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Customer Reviews (16)

Oops, way over my head
I guess I wanted to read more about his genius, didn't know I'd have to be a genius to understand most of this book.

The Nash equilibrium
This is a faithful publication of the original John Nash Econometrica articles on game theory, as well as contributions by Harold Kuhn, Sylvia Nasar, and others that review Nash's work and his struggle with schizophrenia.It has a new retrospective introduction by John Nash well worth reading for his insights.

Bored to tears.
I know he is well regarded in his time, and in Economic circles..

However, the author of this book didn't do a good job convincing me of this fact as I was totally bored and unimpressed with Nash's accomplishments...

This I'm sure is the fault of the author and not of John Nash..

MJL

Undiluted math
If you have an interest in John Nash AND know mathematics, this is an interesting collection. The main body of the book consists of eight papers in mathematics and his Phd Thesis in uncut form, accompanied by a small introduction. Apart from that there is a general introduction from his friend Kuhn, a short biography from his biographer Nasar, a 7-page autobiography, the statement of the Nobel-prize committee, a collection of photos of Nash in various phases of his career, and a short explanation to the game of Hex that Nash invented when he arrived in Princeton.

Being an economist I was only interested in the thesis with the existence proof of the Nash equilibrium, and I am sure I would not have understood an alpha of any of the other papers. You really need to be a mathematician to appreciate this bundle. For those who want to know about Nash the man, I would recommend his autobiography "A beautiful mind" or the film with the same title.

An essential reading !

In case you have been captivated by "A beautiful mind", and be disposed to know more about the controversial existence of John Nash, pick up this book, that surely will catch your entire attention.
... Read more

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This collection of seven of John Nash's essays highlights his contribution to game theory in economics. It includes a comprehensive introduction by Ken Binmore, which explains and summarizes John Nash's achievements in the fields of both non-cooperative and co-operative game theory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

excellent compilasion of game theory papers
it is a great compilation of the principal papers that Nash wrote before his illness... The intro by Binmore is great! ... Read more

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How could you, a mathematician, believe that extraterrestrials were sending you messages?" the visitor from Harvard asked the West Virginian with the movie-star looks and Olympian manner.

"Because the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way my mathematical ideas did," came the answer. "So I took them seriously."

Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius who was a legend by age thirty when he slipped into madness, and who -- thanks to the selflessness of a beautiful woman and the loyalty of the mathematics community -- emerged after decades of ghostlike existence to win a Nobel Prize and world acclaim. The inspiration for a major motion picture, Sylvia Nasar's award-winning biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, triumph over incredible adversity, and the healing power of love.Amazon.com Review
Stories of famously eccentric Princetonians abound--such asthat of chemist Hubert Alyea, the model for The Absent-MindedProfessor, or Ralph Nader, said to have had his own key to thelibrary as an undergraduate. Or the "Phantom of Fine Hall,"a figure many students had seen shuffling around the corridors of themath and physics building wearing purple sneakers and writingnumerology treatises on the blackboards. The Phantom was John Nash,one of the most brilliant mathematicians of his generation, who hadspiraled into schizophrenia in the 1950s. His most important work hadbeen in game theory, which by the 1980s was underpinning a large partof economics. When the Nobel Prize committee began debating a prizefor game theory, Nash's name inevitably came up--only to be dismissed,since the prize clearly could not go to a madman. But in 1994 Nash, inremission from schizophrenia, shared the Nobel Prize in economics forwork done some 45 years previously.

Economist and journalist SylviaNasar has written a biography of Nash that looks at all sides of hislife. She gives an intelligent, understandable exposition of hismathematical ideas and a picture of schizophrenia that is evocativebut decidedly unromantic. Her story of the machinations behind Nash'sNobel is fascinating and one of very few such accounts available inprint (the CIA could learn a thing or two from the Nobelcommittees). This highly recommended book is indeed "a storyabout the mystery of the human mind, in three acts: genius, madness,reawakening." --Mary Ellen Curtin ... Read more

Customer Reviews (291)

boy, does he look a lot like russell crowe!
It's amazing how much the picture of John Nash on the cover of this excellent biography looks like Russell Crowe! Or is it Russell Crowe who has the beautiful mind? How can someone with a beautiful mind throw a phone at a hotel receptionist?

