Playing for Real Coursepack Edition

by Ken Binmore

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 This replacement for the now out-of-date 1991 textbook retains the entertaining examples, but changes the organization to match how game theory courses are actually taught, making Playing for Real a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.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Mathematics, Philosophy, Psychology, Textbooks, Science

Paperback

First published March 2, 2007

About the author

Professor of Economics at UCL, after holding corresponding positions at LSE and the University of Pennsylvania and Michigan. Onetime Professor of Mathematics at LSE.

Author of 77 published papers and 11 books. Research in evolutionary game theory, bargaining theory, experimental economics, political philosophy, mathematics and statistics.

Grants from National Science Foundation (3), ESRC (1), STICERD (2) and others. Chairman of LSE Economics Theory Workshop (10 years), Director of Michigan Economic Laboratory (5 years). Fellow of the Econometric Society and British Academy. Extensive collaboration with 25 co-authors.

Awarded the CBE in the New Years Honours List 2001 largely for his role in designing the UK 3G Spectrum Auction.

Reviews

[Allie-marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the only textbook I have ever read cover to cover, and then went back and started reading it again. Absolutely, fantastic text on game theory.

[Fabian · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I like and respect the author very much, Game Theory has simply no use in the real world.

This can mainly be attributed to the Ludic Fallacy:
Basically the misuse of narrowly defined games to model real life situations (prisons dilemma). People dont act exclusively rational and they for sure don’t possess all the information before making decisions.

Due to the uselessness of the field itself it’s a waste of time. Still the author does his best to make the field interesting and does have some interesting insights.

[Gus Lackner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outlines modern economic theory based on Hume; heir to Smith.