| Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Len Fisher
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $9.85
You Save: $6.10 (38%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (3 reviews)
Sales Rank: 15098
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 0465009387
Dewey Decimal Number: 519.3
EAN: 9780465009381
ASIN: 0465009387
Publication Date: November 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Praised by Entertainment Weekly as ?the man who put the fizz into physics,? Dr. Len Fisher turns his attention to the science of cooperation in his lively and thought-provoking book. Fisher shows how the modern science of game theory has helped biologists to understand the evolution of cooperation in nature, and investigates how we might apply those lessons to our own society. In a series of experiments that take him from the polite confines of an English dinner party to crowded supermarkets, congested Indian roads, and the wilds of outback Australia, not to mention baseball strategies and the intricacies of quantum mechanics, Fisher sheds light on the problem of global cooperation. The outcomes are sometimes hilarious, sometimes alarming, but always revealing. A witty romp through a serious science, Rock, Paper, Scissors will both teach and delight anyone interested in what it what it takes to get people to work together.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A start towards saving the world: game theory and you. January 9, 2009
Game theory is one of the most useful tookits we have, a juncture where mathematics, economics and behavorial science meet. Fisher's book tells you what you need to know and how to use it Written in his witty, articulate prose, it is a fun and compeling read. Do not let that fool you: this is serious science, and a serious book. On a personal level, game theory can help sibling rivalry, divorce, contract disputes, and getting out of a bar fight in one piece. On larger scales, it can help us all share a fairer world: a more fair allocation of resources getting scarcer all the time, attempts to control nuclear weapons, and, yes, global warming.
The best science book of the last two years.
Very readable - game theory for everyday December 22, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Having just picked up this book as a game theory practitioner, I found this to be an excellent read. My work which centers primarily around the work of Thomas Schelling has led me to a variety of books on the game theory topic. Even Dr. Schelling, who has a comfortable writing style, evokes examples beyond the "everyday" realm, applicable to political and global challenges, more frequently than the cocktail parties and family life.
I found this book ties together the work of many of the top thinkers in the field, including recent Nobel Prize winners, taking a breadth rather than depth approach and at the same time provides the accessibility and application to experiences in everyday life. The few diagrams, and limited "math" will lower the barrier that other fine writers have created in their coverage of the topic. This is not to say it is "dumbed down". Quite the contrary, it is put in an everyday perspective and therefore worthy of consumption by a wider audience.
For further information, and for delving more formally into the topic, an extensive bibliography is provided, itself about 20% of the book. For the person interested in looking beyond this books level, there are many references to research.
All in all I think it fills a specific gap existing in connecting this important topic to our everyday lives. This topic, which explains so much about our relationships, how we do cooperate, and frequently don't , is worth a good read.
 Very Avg December 22, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
How to Dunk a Doughnut is a brilliant book - this is just a pale shadow of the same work.
Many of the topics in the book have been previously covered to death - probably the author meant it for the uninitiated in Game Theory - found it very avg and disappointing. There is an extensive biblio and notes which is the one redeeming feature.
A better buy into Game Theory - minus the maths will be Art of Strategy by Avinash Dixit
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