Rock, Paper, Scissors

Rock, Paper, Scissors Book Review:

“Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life” by Len Fisher is a book that tackles about Game Theory and its applications in our everyday lives- obviously stated in the title of the book. Game Theory, as said by the author, is about strategies that we use every day in our interactions with other people. “Game Theory tells us what is going on behind the confrontations, broken promises, and just plain cheating that we so often see in domestic quarrels, neighborhood arguments, industrial disputes, and celebrity divorce cases.”

The author’s way of explaining the Game Theory was fun and was easily comprehensible. He uses examples that the general public could relate to and you don’t have to think much to understand what the author wants to explain. This book is successful in terms of drawing the people to read more about game theory since the examples given are really relatable. What caught my attention while reading this book is the chapter about the “Seven Deadly Dilemma” The Seven Deadly Dilemma are the Prisoner’s Dilemma, the Tragedy of the Commons, the Free Rider problem, Chicken (Brinkmanship), the Volunteer’s Dilemma, the Battle of the sexes and the Stag Hunt. According to Adam Noel (2010), these dilemmas exist due to lack of trust, the Nash equilibrium is not always the overall best solution and people want to maximize their individual gain. There are also a number of ways to resolve these dilemmas: to develop a communal sense of membership, change the game by adding a player and setting up reciprocity for repeated games. This chapter is interesting since the said dilemmas are true and can be seen in our daily life.

 

The examples given by the author may be based on personal experience. However, these examples made me understand Game Theory better. This book is a good read for people who want to learn about the applications of Game Theory in our everyday lives and Game Theory in general.