Morton D. Davis

A non-technical introduction? There are not too many formulas so in that sense it is non-technical. But to really engage with the material here requires some serious thinking. Very little here is anything close to trivial.

Introduction... well, it builds the material up from the ground. Anyone can read this... uh, well. It's really something of a typical math book. Yeah, sure, it starts from ground zero. But seriously if you are not accustomed to some pretty rigorous thinking, I suspect this book will quickly leave you in the dust!

I would call it more like a whirlwind tour. There are lots of good examples to chew on. It doesn't spend a whole lot of time on any one piece of the puzzle. You get a good taste and then off you go to the next dish.

This is a great book for getting a feel for what game theory is all about. I must admit, I didn't slog through all the details. Too much to digest! So there is a lot more here than what I absorbed!… (más)

The title of this book perhaps promises a little more than it can deliver. And that's a good thing.

The very name "game theory" is perhaps a little confusing, because what mathematicians call "games" are simply situations in which each of two (or more) people involved has a precisely defined set of options, and there are certain rewards associated with combinations of options. Often the "games" are as exciting as mud. But they teach us about strategies.

The mathematics of game theory is generally not too complex (no higher-order calculus involved!), but it can be laborious. This book does an excellent job of sparing the reader that. No proofs; most of the principles are presented as examples or simply handwaved away. This sounds like it would make for a non-rigorous book. Surprisingly, it is not so. While the volume won't make you a game theorist, it will give you a genuine idea of how the field works. And, with it, a good idea of how to respond to a lot of real-life situations. Of the many books in the field I've read, this is genuinely one of the best.… (más)