Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #304265 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The title capitalizes on the popularity of the Oscar-winning movie about Nobel Prize–winning mathematician John Nash. But this is a serious and adroit look at a branch of mathematics, influenced by Nash's work, that is steadily sending tendrils into nearly every area of science. It may even, says science journalist Siegfried, result in a mathematical description of nature of the sort imagined and called "psychohistory" by Isaac Asimov in his Foundation trilogy. Siegfried is talking about game theory, which was originally conceived as a model of economics predicting what rational people would do when competing for monetary gain. But with the help of the "Nash equilibrium," it has since evolved into a system that helps describe social networking, physics, evolution and more. In guiding the reader through the outgrowths of game theory, Siegfried steps nimbly around anything that would bog down the narrative, crisply painting the key concepts and framing them with pop culture, biographies of and conversations with giants in the field, and reacting ("Now, you have to admit, that's a little strange") to each new discovery. His clear and easy voice makes the content effortless and a pleasure to read. (Oct. 20)
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From the Author
You’re a science journalist who is interested in many topics. Why game theory?

It’s precisely because of the many different topics in science that game theory touches. It was invented for use in economics, but over the decades its applications have extended to biology, psychology, anthropology, neuroscience and even quantum physics. Science journalism ought to report new scientific insights, and game theory has become a spectacular tool for identifying many new insights.

What is it about science that really generates the passion necessary to explore it in such depth?

Science is the one common language for coping with the world that transcends personal preferences and prejudicial ideologies. Many people, even some scientists, nevertheless try to impose their preferences or ideologies on science. In my writings I try to cut through those prejudices to find the evidence, interpreted by sound reasoning, that tells nature’s true story. The search for that evidence and reasoning is what drives me.

The movie or the book – which did you like better?

The book, of course. The movie was very entertaining but bore very little resemblance to the true story and pretty much garbled what little it described about John Nash’s math. The book was a skillfully written biography that provided some flavor of the math, although it did not explore game theory’s widespread use across the spectrum of scientific disciplines.

About the Author
Tom Siegfried was science editor of the Dallas Morning News for 20 years and currently writes a regular column for the science news website The Why Files. In 1993 he received the American Chemical Society’s James H. Grady-James T. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public; in 2004 he received the National Association of Science Writers’ Science-in-Society award; and in 2006 he was awarded the American Geophysical Union’s Robert C. Cowen award for lifetime achievement in science journalism. He is the author of The Bit and the Pendulum, published in 2000, and Strange Matters, published in 2002. Tom lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Chris.

Customer Reviews

I think I get it know
I first picked up this book because I thought it would be more of a biography of John Nash. The book is more a discussion of how game theory can be used to help understand nature.

The book was very readable and even gave me a historic perspective about where this trend is going. Although there is some very limited math in the book, it is very clearly explained. The books is very readable and engaging.

After reading this book, I know want to know more about game theory and its predictive capabilities. I would highly recommend this book.

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 discussion of 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.

Brilliant .. expert storytelling
If you read or saw "A Beautiful Mind" and think there was drama in John Nash's creative madness, wait until you plunge into the work that drove him. Even without a background in (or any natural talent for) math, this story swept me up completely and, like previous reviewers, I had a hard time putting the book down. Siegfried expertly ushers the reader into the heart of a branch of mathematics that influences everything from pop culture to Nobel-winning science .. and does so in a way that leaves you feeling awed, inspired, and eager for more.