preference
4.3 Utility Functions
4.4 Dicing with Death
4.5 Making Risky Choices
4.6 Utility Scales
4.7 Dicing with Death Again
4.8 When are People Consistent?
4.9 Roundup

5 Planning Ahead

5.1 Strategic Forms
5.2 Payoff Functions
5.3 Matrices and Vectors
5.4 Domination
5.5 Credibility and Commitment
5.6 Living in an Imperfect World
5.7 Roundup

6 Mixing Things Up

6.1 Mixed Strategies
6.2 Reaction Curves
6.3 Interpreting Mixed Strategies
6.4 Payoffs and Mixed Strategies
6.5 Convexity
6.6 Payoff Regions
6.7 Roundup

7 Fighting it Out

7.1 Strictly Competitive Games
7.2 Zero-Sum Games
7.3 Minimax and Maximin
7.4 Safety First
7.5 Solving Zero-Sum Games
7.6 Linear Programming
7.7 Separating Hyperplanes
7.8 Starships
7.9 Roundup

8 Keeping Your Balance

8.1 Introduction
8.2 Dueling Again
8.3 When do Nash Equilibria Exist?
8.4 Hexing Brouwer
8.5 The Equilibrium Selection Problem
8.6 Conventions
8.7 Roundup

9 Buying Cheap

9.1 Economic Models
9.2 Partial Derivatives
9.3 Preferences in Commodity Spaces
9.4 Trade
9.5 Monopoly
9.6 Perfect Competition
9.7 Consumer Surplus
9.8 Roundup

10 Selling Dear

10.1 Models of Imperfect Competition
10.2 Cournot Models
10.3 Stackelberg Models
10.4 Bertrand Models
10.5 Edgeworth Models
10.6 Roundup

11 Repeating Yourself

11.1 Reciprocity
11.2 Repeating a Zero-Sum Game
11.3 Repeating the Prisoners' Dilemma
11.4 Infinite Repetitions
11.5 Social Contract
11.6 The Evolution of Cooperation
11.7 Roundup

12 Getting the Message

12.1 Knowledge and Belief
12.2 Dirty Faces
12.3 Knowledge
12.4 Possibility Sets
12.5 Information Sets
12.6 Common Knowledge
12.7 Complete Information
12.8 Agreeing to Disagree?
12.9 Coordinated Action
12.10 Roundup

13 Keeping Up to Date

13.1 Rationality
13.2 Bayesian Updating
13.3 Bayesian Rationality
13.4 Getting the Model Right
13.5 Scientific Induction?
13.6 Constructing Priors
13.7 Bayesian Rationality in Games
13.8 Roundup

14 Seeking Refinement

14.1 Contemplating the Impossible
14.2 Counterfactual Reasoning
14.3 Backward and Imperfect
14.4 Gang of Four
14.5 Signaling Games
14.6 Rationalizability
14.7 Roundup

15 Knowing What to Believe

15.1 Complete Information
15.2 Bluffing
15.3 Incomplete Information
15.4 Russian Roulette
15.5 Duopoly with Incomplete Information
15.6 Purification
15.7 Incomplete Information about Rules
15.8 Roundup

16 Getting Together

16.1 Bargaining
16.2 Cooperative Game Theory
16.3 Cooperative Payoff Regions
16.4 Nash Bargaining Problems
16.5 Supporting Hyperplanes
16.6 Nash Bargaining Solution
16.7 Collusion in a Cournot Duopoly
16.8 Incomplete Information
16.9 Other Bargaining Solutions
16.10 Roundup

17 Cutting a Deal

17.1 Noncooperative Bargaining Models
17.2 The Nash Program
17.3 Commitment in Bargaining
17.4 Nash Threat Games
17.5 Bargaining Without Commitment
17.6 Going Wrong
17.7 Roundup

18 Teaming Up

18.1 Coalitions
18.2 Coalitional Form
18.3 Core
18.4 Stable Sets
18.5 Shapley Value
18.6 Applying the Nash Program
18.7 Roundup

19 Just Playing?

19.1 Ethics and Game Theory
19.2 Do People Play Fair?
19.3 Social Choice Paradoxes
19.4 Welfare Functions
19.5 Impersonal Comparison of Utility
19.6 More Bargaining Solutions
19.7 Political Philosophy
19.8 Which Fairness Norm?
19.9 Roundup

20 Taking Charge

20.1 Mechanism Design
20.2 Principals and Agents
20.3 Commitment and Contracting
20.4 Revelation Principle
20.5 Providing a Public Good
20.6 Implementation Theory
20.7 Roundup