All kidding aside, this is an enjoyable read. The subject is well known to moviegoers, so they'll be quick to spot the mistakes in this book where it makes up incidents not found in the movie and shamelessly distorts other incidents found in the movie just to make a better-reading book. But that typically happens whenever a writer decides to write a book based on a movie. All journalistic integrity is forgotten in the interests of commercial appeal.

To recapitulate, John Nash was a brilliant mathematician and a sometime a**hole who after publishing some breakthrough papers lost his mind intermittently for several decades, finally finding it again and re-emerging reasonably sane shortly after winning a belated Nobel Prize in Economics for his first big discovery in game theory. This raises interesting questions about the nature of paranoid schizophrenia and its interaction with brilliance. It's fun to speculate about this topic, especially because there are really no hard facts or proven theories so anybody's opinion is about as good as anyone else's. Certainly the author had fun speculating.

For those readers who wish to learn more about Nash's mathematical discoveries there is the "Essential John Nash", which I challenge anyone without a strong background in math to understand any of.

This Book Helped Me to Understand Schizophrenia
This book is an interesting and well-written account of a highly intelligent and creative man who suffered from schizophrenia. Like many people, I first heard of Nash by watching the movie starring Russell Crowe. The movie is true to the basic outline of the biography, but omits or fudges many relevant details. For example, the movie didn't mention Nash's travels to Europe or his divorce. From the movie, one would think that Nash's disorder began at graduate school at Princeton, since that is when he first "sees" his imaginary roommate. This imaginary roommate isn't mentioned in the book.

Although eccentric and strange, Nash didn't suffer his first breakdown until age 30, which is relatively late for schizophrenia. If Nash had developed this disorder when he was 20, no one would have heard of him, and there would be no biography to read. It's important to emphasize this point. For every famous person like Nash, there are thousands of talented people who, due to mental illness, never get a chance to exercise their talents.

What precipitated Nash's initial breakdown? It could have been his marriage that occurred two years before, along with his wife's pregnancy. Stress is known to precipitate psychiatric symptoms, and major life changes like getting married and having a child are significant sources of stress. It could have been a European honeymoon trip that Nash and his wife went on about 6 months prior to his breakdown. There's no way to know for sure.

After his breakdown and initial hospitalization, Nash gave up his tenured position at MIT and headed to Europe, where he would spend the next 9 months, attempting to renounce his U.S. citizenship and become a "world citizen." This behavior exemplifies that the severe mental illnesses are primarily disorders of instability. Who in his right mind would give up a tenured faculty position at MIT? Most normal people crave stability, and there's nothing more stable than a tenured position. Mentally ill people crave the opposite; for them the stability of a tenured position is both frightening and undesirable. Nash's travels are further indications of instability.

After Nash returned to the U.S., he had temporary episodes of sanity alternating with psychotic episodes. With some brief exceptions, he wasn't able to resume his career until he had a remission in his fifties. This remission occurred after having lived a relatively quiet and stable life at Princeton for over ten years. Nash won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1994.

Nasar's biography convinces me that schizophrenia is closer to bipolar disorder than Alzheimer's Disease. Schizophrenia is an episodic disease, characterized by alternating sanity and insanity, of rational thought and delusions. At least in Nash's case, it doesn't appear to be degenerative.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in the biographical details of an eminent man's battle with mental illness.

An inspiring, compelling and, ultimately, beautiful read
This is the book that inspired the film of the same name staring Russell Crow. Whilst elements of the story are similar, anyone coming to the book from the film, as I did, will find a more complex, interesting, and, on occasions, unlikeable Nash than the Hollywood version.

Starting with his early, pre-illness, days, Nash begins as a typically brilliant, temperamental, and eccentric genius. He knew it too with his interpersonal skills making him aloof and arrogant. Although it might have been wonderful to meet the early Nash, it is hard to see how one would have liked him. It seems astonishing, therefore, that anyone would feel romantically attracted to Nash, much less devote their life to his care, but this is exactly what Alicia Nash took on. The terrible effects of paranoid schizophrenia are evident in Nash's decline into alternative realities, which threatened to end his life as much as his career. It is a terrible illness. That Nash was able to recover is perhaps testament to his determination to restart his career as well as the unfailing love of his wife. For me, the title of the book could easily belong to Alicia.

