25 Best Books on Game Theory

“An Introduction to Game Theory” Book Review: This book primarily targets undergraduate courses on game theory, although it can also serve as a useful resource for students seeking to grasp the fundamentals of game theory. The book presents the core principles of game theory and explores its various applications in economic, social, political, and biological contexts. The book employs logical reasoning to explicate the concepts and covers topics such as strategic games, extensive games, coalitional games, Bayesian games, repeated games, bargaining theory, evolutionary equilibrium, rationalizability, and max-minimization. It also offers numerous illustrations, examples, and exercises to enhance the reader’s understanding.

“Game Theory for Applied Economists” Book Review: This book is a valuable resource for both students and professionals interested in developing their own game-theoretic models. It offers a unique fusion of game theory and applied economics. The book covers a range of topics including static games, Nash equilibrium, dynamic games, subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium, Bayesian Nash equilibrium, dynamic games, and perfect Bayesian equilibrium. To provide readers with practical insights, the book features numerous examples, equations, proofs, and applications.

“Game Theory: Decisions, Interaction and Evolution” Book Review: This book provides an introductory overview of game theory with a mathematical perspective. It covers a wide range of topics including decision models, simple decision processes, Markov decision processes, static games with interaction, finite dynamic games, games with continuous strategy sets, infinite dynamic games, population games with evolutionary dynamics, replicator dynamics, as well as appendices on constrained optimization and dynamical systems. The book presents the key concepts and fundamentals of these topics in a clear and concise manner. Moreover, it includes numerous exercises along with their solutions to aid in the reader’s understanding.

“Dynamic Programming” Book Review: This book serves as an introductory guide to dynamic programming, covering all the fundamental concepts and extensive theory that provides a clear understanding of the subject. The book employs basic mathematical concepts such as calculus as tools for solving complex problems. Additionally, the book showcases applications in mathematical economics, logistics, scheduling theory, communication theory, and control processes.

“Dynamic Programming and Optimal Control” Book Review: This two-volume set is designed to assist students who are studying optimal control and operations research. The first volume covers a variety of topics such as modeling, conceptualization, and finite-horizon problems, as well as an extensive introduction to infinite horizon problems. The second volume includes mathematical analysis and computation, infinite horizon problems, approximate large-scale dynamic programming, and reinforcement learning. The material in this book has applications in optimal control, decision problems, planning, sequential decision making under uncertainty, and combinatorial optimization. Examples and applications from engineering and operations research are included throughout the book. The content is up-to-date and includes recent research.

“Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict” Book Review: This book is primarily intended for graduate students in economics, political science, operations research, and applied mathematics. It begins by explaining fundamental concepts before delving into more complex topics. The book covers all the principles, models, results, and methodologies related to game theory, including a comprehensive description of extensive form and strategic form games, as well as Bayesian games. Additionally, the book emphasizes the latest developments in the field of game theory.

“Decision Analysis, Game Theory, and Information” Book Review: This book provides an introduction to the fundamentals of decision analysis and game theory, including the essential tools used by clients such as businesses, government institutions, and individuals. Divided into two parts, the first section covers decision analysis, probability tools, expected value, and decision trees. The second half of the book explores topics like disorganized fashion and various concepts in game theory. This book is particularly useful for advocacy students and professionals seeking to gain a solid understanding of these subjects.

“Decision Sciences: Theory and Practice” Book Review: This book is useful for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners from various fields such as engineering, statistics, sociology, and economics. It covers a wide range of topics, including optimization, networks and games, multi-objective optimization, inventory theory, statistical methods, artificial neural networks, time series analysis, simulation modeling, decision support systems, data envelopment analysis, and queueing theory. The book provides a combination of practical and theoretical knowledge. To enhance reader understanding, it includes colorful charts, 3D diagrams, examples, and solved problems.

“Negotiation Analysis: The Science and Art of Collaborative Decision Making” Book Review: This book is primarily intended for students and practitioners of negotiation and alternative dispute resolution. It covers a broad range of topics including individual decision analysis, judgmental decision making, game theory, and negotiation analysis. The book emphasizes the importance of generating and distributing joint gains among parties who approach negotiation with analytical minds. It strikes a balance between theoretical and practical knowledge, and includes numerous hypothetical examples to illustrate negotiation analysis.

