Game theory book recommendations wanted

[schubes]

Lectures at gametheory.net

The one written by the math professor is basically a complete introductory textbook. I haven't looked at the others but there's probably some good ones.

[3rdEye]

The Evolution of Cooperation by Robert Axelrod (or anything by Axelrod) is, I'm told, good.

You might also pick up a couple of Industrial Organization textbooks. Also, Richard Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene" employs game theory in some interesting ways.

None of these books (other than some of the more advanced textbooks you might run into) are very rigorous, but they're the only experiences with game theory I have.

[maurile]

The "Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences" series of books from Sage publications has been praised in another thread here.

They have two books on game theory:

Game Theory: Concepts and Applications

Game Theory Topics: Incomplete Information, Repeated Games and N-Player Games

All of the Sage books are about $15, and they assume no prior knowledge.

[FatOtt]

Two very good non-academic books are:

Thinking Strategically

The Origins of Virtue

[Self Made]

Andy Bloch considers Ankeny's book (Poker strategy: Winning with game theory) to be the best poker book ever written (see http://www.andybloch.com/gl/pub/arti...806021326309). It's out of print, collectible, and hardcovers can cost up to $150. I found a couple of underpriced copies a while ago and snapped them up.

[fnord_too]

[ QUOTE ]
The "Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences" series of books from Sage publications has been praised in another thread here.

They have two books on game theory:

Game Theory: Concepts and Applications

Game Theory Topics: Incomplete Information, Repeated Games and N-Player Games

All of the Sage books are about $15, and they assume no prior knowledge.

[/ QUOTE ]

Haven't read these, but that series is awesome. I posted a recomendation for it a few weeks ago.

[jrz1972]

If you are pursuing a PhD in economics, there is a pretty good chance you will use Fudenberg and Tirole in your one-semester game theory course. This is an extremely difficult book for people who do not have a very strong mathematics background. If you have taken a year of calculus, some real analysis, and at least a semester (preferably more) of mathematical statistics, and all this stuff is still fresh in your mind, then it's probably accessible. Otherwise it will be a waste of time. I would never, under any circumstances, recommend this book to a general reader who just wanted to learn something about game theory.

Several have mentioned "Thinking Strategically" by Dixit and Nalebuff. This would be an excellent, non-rigorous survey of game theory for a layman.

If you want to get into the math of game theory a little above the level of "Thinking Strategically" but you don't want to wade through a PhD-level textbook, Dixit and Nalebuff also have a text called "Games of Strategy" that would be more appopriate for an undergraduate class. If I were going to teach a class on game theory, this is probably the text I would choose.