Nasar writes wonderfully well and she conveys the complexity of Nash's thoughts and his decline into illness in extraordinary detail. Occasionally, as with all good biographies, you feel that the characters let you down and Nasar never shies away from telling the whole truth. Whilst her voice is silent through most of the book it is only at the end, when the prejudice against mental illness comes to the fore, that Nasar allows her own distaste of such bias to surface. It forms a fitting conclusion to this monumental work.

Good reading
I bought this book after watched the movie based on the same book.

I like movies based on academic settings.

The book arrived on time and in good shape.

not like the movie at all
Nasar is a good writer and she's obviously done her research.My problem was with the subject matter.In this book John Nash comes across as boring, creepy, and a bit of a jerk.Not the kind of person I care to read about. ... Read more

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Millions have seen the movie and thousands have read the book but few have fully appreciated the mathematics invented by John Nash’s beautiful mind. Today Nash’s beautiful math has become a universal language for research in the social sciences and has infiltrated the realms of evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and even quantum physics.

John Nash won the 1994 Nobel Prize in economics for pioneering research published in the 1950s on a new branch of mathematics known as game theory. At the time of Nash’s early work, game theory was briefly popular among some mathematicians and Cold War analysts. But it remained relatively obscure until the 1970s, when evolutionary biologists began to find it useful. In the 1980s economists began to embrace game theory.Since then game theory math has found an ever expanding repertoire of applications among a wide range of scientific disciplines.

Today neuroscientists peer into game players’ brains, anthropologists play games with people from primitive cultures, biologists use games to explain the evolution of human language, and mathematicians exploit games to better understand social networks.

A common thread connecting much of this research is its relevance to the ancient quest for a science of human social behavior, or "a Code of Nature," in the spirit of the fictional science of psychohistory described in the famous Foundation novels by the late Isaac Asimov. In A Beautiful Math, acclaimed science writer Tom Siegfried describes how game theory links the life sciences, social sciences and physical sciences in a way that may bring Asimov’s dream closer to reality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Game theory and more made accessible
When I first picked up this book, I was not expecting the variety of topics that are covered inside. More than simply game theory and Nash equilibrium topics, the book goes into chaos theory, graph theory, and a variety of other topics. What makes the book very accessible are the plentiful examples - both classical and contrived - that are used to explain the various theories. While the casual reader can get something out of this book, there is enough in-depth material to be of interest to more advanced reader as well.

A Beautiful Math is a Beautiful Book
This is one of the nicest popular science reads I have experienced for a long time.The author has the ability to explain science and math in a very clear manner.The book does not only deal with Nash's math, but with all the math and science surrounding game theory.It is an exciting field, and the author is able to explain the limits of the theory and the hopes to understand human nature, and expressing it in mathematical terms.

If you are interested in gaining understanding of what game theory is about and current developments and thought in this field, in layman's language, I recommend that you get yourself a copy and read this book.

Journalistic hypes and some patently false claims
I am an academic economist who knows something about game theory, so when I bought this book I did not hope to learn anything new but just to be entertained by an "illuminating" author during my leisure hours. I was disappointed to the point of anger.

This book is basically a journalist's report based on interviews with a few (probably half a dozen) individuals as the pages are filled with quotes from several academics in good standing.I think it would have been better to simply present many illuminating quotes from these individuals without inserting additional insights that the author gleaned from them, because many of the author's insertions were at best misleading and at worst patently false.

Just for an example, the author keeps insisting that payoff numbers in games are "money" as economists are interested in monetary matters. It might probably be true that von Neumann preferred interpreting payoffs of a game as money, but most practicing economists and game theorists certaintly do not do that.

An annoying repeated phrase is that "xxx told me (in an exclusive interview) that..." where xxx is one of the half dozen individuals mentioned above.Most of what xxx told the author must be correct, relevant and have some meaning but these are simply taken out of context by bits and spread throughout the text.

Also the basic hype about game theory's possibility to be a Theory of Everything seems to come out of (as the author admits) one person's recent writings at Bell Labs. The idea itself presented as such sounds simply outrageous (even to an academic economist like myself) but rather a surpring fact is that game theory's origins are in fact related to such an outrageous idea from physicists, mathematicians and "cyberneticians", one story of which is told in Mirowski, Machine Dreams. Mirowski's book has its own faults, and is a lot more heavy going (with some 500 + pages with small fonts and requiring a lot of knowledge), but at least it shows seriousness and a lot of research the author took to it.

