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This is a great book, but if you are looking for a lot of 'textbook' game theory you may be left wanting more. Talks very qualitatively and easy to understand to anyone out there on the street. The examples are good and the author does relate to his everyday life. I'm sure you will find it an enjoyable read, but if you are the technical sort be ready to go on a quest for more game theory.
There was little mention of any controlled scientific studies. I did learn some interesting concepts and terminology but for the most part I was disappointed. I knew little about game theory before reading this book so I expected to increase my knowledge a lot in an area that was new for me. A lot of the stories, like the Kitty Genovese murder in NYC in the 1970's, have been written about countless times. Fisher's examples of game theory were childish and unscientific - mostly about his personal experiences as a kid or dinner parties as an adult. While it makes for a light read, it will do little to expand your knowledge. There was also little analytical and thoughtful discussion about serious situations where we observe game theory like in conflicts among countries. If you know little about game theory, you will learn some new tools but do not expect to be dazzled by this superficial covering of the topic.
He couldn't have spent more than a few weeks (if that long) writing it. Knowing the Ultimatum and Centipede games provide value.A reader upon completion will most likely believe that while the book was worth the time and effort, a better book should be available with more interesting examples, that would have been MORE worth the time and effort.
While pleasant, and somewhat helpful as an introduction, a better book is struggling to get out.Rock, Paper, Scissors is best read by reading the chapters in reverse order. Fisher really wants to write about trust and how to gain it, by realizing that game theory not only describes situations (the seven dilemmas identified by Nash equilibriums), but also identifies methods for breakthroughs.
The subtitle of the book is a variation on its "real" title: Game Theory in the Everyday Life of Len Fisher. This is good stuff.
Various problems in everyday life (mainly Fisher's). and some business/political ones can be identified, then addressed.
It's as if Fisher "mailed" it in. It's merely a money-maker that doesn't show great depth of knowledge or effort by the writer, but it is understandable.
I read the entire book and I am left disappointed. I am convinced the author read a couple texts books on game theory and thought he had the necessary background to write his own book. Fist, the author injects pejoratives and unnecessary politics into a game theory. The extra comments are unnecessary and are presented without support. I don't believe the author has a very deep understanding of the concepts he is trying to write about. I am once again reminded that brains are not a necessary condition for a PhD.
When actually hitting on an interesting example (like, for example, the cold war), the issue was just mentioned in passing, or described to such a simplistic level, all potential to learn was basically removed. I was excited to read this book, I'd taken a little bit of Economics in school that brushed up against game theory, and I wanted to see how this would apply to some different situations. But when I actually read this, I was disappointed because a lot of the examples were a bit mundane, consisting mostly of examples from dinner parties and five-year-olds' birthday parties. This book was a bit too simplistic for me, but maybe you'll enjoy it. The explanations of game theory on the most basic level were not bad.
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