

.

"All will be well if you use your mind for your decisions, and mind only your decisions." Since 2007, I have devoted my life to sharing the joy of game theory and mathematics. MindYourDecisions now has over 1,000 free articles with no ads thanks to community support! Help out and get early access to posts with a pledge on Patreon. .

.



I have been writing about game theory since 2007. The number one question I get is which books I recommend. I made it a point to read as many new and classic books I could. These are best game theory books I’ve come across.

[Updated 11 Sept 2014 after reading Micromotives and Macrobehavior]

[Updated 16 Sept 2014 after reading Game Theory and Strategy]

[Updated 26 Dec 2014 after reading Prisoner’s Dilemma]

[Updated 11 Aug 2015 after reading Games and Decisions: Introduction and Critical Survey by R. Duncan Luce and Howard Raiffa.]

[Updated 11 Aug 2015 after reading Who Gets What–and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin Roth.]

[Updated 21 Apr 2016 after reading The Game Theorist’s Guide To Parenting by Paul Raeburn and Kevin Zollman.]

[Updated 14 Jul 2017 after reading Introducing Game Theory: A Graphic Guide by by Ivan Pastine (Author), Tuvana Pastine (Author), Tom Humberstone (Illustrator).]

The Top Books

I will shamelessly mention my own introduction to strategic thinking, The Joy of Game Theory. A business school professor called my writing the most innovative approach to game theory she’s ever seen.

I wrote the book as a general read to the subject. I also envisioned it would be a perfect supplement text for college courses so students could see the theory put in practice.

Personally, I enjoyed all of the books in this post. However, I realize recommending 100+ books is a bit overwhelming. So I have prepared a short list of some of my favorite books (not written by me) to get you started.

Thinking Strategically by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff. This is my favorite book about game theory. The authors explain game theory in simple language with examples drawn from politics, economics, sports, and movies. I also enjoyed the follow-up The Art of Strategy, the updated 2008 version of the book.

Co-Opetition by Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff. This is a business book explaining many applications of game theory. The discussions of “changing the game” and “added values” are crucial for anyone in business.

Game Theory: An Introduction by Steve Tadelis. This is a textbook on game theory suitable for an advanced undergraduate. I learned game theory from Professor Tadelis, and this text is based on the lectures of the introductory course I took at Stanford. You can read more about the book and a short interview with Steve Tadelis here.

Game Theory 101: The Complete Textbook by William Spaniel. This is a best-selling and accessible introduction to game theory based on William Spaniel’s popular YouTube series Game Theory 101.

Insights into Game Theory: An Alternative Mathematical Experience by Ein-Ya Gura and Michael Maschler. The other books in the top focus on non-cooperative game theory. While my background is in math, I have long been frustrated when trying to learn “cooperative” game theory. This is the first time the concepts made sense intuitively. The exposition in the book is wonderful, building up from examples and exercises.

Game Theory and Strategy by Philip D. Straffin. This short book is a comprehensive treatment of non-cooperative and cooperative game theory and has excellent exposition. There are plenty of interesting applications I had not read in any of the books in this list. I’d recommend this book for a mathematician who wants to learn about game theory.

Introducing Game Theory: A Graphic Guide by Ivan Pastine (Author), Tuvana Pastine (Author), Tom Humberstone (Illustrator). This book gets a top book selection because it uniquely has 170 pages of illustrations (sample). While other books in this list have a better treatment of game theory, this book does provide accurate definitions and explanations that are paired with illustrations. I recommend the book as a great way to starting learning game theory concepts. It is also a fun read even for someone that has studied game theory because the illustrations make game theory lessons more memorable.

General Reads (Little or No Math Required)

(Top Book Selection) Thinking Strategically by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff. This is my favorite book about game theory. The authors explain game theory in simple language with examples drawn from politics, economics, sports, and movies. I also enjoyed the follow-up The Art of Strategy, the updated 2008 version of the book.

(Top Book Selection) Co-Opetition by Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff. This is a business book explaining many applications of game theory. The discussions of “changing the game” and “added values” are crucial for anyone in business.

(Book Written By Me) The Joy of Game Theory: An Introduction to Strategic Thinking by Presh Talwalkar. Since 2007 I’ve been writing to make game theory entertaining and understandable for a broad audience. The first half of the book explains game theory and how you can recognize strategic situations. The second half is all about “changing the game” and how you can use strategic thinking to create better outcomes. I also cover topics that are not included in any of the books in this list, like how Southwest Airlines uses the prisoner’s dilemma to make money. I casually say this book helps you use math to outsmart your opponents.