Brilliantly understood and explained, questionably authored.
The book jacket tells us that Seigfried won an award "for interpreting [science] for the public."I'm sure that that award was well deserved, for he has a knack for taking complex ideas and presenting them to a less-educated crowd.His two or three page explanations of concepts that took me weeks (and loads of homework/study) to grasp are nothing short of amazing.He often uses examples or analogies rooted in works of fiction to illustrate his points.The way these works are summarized to include only relevant information, and yet still capture the essence of those stories, is marvelous.Also, unlike many books of this genre, after reading it I did not feel like I needed to re-take any classes or brush up on my math.In fact, the most in-depth math involved (calculating a Nash equilibrium) should be crystal clear to a tenth-grader, and it is conveniently relocated to an appendix so that it doesn't bother any take-your-word-for-it readers.

Why only three stars then? Because this is a book review, and explanatory prowess isn't the only thing that it takes to write a book.

The humor in the book is very hit-and-miss.I wouldn't remove it, because when it hits... it's wonderful, but perhaps he should've gotten a humor-editor, someone to help him decide what to include and what to leave out.For example, Seigfried goes about explaining the mathematical differences between what he calls a "Robinson Crusoe economy" (one in which a single person makes decisions about fixed values) and a "Gilligan's island economy" (one in which each person makes decisions based upon other people, who make decisions based on other people, who...).Seigfried states that,

"Mathematically, that meant that no longer could you simply compute ... for Robinson Crusoe.Your calculationshad to accommodate ... for Gilligan, the Skipper too, the millionaire, and his wife, the movie star, the Professor, and Mary Ann."

How cool! But then there are other instances.While using a game between fictional characters Alice and Bob to demonstrate some simple game theory, he inserts parenthetically: "(As I said, Alice would probably tell him to shove it)," directly between two rules of the game.We had already been told that this game was not in Alice's favor, and that it was simplified for the purpose of example.The text is peppered about equally with good, relevant, non-interrupting humor, as it is with not-so-good humor.

Furthermore, while he can explain very-high-level science to a high-school-graduate (and two thumbs up for that) his narration seems to be directed at an audience with a damaged memory.I say this because we are told at least four times that Colin Camerer is into Behavioral Game Theory, and that Neuroeconomics is a fledgling hybrid field.
The organization of the book favors the understanding of game theory over the understanding of its history.One is presented with concepts fundamental to game theory, some uses of it, some game theory developments, some views into advanced game theory; it works very well to foster understanding.With each chunk of theory work, Seigfried includes the history (which I was pleasantly surprised at--it's fascinating) that contributed to that chunk of theory.The problem here is that the first section takes place mostly in the eighteenth century, the second-to-last section in the twenty-first, and the last section in the seventeenth and also the twentieth.The jumping around in time was confusing.I can't say what the best organisational method is, but I don't think this is it.

Lastly, and most importantly, is the hype that he gives game theory.I am interested in it, that's why I picked up the book, and the occasional renewal of that interest was nice, but he takes it a step too far.The reader is told time and time again how freakin' amazing game theory is, it's all true.The problem is that after pages of this game theory hype, and a mid-book discrediting of some evolutionary psychologists who dared disagree, I begin to question how strongly his bias is affecting his writing. It doesn't come across too strongly until the final few pages (which, in my mind, bumped it down from a four-star) in which he compares game theory to a unified field theory, or physics' golden "theory of everything."He says game theory is the theory concerned with everything else (i.e. the social/biological/economic half of everything).I agree that it could be a framework to hold "everything else" together, but that's like saying that all baked goods can be divided between pie, and things-with-frosting.It doesn't include the whole picture, and it does so in a deceptive way.

I should, however, admit that I am subject to the same type of biases as the author.When I read, in that last few pages, that:

"Game theory is not, however, the same as the popular 'Theory of Everything' that theoretical physicists have long sought.That quest is mearly for the equations describing all of nature's basic particles and forces, the math describing the building blocks."

I became quite upset: MEARLY?! that theory is only one of the most important goals of science, ever!Well, you can see that my bias clouds my judgement too, interperet as you will...