21 Going, Going, Gone!

21.1 Telecom Auctions
21.2 Types of Auctions
21.3 Continuous Random Variables
21.4 Shading Your Bid
21.5 Designing Optimal Auctions
21.6 Common-Value Auctions
21.7 Multiunit Auctions
21.8 The Chopstick Auction
21.9 Roundup

A Great Cook offers an Immensely Varied Menu of Ideas.......2007-07-02

Ken Binmore is the broadest thinker working within the classical game theory tradition. Unlike most technicians, he has read widely in philosophy, history, and anthropology, combining a passion for analytical detail with a deep feeling for the broad strokes of human behavior. These characteristics are reflected in this textbook on game theory, which is light-years more sophisticated than the standard fare, yet never sacrifices clarity or expositional elegance on the alter of mathematical or notational rigor. While I would urge anyone who is not math phobic and can recall a bit of high school algebra to tackle this book as an introduction to game theory, I am afraid it will not be widely used in courses because most instructors simply will not have the personal intellectual resources to teach this material. This is because Binmore tackles some of the deepest issues in game theory, whereas most instructors will have had the standard graduate course in which these issues are totally ignored. Moreover, in the interest of clarity, Binmore does not supply the full analytical frameworks in which these deep issues are normally cast, so the instructor will have few resources to deal with the material in a classroom setting. On the other hand, each chapter has plenty of problems that an instructor could use to illuminate the text, say by assigning half to the students and solving some of the remaining problems in class.

Like every textbook writer before him, Binmore treats the Nash equilibrium with great reverence as a solution concept. I consider this a significant error, but at least Binmore tries to explain why (p. 18-19). His answer is sufficiently weak that the critical reader might decide to explore the issue himself. Binmore does not present a set of sufficient conditions under which agents will play a Nash equilibrium (for instance, as presented in the famous paper by Aumann and Brandenburger, 1995). Had he done that, the student might have a better idea of why the Nash equilibrium criterion is of limited value. Binmore's defense of the Nash concept draws on evolutionary game theory, but a notable absence from the book is a treatment of evolutionary game theory. A possible reason for this omission is that the math involved is fairly advanced (dynamical systems theory), but there are versions that avoid these technicalities for beginners (evolutionary stable strategies and stochastic dynamical systems a la Thomas Schelling, Robert Axtell, and Peyton Young).

Among the refreshing positions taken by Binmore in this text is that equilibrium refinements are generally not worth much, except for subgame perfection, and even that is highly suspect except in special situations. Whereas backward induction (a.k.a. finding subgame perfect equilibria) is treated with great reverence in most text books, the technique has been under constant attack theoretically, and it is well known that individuals generally do not use more than a few rounds of backward induction. Binmore actually presents "The Surprise Test" (pp. 45-46) which I believe reveals the deepest contradictions of backward induction, although Binmore believes that the example shows nothing and has a simple non-paradoxical resolution. I believe he is wrong. Binmore's answer is that the teacher makes two statements (you will be tested on day next week, and when the test occurs, you will be surprised). Backward induction shows that the teacher's statement is false, but the student is mistaken by inferring that he will not be tested, since it could be the other half of the teacher's statement that is false. However, in fact, the test is given on Monday, and the student is surprised. So, the teacher was correct, contrary to the backward induction reasoning. Binmore is wrong, because the student was indeed surprised.

Binmore does not particularly care for the concept of rationalizability (it isn't mentioned until p. 424) because it assumes nothing but Bayesian rationality with arbitrary priors. I think this is an error, because it leads him away from an investigation of when even rationalizability is violated. Thus, on p. 153, he confidently asserts "a rational player will never use a strongly dominated strategy." Yet, there are many games of strategic complementarity (e.g., Carlsson and van Damme, 1993), not to mention Basu's Traveler's Dilemma, in which the iterated elimination of strong dominated strategies leads to a unique Nash equilibrium that no collection of reasonable players would ever play. Binmore presents Basu's game in the problems on p. 174, and shows that if players don't care about small amounts of money, there is a plausible Nash equilibrium. This is an interesting idea that is pursued in different ways throughout the book, but is not systematically developed.

One of the most embarrassing questions for classical game theory is why anyone would ever play a mixed strategy in a one-shot game. There are a couple of important attempts at answering this in the literature, and Binmore presents them uncritically. This is uncharacteristic of him. The attempt to define an equilibrium in "conjectures" solves the problem, but says nothing about how people actually play. Binmore presents the usual example of the plausibility of this approach, which uses Throwing Pennies, in which each player "conjectures" the other will use heads or tails with equal probability. But, what if the equilibrium probabilities are 99/100 and 1/100? Why shouldn't the players still play 1/2 and 1/2, in fact? The alternative, Harsanyi's purification theorem (p. 445) deals with this issue better, but it has its own serious limitations, which Binmore does not mention.