(Top Book Selection) Introducing Game Theory: A Graphic Guide by Ivan Pastine (Author), Tuvana Pastine (Author), Tom Humberstone (Illustrator). This book gets a top book selection because it uniquely has 170 pages of illustrations (sample). While other books in this list have a better treatment of game theory, this book does provide accurate definitions and explanations that are paired with illustrations. I recommend the book as a great way to starting learning game theory concepts. It is also a fun read even for someone that has studied game theory because the illustrations make game theory lessons more memorable. See my full review.

Who Gets What  and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin Roth. This book is unique because it is about game theory, and yet there is no mention of the phrase “Nash equilibrium!” Alvin Roth is a Nobel Laureate in Economics, recognized for his work in the kidney exchange and the National Residency Match, that assigns medical graduates to hospital residency programs. Matching markets like this seek to find the best pairings so the outcome is stable–no pair of people would prefer to be matched over the assignments. This book helps you understand how to design markets that lead to better outcomes.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life by Len Fisher. You can read my full review here. The short summary is this is a popular science book that connects game theory to everyday situations and offers several strategies for achieving cooperation.

The Game Theorist’s Guide To Parenting by Paul Raeburn and Kevin Zollman. I enjoyed this book purely for its game theory content, including its treatment of fair division, auction theory, credible threats, the Nash equilibrium, and voting theory. Because the book is about parenting, it offers many applications and examples not covered in a standard game theory text. For more about the book, check out my interview with co-author Kevin Zollman: here.

Game Theory at Work: How to Use Game Theory to Outthink and Outmaneuver Your Competition by James Miller. This is a book with many examples of real-life strategic situations.

Game Theory 101: Bargaining by William Spaniel. This book explains the game theory of negotiation power. It will help you understand the sources of negotiation power and how you can get better deals for yourself. You will also recognize common pitfalls people make when negotiating (like why taking a car home for a “test-run” makes you look like a weak negotiator).

The Game Theory by Uri Bram. The only book on this list that explains the game theory of why women wear yoga pants. Uri Bram is an engaging writer and this short read is an entertaining one.

Game Theory: A Very Short Introduction by Ken Binmore. If you have more time you should work through Binmore’s text “Playing for Real.” This book offers a sampling of interesting topics in game theory.

Prisoner’s Dilemma by William Poundstone. This book is part biography of John Von Neumann, part a non-technical introduction to game theory, and part a historical discussion of the RAND institute. Anyone that learns game theory should know its historical roots and how game theory is inexplicably tied to the research at the RAND institute. I also appreciated the biographical information about Von Neumann, which complements what I knew about John Nash in the biography A Beautiful Mind, listed below in “game theory related.”

Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren’t Fair (and What We Can Do About It) by William Poundstone. The book is about the game theory of voting, full of great historical examples from political races.

Game-Changer: Game Theory and the Art of Transforming Strategic Situations by David McAdams. This book seems best suited for business schools as opposed to an undergraduate course. The best part is the case studies, such as how a marketing company profited big when soliciting donations for charities.

Textbooks

(Top Book Selection) Game Theory: An Introduction by Steve Tadelis. This is a textbook on game theory suitable for an advanced undergraduate. I learned game theory from Professor Tadelis, and this text is based on the lectures of the introductory course I took at Stanford. You can read more about the book and a short interview with Steve Tadelis here.

(Top Book Selection) Game Theory 101: The Complete Textbook by William Spaniel. This is a best-selling and accessible introduction to game theory based on William Spaniel’s popular YouTube series Game Theory 101.

(Top Book Selection) Insights into Game Theory: An Alternative Mathematical Experience by Ein-Ya Gura and Michael Maschler. The other books in the top focus on non-cooperative game theory. While my background is in math, I have long been frustrated when trying to learn “cooperative” game theory. This is the first time the concepts made sense intuitively. The exposition in the book is wonderful, building up from examples and exercises.

(Top Book Selection) Game Theory and Strategy by Philip D. Straffin. This short book is a comprehensive treatment of non-cooperative and cooperative game theory and has excellent exposition. There are plenty of interesting applications I had not read in any of the books in this list. I’d recommend this book for a mathematician who wants to learn about game theory.

Game Theory Evolving: A Problem-Centered Introduction to Modeling Strategic Interaction by Herbert Gintis. This is an excellent introduction to game theory that also includes a discussion of evolutionary applications. It is an innovative textbook with many interesting exercises.

Playing for Real: A Text on Game Theory by Ken Binmore. This textbook is a great introduction to game theory distinguished by its discussion of philosophy. The book covers a large range of topics, and the section on auction theory is especially interesting.

