Gladiators, Pirates and Games of Trust

How Game Theory, Strategy and Probability Rule Our Lives.

This book provides many humorous anecdotes and insightful examples of how our daily lives are affected by Game Theory. Game Theory is the mathematical formalization of interactive decision-making – it assumes that each player’s goal is to maximize his/her benefit, whatever it may be. Players may be friends, foes, political parties, states, or any entity that behaves interactively, whether collectively or individually. One of the problems with game analysis is the fact that, as a player, it’s very hard to know what would benefit each of the other players; some of us are not even clear about our own goals or what might actually benefit us. Haim Shapira uses multiple examples to explain what Game Theory is and how the different interactions between decision-makers can play out. In this book you will:

• Meet the Nobel Laureate John F Nash and familiarize yourself with his celebrated equilibrium
• Learn the basic ideas of the art of negotiation
• Visit the gladiators’ ring and apply for a coaching position
• Build an airport and divide inheritance
• Issue ultimatums and learn to trust

Haim Shapira was born in Lithuania in 1962 and immigrated to Israel in 1977, where he earned a PhD in mathematical genetics for his dissertation on Game Theory and another PhD for his research about the mathematical and philosophical approaches to Infinity. He teaches mathematics, psychology, philosophy, and literature. Haim is an author of seven best-selling books. Shapira is not trying to make his readers agree with him, but simply encourages them to enjoy thinking. He is one of Israel’s most popular and in-demand speakers and gives lectures on creativity and strategic thinking, existential philosophy and philosophy in children’s literature, happiness and optimism, nonsense and insanity, imagination and the meaning of meaning, as well as friendship and love. He is also an accomplished pianist and an avid collector of anything beautiful.