“Engineering Decision Making and Risk Management” Book Review: This book is intended primarily for graduate students studying decision analysis, decision making, risk management, engineering design, operations research, business and management science, and industrial and systems engineering. However, it may also be useful for practitioners and researchers in these fields. The book takes a theoretical and practical approach and covers techniques and processes for group decision making and game theory. Numerous practical examples and applications are provided throughout the book to enhance readers’ comprehension. Each chapter concludes with exercises and objectives.

“Game Theory: A Multi-Leveled Approach (Springer Texts in Business and Economics)” Book Review: This book provides a valuable resource for students by covering the basics of game theory at both undergraduate and advanced mathematical levels. It covers a variety of topics, including cooperative game theory, and begins with introductory chapters on repeated games, social choice theory, and selected topics such as bargaining theory, exchange economies, and matching. The second part of the book focuses on noncooperative theory and explores the theory of zero sum games, refinements of Nash equilibrium, and evolutionary games. The book concludes with a discussion of the theory of transferable utility games, including core and balancedness, Shapley value and variations, and nucleolus. Each chapter includes a problem section, as well as hints, answers, and solutions.

“Game Theory And Mechanism Design (Iisc Lecture Notes Series Book 4)” Book Review: This book is specifically intended for students in computer engineering, operations research, industrial engineering, and microeconomics. It provides a comprehensive treatment of game theory and mechanism design, which are key tools in these fields. The book presents a solid foundation in game theory and mechanism design theory, which form the basis of traditional methods. In addition, it covers emerging economic applications that benefit society. The book emphasizes mechanism design, which involves designing a game among strategic agents in a way that achieves a social goal in an equilibrium of the induced game. Many illustrative examples are included, which represent both classical and modern applications of game theory and mechanism design.

“Introduction to Game theory” Book Review: This book provides an introduction to game theory and is primarily intended for graduating students. It presents an overview of how mathematical models and economic concepts are applied in game theory. The book covers topics such as non-cooperative games, linear programming theory, linear complementarity theory, and cooperative games. It also includes real-world economic and operational research applications of game theory with multiple agents. The book offers a range of exercises with their corresponding solutions.

Book Review: The latest advancements in the field of game theory are covered in this standard textbook for courses on game theory. The book features a section solely dedicated to the Monty Hall problem, which shows how game-theoretic methods can be used to obtain the solution instead of conditional probability theory. Additionally, the book includes an extra chapter discussing the works of Nobel laureates and their contributions to mechanism design, auctions, and two-sided matching.

“Game Theory with Engineering Applications (Advances in Design and Control)” Book Review: This book provides an introduction to game theory and its practical applications. It covers various topics such as 2-person zero sum games, competition of saddle points and Nash equilibrium solution. Additionally, the book discusses coalitional games, games with vector payoffs, mean field games, demand side management, and synchronization of power generators. With 21 chapters in total, the book includes several examples and code samples. It also includes a list of tables, algorithms and notations at the beginning of the book. This book is intended for both undergraduate and graduate students in computer, aeronautical, and industrial engineering.

“Game Theory Applications in Network Design” Book Review: This book presents an introduction to the fundamental principles of game theory and explores its applications. The book covers topics such as the basic concepts of game theory, game models in various applications, and game theory for wireless ad hoc networks, smart grids, network security, cognitive radio networks, and wireless network resource managers. In addition, it offers several case studies on network design. The book provides a step-by-step approach for understanding all the equations and methods used. It is recommended for undergraduate students pursuing computer and industrial engineering.

“Game Engine Architecture” Book Review: The book is focused on game engine architecture and its fundamental principles. It covers a range of topics such as the necessary tools, software engineering basics for games, parallelism and concurrent programming, and 3D math for games. Additionally, the book discusses engine support systems, file system resources, the game loop, real-time simulation, and human interface devices. All the equations and figures are presented in detail, with clear labels, and the book includes relevant images and code samples. This book is aimed at advanced students of computer science engineering who are interested in game development.