So buy this book, I can't stress enough how great the explanations within are, but take it with a grain of salt (and perhaps some of your own research).

for the beginner and rather misleading
This is a 215 page book.If you are familiar with the Prisoner's Dilemma there just isn't a whole lot here for you.The discussionof statistical mechanics pales in comparison (and is rather similar to the outline of) Philip Ball's vastly superior "Critical Mass".Go there first. I know that is a different subject but a good chunk of this book discusses it.The author creates a ridiculous and unrealistic strawman of evolutionary pyschology and then repeatedly belittles it because human societies are variable (what a novel and unexpected concept!).Usuaully the author presents one example of work within each field he discusses - I suppose this keeps it readable but disappointing light fare.Go read "Critical Mass", don't waste your time with this. ... Read more

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John Nash (1752–1835) was the most successful and fashionable architect of his time. Architect, town-planner, landscape designer, bridge-builder, engineer and entrepreneur, Nash outlived his principal patron, George IV, by five years. After a disheartening start, when his first speculative buildings in Bloomsbury failed and left him bankrupt, Nash moved to Wales to rebuild his career, eventually returning to London in 1796. He had made a remarkable recovery and went on to become the most successful and fashionable architect of the period. His buildings reflect a variety of styles, including neo-classical, Tudor and Gothic, with a strong emphasis on the Picturesque. His Metropolitan Improvements – Regent’s Park, Regent Street, Trafalgar Square – were the most comprehensive developments ever carried out in London, even until recent times.

This fully illustrated comprehensive survey of Nash’s works includes all of his known and attributed works. Michael Mansbridge’s superb photographs of Nash’s extant buildings show Nash’s architecture as never before and are complemented by contemporary views and old photographs of demolished buildings, as well as original sketches of designs never executed. The illustrations are accompanied by catalogue entries giving general information about the buildings, their settings and their original owners. In all, nearly 300 projects are discussed. Each entry has its own bibliography and many have plans.

The lively introduction, written by the distinguished architectural historian Sir John Summerson (1904–92), gives a perspective portrait of this imaginative and influential architect. The book includes a gazetteer, a list of clients and patrons, a glossary of architectural terms, and two maps – one of Great Britain and Ireland and one of London – giving the locations of Nash’s buildings. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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The brothersPaul and John Nash, in their very different ways, were a major influence on twentieth century British design. Paul Nash (1889-1946) is now recognised as the most significant war artist of the last century; John Nash (1893-1977) as a plantsman artist.Both worked as designers and as tutors at the Royal College of Art, Paul encouraging a generation of designer artists that included Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden and Enid Marx. As a committee member of the Design and Industries Association and President of the newly formed Society of Industrial Artists (now the Chartered Society of Designers) Paul promoted design as no less an art form than the fine arts of painting and sculpture. His clients included London Transport, Shell and Curwen Press and publishers the Nonesuch and Golden Cockerel Presses. John became well known for his Edward Lear influenced humorous illustrations and his superb plant drawings and wood engravings that illustrate innumerable books and publications.Paul Nash and ... Read more

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This condensed version of The American People, Seventh Edition examines U.S. history as revealed through the experiences of all Americans, both ordinary and extraordinary.

Customer Reviews (4)

Book is the oldest edition ever
I ordered this history book thinking its a new edition not only is it a very old edition but the book was ribbed and in a not very acceptable condition

Great History Book
I use this book in my college course Survey of American History I.The book is well written and easy to follow.You don't have to be a college student or even a fan of history to enjoy reading it.

Speedy
I received it just in time for my class and the description was completely honest! Thank you

History Book Review
Great in-depth book on US History.I learned so much more from this text than any hisotry book that I've had previous! ... Read more

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The Soul and Its Destiny explores the soul and its evolutionaryjourney: what it is, where it came from, and where it is going.¿ It honors traditional religious andphilosophical testimony but also draws on modern esoteric teachings.¿ Made in the image of God, the soul is afunctional and structural trinity.¿ Thesoul makes us conscious, builds our external forms, and urges us forward on ourjourney.¿ Two of its structural layers linkus to the lower kingdoms and to overshadowing higher realities, while themiddle principle expresses our distinctive humanity and divine potential.¿ The book examines the soul'sorigins and development up to the present.¿It explores the soul's future...our future because we are souls...and offerspractical advice on how to move more quickly toward our glorious destiny.¿ The soul is alive, striving to grow, waitingto be known and embraced; yearning to reach out.¿ We may become aware of the soul through thearts and religion.¿ But when we respondto its call, our consciousness expands, and we are led to a life of outreach,caring relationships, and service.¿ Likethe masters who beckon, we are destined to serve both on this planet andbeyond. ... Read more