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Essentials of Game Theory: A Concise, Multidisciplinary Introduction
Game theory is the mathematical study of interaction among independent, self-interested agents. The audience for game theory has grown dramatically in recent years, and now spans disciplines as diverse as political science, biology, psychology, economics, linguistics, sociology, and computer science, among others. What has been missing is a relatively short introduction to the field covering the common basis that anyone with a professional interest in game theory is likely to require. Such a text would minimize notation, ruthlessly focus on essentials, and yet not sacrifice rigor. This Synthesis Lecture aims to fill this gap by providing a concise and accessible introduction to the field. It covers the main classes of games, their representations, and the main concepts used to analyze them. Table of Games in Normal Form / Analyzing From Optimality to Equilibrium / Further Solution Concepts for Normal-Form Games / Games with Sequential The Perfect-information Extensive Form / Generalizing the Extensive Imperfect-Information Games / Repeated and Stochastic Games / Uncertainty about Bayesian Games / Coalitional Game Theory / History and References / Index "This introduction is just what a growing multidisciplinary audience it is concise, authoritative, up to date, and clear on the important conceptual issues." --Robert Stalnaker, MIT, Linguistics and Philosophy "I wish I'd had a comprehensive, clear and rigorous introduction to the essentials of game theory in under one hundred pages when I was starting out." --David Parkes, Harvard University, Computer Science "Beside being concise and rigorous, Essentials of Game Theory is also quite comprehensive. It includes the formulations used in most applications in engineering and the social sciences and illustrates the concepts with relevant examples." --Robert Wilson, Stanford University Graduate School of Business "Best short introduction to game theory I have seen! I wish it was available when I started being interested in the field!" --Silvio Micali, MIT, Computer Science "Although written by computer scientists, this book serves as a sophisticated introduction to the main concepts and results of game theory from which other scientists, including social scientists, can greatly benefit. In eighty pages, Essentials of Game Theory formally defines key concepts, illustrated with apt examples, in both cooperative and noncooperative game theory." --Steven Brams, New York University, Political Science "This book will appeal to readers who do not necessarily hail from economics, and who want a quick grasp of the fascinating field of game theory. The main categories of games are introduced in a lucid way and the relevant concepts are clearly defined, with the underlying intuitions always provided." --Krzysztof Apt, University of Amsterdam, Institute for Logic, Language and Computation "This unique book is today the best short technical introduction to game theory. Accessible to a broad audience, it will prove invaluable in artificial intelligence, more generally in computer science, and indeed beyond." --Moshe Tennenholtz, Technion, Industrial Engineering and Management "Excerpted from a much-anticipated, cross-disciplinary book on multiagent systems, this terse, incisive and transparent book is the ideal introduction to the key concepts and methods of game theory for researchers in several fields, including artificial intelligence, networking, and algorithms." --Vijay Vazirani, Georgia Institute of Technology, Computer Science "The authors admirably achieve their aim of providing a scientist or engineer with the essentials of game theory in a text that is rigorous, readable, and concise." --Frank Kelly, University of Cambridge, Statistical Laboratory
104 pages, Paperback
First published July 8, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 3, 2014
One of the best introductions to game theory I've come across. I had signed up on Coursera for the class built around this but got to viewing the lectures (which are excellent and elaborate on the text very well) after the course had finished. Following along has been a wonderfully clear and rigorous experience. The course is to be offered again this October.
Since first reading this book I've explored a more or less representative sample from the economics side of things, and this remains a superb primer, likely an undominated approach. For AI applications this should prove a quick and surprisingly comprehensive overview. Motivation is in the form of toy examples, so some newcomers might like to read something like first.
Tadelis also has a nice book, more expansive but pitched at more or less the same level, which can complement this both style-wise and with regards to economics 'culture' and applications.
This work appears to be excerpted, or at least derived, from the larger volume (freely available ), which I hope to read after getting a taste of Game Theory II on Coursera. Looking at the draft, I see it proves things like the minimax theorem and the existence of Nash equilibria (though in this latter case confining itself to Brouwer's fixed-point theorem), which, given these proofs seem more rigorous than the typical argument sketches found in economics-oriented texts, is very welcome.
For combinatorial game theory (which is less about equilibria and concerns itself with perfect information games without chance) there is always by Conway, et al.
Since first reading this book I've explored a more or less representative sample from the economics side of things, and this remains a superb primer, likely an undominated approach. For AI applications this should prove a quick and surprisingly comprehensive overview. Motivation is in the form of toy examples, so some newcomers might like to read something like first.
Tadelis also has a nice book, more expansive but pitched at more or less the same level, which can complement this both style-wise and with regards to economics 'culture' and applications.
This work appears to be excerpted, or at least derived, from the larger volume (freely available ), which I hope to read after getting a taste of Game Theory II on Coursera. Looking at the draft, I see it proves things like the minimax theorem and the existence of Nash equilibria (though in this latter case confining itself to Brouwer's fixed-point theorem), which, given these proofs seem more rigorous than the typical argument sketches found in economics-oriented texts, is very welcome.