Game Theory by Drew Fudenberg and Jean Tirole. This is a graduate level text on game theory for a serious mathematical study of the subject. This is one of those books that’s good for someone that already knows game theory.

Luck, Logic, and White Lies: The Mathematics of Games by Jorg Bewersdorff. This book explains the mathematics of many board games and games of gambling, like how to calculate the most landed spot in the board game Monopoly.

Games and Information by Eric Rasmussen. This textbook offers very good suggestions on how to specify game theory models and how to avoid modeling mistakes. For instance, one discussion explains how Harold Hotelling actually made a mistake in his 1929 paper about location competition. The author notes that Hotelling should have worked out some numerical examples. The introduction also contains an annotated bibliography for game theory texts.

Putting Auction Theory to Work by Paul Milgrom. This is a textbook for auction theory suitable for an advanced undergraduate course written by one of the field’s leading experts.

Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict by Roger Myerson. This is another book that is useful for someone that already knows game theory and wants to learn it on a deeper level, both non-cooperative and cooperative game theory are addressed.

Classic Texts

Games and Decisions: Introduction and Critical Survey by R. Duncan Luce and Howard Raiffa. Almost every textbook in this list cites this book, which was originally published in 1957. There are 14 chapters that survey utility theory, zero sum games, non-zero sum or positive sum games (Nash equilibrium), decision-making under uncertainty, bargaining, and social choice (Arrow’s impossibility theorem). The book is a critical survey and it discusses how game theory assumptions are not always appropriate for social sciences, and how experiments do not confirm the predictions. The technical appendices contain mathematical proofs for the more advanced reader. This book reminded me how economic textbooks used to be written: with a lot of discussion and a scattering of math. This is a huge contrast to today’s books which have taken the axiomatic approach and focus heavily on proofs.

Game Theory: A Non-technical Introduction by Mortin Davis. This was one of the first texts to explain game theory in a non-technical way without requiring the reader to follow complicated proofs.

Micromotives and Macrobehavior by Thomas Schelling. Long before Malcolm Gladwell wrote about tipping points, Thomas Schelling explained the economics and mathematics of it in this delightful book. The book covers his tipping model of racial segregation and all sorts of other neat ideas. This book also introduces agent-based modeling, the idea that societal outcomes can be determined by modeling individuals with simple preferences.

The Strategy of Conflict by Thomas Schelling. This book was first published in 1960 and discusses game theory in a political context of deterrence. It introduced the idea of focal points.

The Compleat Strategyst: Being a Primer on the Theory of Games of Strategy by John D. Williams. This is a 1954 book on zero-sum games published by the RAND Institute. It is light-hearted at times and even witty.

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern. This is the classic 1944 text that developed utility and game theory rigorously from axioms and set theory.

Two-Person Game Theory by Anatol Rapaport 2×2 game. This is another text that explains game theory in a non-technical manner.

Games of Strategy: Theory and Applications by Melvin Dresher. This is a 1961 book on zero-sum games. It is highly technical but will be interesting to someone that enjoys linear algebra.

The Essential John Nash. This text includes 9 research papers from John Nash, including his PhD thesis that described a solution concept that we call a Nash equilibrium. It is amazing Nash won the Nobel prize for a paper that is barely 26 pages.

Game Theory Related

Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics, and Think Like a Freak. Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner have written the most entertaining and interesting economics reads. While not everything is strictly game theory, almost all of the examples illustrate strategic thinking.

Jane Austen: Game Theorist by Michael Suk-Young Chwe. There are a lot of interesting qualitative points about game theory and Austen’s strategic thinking, like how cluelessness can be a strategy.

Prisoner’s Dilemma by Sean Stuart O’Connor. You can read my full review here. This is an interesting work of fiction that explores the tension of cooperation and selfishness.

A Beautiful Mind. by Sylvia Nasar. This is a biography of John Nash, the “father” of non-cooperative game theory. The book and the movie are both worthwhile.

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, Bruce Patton (Revised Editions). This is a classic text on negotiating that offers practical advice on how to resolve conflict by looking for solutions. One of the most important lessons is to focus on mutual interests instead of conflicting starting positions. For example, when you call a cable company for a complaint, obviously you and the phone rep will have very opposite positions. But you might have a mutual interest in solving the problem and maintaining future business–focus on the interest.

On Numbers and Games by John Conway. Did you know there is a number system where 0.999… is not equal to 1? This book explains the surreal numbers and how they can be derived from a drawing game called Hackenbush (so technically math would be a subset of game theory). This is only for someone that loves set theory and logic as the math is very challenging.

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. This is the book where the word “meme” was coined. Game theory is a central concept to explaining evolutionary changes.

Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust that Society Needs to Thrive by Bruce Schneier. The book uses the prisoner’s dilemma as a central motif for security in society. See my full review here

Negotiauctions: New Dealmaking Strategies for a Competitive Marketplace by Guhan Subramanian. This is a business-oriented book with case studies on how to improve your negotiating position.

The Survival Game: How Game Theory Explains the Biology of Cooperation and Competition by David Barash. This book explains game theory in evolutionary and ecological settings, as well as general game theory applications in economics.

The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World by Tim Harford. As you might know, Tim Harford writes some of the best general reads in economics.

It’s Not You, It’s the Dishes (originally published as Spousonomics) by Paula Szuchman and Jenny Anderson. The authors argue the economics of rational decision-making can help marriages survive. One of the chapters is about game theory.

Critical Mass by Philip Ball. This is a very long read but very interesting about “social physics,” or how individuals can be thought of as atoms that interact to result in emergent behavior. A couple of the chapters mention game theory which is one tool for predicting behavior.

The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You . This is a another book related to topics in “social physics” that explains how patterns can emerge from individual actions.

The Predictioneer’s Game: Using the Logic of Brazen Self-Interest to See and Shape the Future. Bruce Bueno De Mesquita is a political scientist who has used game theory to make accurate predictions. He offers some justification for his model. It also offers a tip on how to get the best deal on a car.

Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It) by William Poundstone. There are many chapters that use the ultimatum game as a model for bargaining. You’ll also learn why some restaurant menus are more effective than others.

Game Theory 101: The Rationality of War by William Spaniel. See my full review here. This is an interesting book applying game theory to political science.

SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed by Martin Novak. A book that suggests cooperation is at the heart of human survival.

Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny by Robert Wright. This book has a similar premise that humans have moved towards positive sum activities.

Books on My Reading List

I still have much to learn! These are some of the books I plan to read, and I will update the list as I get to them.

Beautiful Game Theory: How Soccer Can Help Economics by Ignacio Palacios-Huerta. This book was published just before 2014 FIFA World Cup and sounds like it would be a fun read.

Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction by Colin Camerer. People often play games predictably different than the rational agent model predicts. Colin Camerer is an expert in behavioral game theory and I am very curious about this book.

Security and Game Theory: Algorithms, Deployed Systems, Lessons Learned by Milind Tambe. The Los Angeles Airport LAX uses game theory to improve its security. This system was developed by USC professor Milind Tambe and his book on game theory and security sounds fascinating.

Game Theory by Michael Maschler, Eilon Solan, and Shmuel Zamir. This 1,000 page book lists a comprehensive discussion of non-cooperative and cooperative game theory. Something I will need to find some time to read.

Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning About a Highly Connected World. More and more physical and social networks are becoming important to the business world. This book offers a mathematical analyis of networks using graph theory and game theory, covering a range of topics including from the structure of the world wide web, the trasmission of diseases, and matching markets.

Game Theory Alive by Anna R. Karlin and Yuval Peres. This is a rough draft of a book. I’ve read a few chapters and am really enjoying it so far. I look forward to the finished book.

Algorithmic Game Theory edited by Noam Nisan. This book is a collection of chapters written by more than 40 top researchers in game theory.

The Language of Game Theory : Putting Epistemics into the Mathematics of Games by Adam Brandenburger. This book contains several papers from Brandenburger and co-authors about “epistemic” game theory. The idea is to model how players reason about the game, which extends the classical equilibrium framework to allow for non-equilibrium outcomes. The book readership is for “Graduate students and researchers in the fields of game theory, theoretical computer science, mathematical logic and social neuroscience.”

Introduction to Game Theory by Steve Schecter and Herbert Gintis. This is another excellent online book I have come across.

Games of Strategy by Avinash Dixit, Susan Skeath, and David Reiley. A commenter “blink” points out this is a good textbook for undergraduates.

Game Theory (Open Access textbook with 165 solved exercises) by Giacomo Bonanno. This is a free book and it has very nice use of color. It looks promising–if anyone reads it let me know what you think.

Game Theory and Climate Change by Parkash Chander. I was given a chance to review this book from Columbia University Press, and it’s a really neat topic–climate change is a topic that affects everyone, and each individual country can change the outcome for all–this is a textbook situation where game theory can be helpful.

Did I Miss Anything?

I have tried my best to remember all the books I’ve read on game theory which was a pretty hard task in and of itself!

I am sure to have omitted some noteworthy books. And I am sure I probably have just not heard of some of them.

Please let me know in a comment or send me an email.

For agents/publishers: I’d be happy to review a game theory or game theory related book if you could provide me with a copy (electronic version preferred). If I like the book I will include it in this list.