Binmore's chapter on game theory and ethics is a gem, and his put-down of Kant in the introductory paragraph is just choice. Since Binmore has written at least three books on this subject, I would have expected more, but this book gives a foundational treatment. Binmore is a noted critique of behavioral economics, which he takes as being an enemy of game theory. However, behavioral economics is bare mentioned in this text, and never in a disparaging way. I think one of the major contributions of game theory is to the methodology of empirical economics, but this aspect of classical game theory is slighted in Binmore's text.

There is much excellent material in this book that I have not had the space to mention, including bargaining and auctions, to which Binmore has personally contributed so much. This book is way beyond virtually all others in exposing the reader to the nitty-gritty issues of classical game theory. Whether that speaks for or against it's being a commercial success remains to be seen.

Average customer rating:

Straightforward intermediate microeconomics
misunderstanding
Lacks Links to Real World Economic Problems
Stop referring to graphs & fig. that are on the next page!
Does the job it was written for

Microeconomics
Michael L Katz , and Harvey S Rosen
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0256171769

Book Description

This is a Microeconomic theory text for courses in economics departments and business schools.

Customer Reviews:

Straightforward intermediate microeconomics.......2004-07-16

this is by no means an introductory economics text.. It's an intermediate level textbook.. It assumes that the student is capable of certain mathematical techniques (you can't expect a beginner to calculate the optimal consumer choice using the Lagranges method in chapter 3! - and it gets worse)

It is true that most of the time you have to flip the page to find the graph that is being explained. However it didn't annoy me too much. It is actually good thing if you want to practice and draw the graph yourself.

The 2nd edition had some errors but in this edition (3rd) they are corrected as far as I could see.

About the authors:

Michael Katz - University of California at Berkeley. Received the Earl F. Cheit Outstanding Teaching Award in 1989 and 1993. Served as chief economist of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Harvey Rosen - Princeton University, Fellow of the Econometric Society and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research

misunderstanding.......2004-04-08

1. I did not read the book so I can not talk about the book, althoug I should have rate it otherwise I could not have submit this review! I rate it based on the info given by my professor of macroeconomics!
2. I want to make comments on the review of Mr. adoumri; I would say that he was disappointed with the book because, as can be seen from his review, hi actually wanted to learn things from macroeconomics, but unfortunatelly he took a book for microeconomics, so he is actually talking about apples having in mind pears!! :-)
One should be cautious when writing, as well as when reading other people's reviews!
Thank you!

Lacks Links to Real World Economic Problems.......2003-10-16

I am currently enrolled in a Microeconomics course at Columbia University, and I do not find this book easy to read at all, the reason being that the author makes no effort to link microeconomic concepts to real world problems. I have found my Macroeconomics textbook to be immensely more interesting because the concepts relate immediately to social issues and real world economic problems. For students who choose to study economics because of its insights into real world problems, this text may become frustrating. I suggest that the authors more examples of microeconomics in the real world, such as the explanation of "President Carter's Gasoline Tax" on page 106. When economic theory is taught with no reference to the real world, it makes some students less interested in the subject. I intended to study economics with the goal of gaining insight into social welfare problems and understanding government policies. Learning ratios and equations that simply determine how much tacos or hamburgers Sarah wants to eat was demotivating. As a result, I am trudging through my textbook (and class) and starting to wonder if this subject is worth studying.

Stop referring to graphs & fig. that are on the next page!.......2003-06-11

It's so annoying to read about graphs and figures that appear on the next page. If the authors are going to cite these visual tools have them on the same page whenever possible. Of course it is unrealistic to expect that everytime but in the K&R book this occurred 90% of the times. It's annoying when you have to flip the pages. This annoyance knocked 3 stars from what would have been a 5-star rating.

What's right about the text?

The economics is sound and the teaching is concise. Bravo in that regard.

Does the job it was written for.......2001-01-21

This is a very well written textbook. There are many textbooks out there on the markets and this one has been written with the beginning reader in mind. It is just too easy to scare the beginner with too-serious, too-academic dry language. Economics is fun to learn and the first textbook a student ever keeps in hand should make him interested, curious, wanting more and more, and of course, amused. The language of Katz and Rosen's textbook is by no means frivolous, but it is entertaining. They do not pull the rabbit out of the hat and startle the reader. Instead, they guide reade