For combinatorial game theory (which is less about equilibria and concerns itself with perfect information games without chance) there is always by Conway, et al.
June 6, 2014
This book is a marvel of concision, clarity, and rigour.
October 7, 2014
If you are taking a course on Coursera on Game Theory , this book will come in handy. Else, you will find better, detailed books on the subject. Follow this space for more...
November 3, 2015
needs more examples
July 16, 2017
I read this book because it is among the recommended readings of a MOOC about Game Theory (actually it is written by some of the teachers of this MOOC).
I hope the MOOC is going to be more didactic, that it has more examples to illustrate concepts which are sometimes quite abstract.
This book lacks of examples, a lot is left to the readers including proofs and detailed calculations of examples. Concise it is, but it isn't self-explanatory. Indeed it it rather a reference of the most important or common theorems and definitions, but not a proper introduction for newcomers to the field of Game Theory.
For a good introduction to Game theory, with clear definitions, illustrated or commented examples I recommend by and [Introduction to Game Theory] by .
I hope the MOOC is going to be more didactic, that it has more examples to illustrate concepts which are sometimes quite abstract.
This book lacks of examples, a lot is left to the readers including proofs and detailed calculations of examples. Concise it is, but it isn't self-explanatory. Indeed it it rather a reference of the most important or common theorems and definitions, but not a proper introduction for newcomers to the field of Game Theory.
For a good introduction to Game theory, with clear definitions, illustrated or commented examples I recommend by and [Introduction to Game Theory] by .
April 14, 2020
I read this to complement the Stanford Game Theory course on Coursera (the author is one of the Professors). The examples from the lectures are taken straight from the book. I got what I wanted from it: a basic understanding of the core concepts in game theory. I do wish the book expanded on the definitions in plain English in addition to the technical definitions. As someone who doesn't read math notations regularly, I had to take extra time in deciphering what all the symbols mean. In the lectures on Coursera the professor does break it the formulas down to plain English so that helped.
I recommend using the book as a supplement to the Coursera course, but you'll probably need to find external resources to walk through the calculations for some of the concepts here. I highly recommend William Spaniel's videos
I recommend using the book as a supplement to the Coursera course, but you'll probably need to find external resources to walk through the calculations for some of the concepts here. I highly recommend William Spaniel's videos
March 7, 2024
I am a non-expert, which strongly impacted my ability to absorb all that this booklet (as the authors refer to it) has to offer. It is an excellent overview of the most basic concepts of game theory as well as the most commonly studied types of games. The authors do a nice job of balancing explaining concepts verbally and mathematically. As a non-mathematician, I couldn’t decipher the equations that are used to define many concepts. Often, the authors also give a verbal description to accompany the symbolic one but not always. Even though I could not handle that, it isn’t the authors' fault as they didn’t write the book for people like me. If you can handle the math, then this is an excellent introduction to game theory.
December 5, 2017
Ever drank a bottle of pure ribena? It tastes nice initially, until you realise you have another 95% of the bottle to go. But equally, if you had to drink it diluted, you would need to drink 200 litres of normal ribena.
This book was like drinking pure ribena. Painfully dense. But it could easily have been a painfully long 900 page tract.
This book was like drinking pure ribena. Painfully dense. But it could easily have been a painfully long 900 page tract.
August 15, 2020
Very well-written and succinct introduction to Game Theory. Its focus is breadth instead of depth, so proofs are mostly nonexistent and some concepts are barely mentioned.
December 31, 2022
read for class :)
February 26, 2017
I very nice brochure about game theory. Contains definitions of the basic terms and some major results of non-cooperative and cooperative game theory, and is ideal as a supplementary material or a reference. If you want to learn game theory from scratch, you'll need a different book (the brochure suggests "A Course in Game Theory" by Osborne and Rubinstein).
March 13, 2013
Useful book if you have a college math degree or the equivalent. Otherwise, don't buy this book! There are no exercises for working with the solution concepts. Essentially this is a reference volume giving mathemetical definitions of all the core elements of game theory, and not much more. If you want to take the course that goes with the book (highly recommended!), and get a discount on the book itself, visit:
July 15, 2023
un po' troppo essenziale
Non si può negare che questo volumetto, che in realtà è un estratto di un libro più generale scritto dagli autori, sia "essenziale". È perfino un po' troppo essenziale per uno come me, che pure preferisce testi asciutti a chiacchiere infinite. Secondo me il testo può essere utile come manuale di riferimento per chi conosce già i temi almeno a grandi linee e ha bisogno solo di un ripasso: altrimenti è meglio scegliere qualche altra opera.
Non si può negare che questo volumetto, che in realtà è un estratto di un libro più generale scritto dagli autori, sia "essenziale". È perfino un po' troppo essenziale per uno come me, che pure preferisce testi asciutti a chiacchiere infinite. Secondo me il testo può essere utile come manuale di riferimento per chi conosce già i temi almeno a grandi linee e ha bisogno solo di un ripasso: altrimenti è meglio scegliere qualche altra opera.
July 4, 2012
More of a concise reference
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