“Coding For Kids For Dummies” Book Review: This book provides an introduction to coding and covers fundamental concepts. Topics discussed in the book include coding basics, working with programming languages and IDs, Foley sound generator, and lucky numbers. Additionally, it features Mondrian art toy, emoji explosion, variables, simple conditions and I/O. All the topics are presented in a simplified manner to help beginners understand the concepts easily. The book contains a list of tables and illustrations at the end for reference. It also includes colourful images to facilitate easy understanding of the topics, and small projects to help students practice. The book is suitable for elementary and middle school students who are interested in learning to code.

“Rules of Play – Game Design Fundamentals” Book Review: This book provides a comprehensive overview of game design concepts, covering core concepts such as the rules of digital games, games as information theory systems, and games as emergent systems. It also explores topics such as game theory systems, defining digital games, and games as systems of conflict. Each topic is explained in detail with relevant examples and illustrations, making it a useful resource for students studying game design.

“Creating Games: Mechanics, Content, and Technology” Book Review: This book covers the fundamental concepts and techniques of game design. The chapters describe the development process and design theory, innovation management, criticism, and proposal techniques, as well as the design document. The book also covers topics such as game technology, probability and choice, strategic thinking, and mechanics. Each chapter includes exercises for students to practice, and the content is explained with the help of flow charts, graphs, and images. Game developers can benefit from this book.

“3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice (Usability and Hci)” Book Review: This book explores the concepts and methods involved in designing 3D user interfaces. It covers a range of topics, such as the building blocks and trajectory of 3D user interfaces, VR and AR wearable devices, and the visual, auditory, and tactile components of output hardware. It also covers 3D object selection and manipulation, navigation and wayfinding strategies, and the process for selecting, creating, and assessing 3D user interfaces. The book concludes with a discussion of future trends and unresolved research issues. The techniques are described in depth, with the aid of colorful images. This book is ideal for game designers and interface developers.

“Graphics Shaders: Theory and Practice, Second Edition” Book Review: This book presents various topics associated with graphic shading in computer graphics. The chapters cover fundamental concepts of shaders, the use of GLMAN, the GLSL shader language, and lighting. Additionally, the book explores vertex shaders, fragment shaders, surface appearance, and texture mapping in fragment shaders. Each unit concludes with exercises to reinforce the learning. The book is accompanied by colorful images, properly labeled diagrams, and code samples. This book is beneficial for individuals in game design and interface development.

“Programming Linux Games – Building Multimedia Applications with SDL, OpenAL, and Other APIs” Book Review: This book delves into the topic of game development specifically for the Linux platform. It covers the fundamentals of Linux game programming, provides insights into the current Linux games available worldwide, and explains how to write and distribute Linux games on the Linux gaming community. The book also includes a detailed discussion on Simple Direct Media Layer (SDL) and the creation of multimedia applications using SDL APIs and OpenAL. It is a valuable resource for Linux game developers seeking to enhance their skills and knowledge.

“Topological Methods in Complementarity Theory (Nonconvex Optimization and Its Applications)” Book Review: This book covers the latest concepts of Complementarity Theory. It provides optimization problems, game theory, economic engineering, fluid mechanics, and stochastic optimal control topics. It also includes a chapter that deals with non-linear complementarity problems studied through topological methods. The mathematical problems are explained in detail with examples and illustrations. This book is beneficial for students pursuing Operational Research and Applied Mathematics.

“Non-cooperative Stochastic Differential Game Theory of Generalized Markov Jump Linear Systems (Studies in Systems, Decision and Control (67))” Book Review: This book is intended for graduate students studying economic management, science, and engineering at higher education institutions. It delves into the study of stochastic non-cooperative differential game theory, specifically focused on generalized linear Markov jump systems and its applications in the fields of finance and insurance. The book uses dynamic programming principles and the Riccati equation, deriving various conditions and methods for calculating equilibrium strategies of dynamic non-cooperative differential games. The theoretical results and their practical applications in risk control, option pricing, and optimal investment problems in the finance and insurance field are also discussed.