Essentials of Game Theory
A Concise, Multidisciplinary Introduction

 

Kevin Leyton-Brown
University of British Columbia

Yoav Shoham
Stanford University

 

Morgan & Claypool Publishers, 2008.  

Amazon

Book Cover

Game theory is the mathematical study of interaction among independent, self-interested agents. Its imprint has become quite broad, and beside in economics, its traditional application area, is strongly felt today in disciplines as diverse as computer science, political science, biology, psychology, linguistics, sociology, and electrical engineering, among many others. This book provides a concise and accessible introduction to the field, covering the common basis that any member of this multidisciplinary audience is likely to require. It minimizes notation without sacrificing rigor, and ruthlessly focuses on essentials.

 

The origin of Essentials of Game Theory is our much longer book, Multiagent Systems: Algorithmic, Game-Theoretic, and Logical Foundations, which covers diverse theories relevant to the broad area of Multiagent Systems within Artificial Intelligence and other areas of Computer Science. Multiagent Systems goes into much more detail about game theory than Essentials (e.g., it includes proofs and additional technical details, as well as broaching new topics such as computation of solution concepts, communication, learning, and compact representation of games). Multiagent Systems also extends beyond game theory to cover distributed problem solving, social choice, mechanism design, auction theory, and logics of knowledge and belief.