Game Theory 101: The Complete Textbook

I found William Spaniel’s Game Theory 101 to be an excellent introductory book. I have read several books on Game Theory and was very impressed with the authors ability to present both introductory and moderately complex ideas in an extremely concise and understandable manner. The book is an excellent choice for people of different background levels interested in learning the subject. I believe several of the other reviewer’s have done a good job discussing the merits of the book. One thing to consider when choosing a book on game theory is the excellent and extensive videos that the author William Spaniel has made on YouTube. There are approximately 80 lectures on Game Theory, with several of them covering more advanced material than that covered in the book , such as Bayesian equilibrium.They are excellently done, run from 10 to 35 minutes, and our design to cover individual topics per lecture. They are a perfect complement to his book and like his book, are clearly thought out, concise and entertaining. Unless you are looking for and advanced game theory book, I think this is an excellent first choice.

Reading this book was quite entertaining, and I must say it was also easy to understand. The author uses clear examples and repeats them in a pleasant and consistent manner until they are fully grasped by the reader. Absolutely recommended for anyone who wants a good introduction to game theory.

The basics in this book are good materials, however: - too many typos - sometimes unclear and unnecessary deviations from the core materials - inconsistent assumptions on the reader’s math capability

I bought and read this book in the Kindle edition. In fact, I did it for illustrating with a good guide and easy examples my lectures (I'm not an expert in this field but I had to teach it as part of an introductory course in modeling and simulation, so I had to resort to the clearer guide available). Fortunately, William Spaniel is very clear for transmitting the ideas behind the game theory and for addressing an issue that seems easy but it is as complex as the amplitude of topics it covers. In sum, he saved me. One more thing: At the end of the book, the author speaks of the tools that the book gives you, classifying them in an "introductory level." But, be cautious, introductory doesn't mean easy. You have to read and re-read many times some topics in order to understand them. The best part, in this case, it is that at last you get a comprehensive background for recognizing the difference between --to say it in some way-- the game and the theory. Good work. Highly recommended.

I tried studying Game Theory about 6 years ago and gave up because I wasn't understanding the way the math was presented. I gained interest again recently for some reason and decided to give this book a try. Well I just finished reading the entire book and viewing the accompanying YouTube videos. The concepts still aren't always easy, but William Spaniel does a great providing well-written step-by-step instructions with so you can follow exactly what is going on. I'm sure it wasn't William's intention to provide a math class, but the instructions were so thorough that I really brushed up on my math as a side effect of the course. I also find that I'm instinctively thinking about everyday decisions a little deeper that I was prior to reading the book. Needless to say I highly recommend this book to anyone interest in learning Game Theory. The low price of the book and the high quality of information within it provides a payoff that makes the decision to buy a no-brainer :-)

I liked this book. The author explains well a lot of essential and important concepts in game theory in a very intuitive way. I have recommended it to friends already, because it does a very good job at introducing difficult concepts to beginners *without* using a lot of math. I congratulate the author. This book's content and approach are very good. Some paragraphs are very hard to follow sometimes and I had to read something several times to get what the author meant. Not because what was being said was difficult, but because it was written in an unclear fashion. But these are not frequent. However, book's presentation is lacking in my opinion (a common flaw with independent publishers). Game matrices in the first part of the book are somewhat bloated and sometimes are repeated almost at every single step of a game, confusing the flow of the explanation. Equations are also bloated and written with many redundant parenthesized expressions, which makes for some hard time trying to absorb them in your head quickly. They could have been much leaner. Also, using the greek "sigma" (usually standard deviation) for probabilities seems counter-intuitive. Very very small margins around text. No index. I could go on ranting about presentation details like this, but I'll stop here because book's content is worth the purchase and I don't want you clicking away and not getting it. In a few words, the book has a great potential, but needs much improvement in presentation.

Excellent textbook, explains game theory extremely well. I am a visual learner, and often have a difficult time learning from textbooks. This book easily and clearly explained what I needed to know about game theory and was a major tool that helped me in my classes. There is a mixture of everyday applications of game theory to large scale applications, and having both of these is extremely helpful to any student. Also, reading this textbook while watching his YouTube videos is a great idea if you're struggling to understand this subject. Excellent textbook, incredibly well-written, and I would highly recommend this textbook to any student, professor, or casual learner of game theory!

Muy buen libro, y bastante complementado con los videos. Si realmente quieres aprender poco a poco y de manera clara teoría de juegos, lo recomiendo al 100%

Was a bit difficult to start with but is explained very clearly.

Pas assez rigoureux. C'est vraiment pour une intro/survol du sujet avec beaucoup de redites. De plus la mise en forme du texte est assez désagréable.

I am not an expert in game theory, but I have read several introductory and advanced books and many scientific articles that apply game theory. Among the introductory books that I read this one is among the best. It is ideal for beginners. The games are described in detail so that the reader really understands what is going on. This book is also a good foundation for reading more advanced stuff. Not to forget: the relatively low price and availability as a kindle book. VERY RECOMMENDABLE.

I'm struggling. Now that may well have more to do with my limited understanding but more words of understanding would help. I'm sure it will all become clear at the end.