The most recommended game theory books

Who picked these books? Meet our 29 experts.

29 authors created a book list connected to game theory, and here are their favorite game theory books.
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Book cover of Repeated Games and Reputations: Long-Run Relationships

Guilherme Carmona Author Of Existence And Stability Of Nash Equilibrium

From my list on game theory.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up listening and participating in discussions about politics. These discussions often ended up on Economics – after all, “it’s the economy, stupid!”. Game theory, by being very broad and focused on strategic interactions, served as a very rewarding unifying apparatus for my understanding of Economics. It is also very beautiful and elegant, combining the austere beauty of pure mathematics with insights from elegant literature – I was pleased to cite Graham Green’s Our Man in Havana in a recent paper. It has accompanied me in a 20-year career since my PhD in Economics at the University of Minnesota to my current professorship in Economics at the University of Surrey.

Guilherme's book list on game theory

Guilherme Carmona Why did Guilherme love this book?

Game theory has specialized in several topics; one of my favorites and one of the most important ones is repeated games since they describe and analyze the sort of ongoing relationships that most of us experience.

This book has it all: great examples and motivation, detailed and formal presentation of a very broad set of results. 

By George J. Mailath, Larry Samuelson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Repeated Games and Reputations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Personalized and continuing relationships play a central role in any society. Economists have built upon the theories of repeated games and reputations to make important advances in understanding such relationships. Repeated Games and Reputations begins with a careful development of the fundamental concepts in these theories, including the notions of a repeated game, strategy, and equilibrium. Mailath and Samuelson then present the classic folk theorem and
reputation results for games of perfect and imperfect public monitoring, with the benefit of the modern analytical tools of decomposability and self-generation. They also present more recent developments, including results beyond folk theorems and…


Book cover of Essential Poker Math, Expanded Edition: Fundamental No Limit Hold'em Mathematics You Need To Know

Jared Tendler Author Of The Mental Game of Poker: Proven Strategies for Improving Tilt Control, Confidence, Motivation, Coping with Variance, and More

From my list on poker that every player needs to read.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a leading expert in how your mental game impacts performance. For over a decade I’ve coached hundreds of poker players, including some of the best players in the world. My clients include numerous bracelet winners at the World Series of Poker, and winners of other major titles. I have a passion for helping players become great, and many of them have climbed the ranks to become among of the best in the world. Whatever you aspire to in poker, whether it’s making some money off your friends or competing in the WSOP, be sure to pick up the books I’ve recommended—they can make a big difference! 

Jared's book list on poker that every player needs to read

Jared Tendler Why did Jared love this book?

This book is one of the best-selling poker books of the modern era despite the author not being a household name. It is a brilliant and dense primer on poker math with the amateur in mind. Other poker math books have arguably been written with a more expert tone, but this one is ideal for a beginner.

By Alton Hardin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Essential Poker Math, Expanded Edition as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Expanded, Updated & Greatly Improved

New Expanded Edition Includes:

More Than 150 Pages of New Material with Greatly Expanded Content and 4 New Chapters Over 75 Carefully Devised Practice and Example Poker Hands That Are Analyzed in Great Detail Free Enrollment into My 10-Hour Essential Poker Math eLearning Online Video Training Course Poker Math Is Easy to LearnPoker math is a vitally important aspect of No Limit Hold’em poker. But, it's often overlooked or simply not used because many poker players fear it is too difficult to learn. I'm here to tell you it’s not. In fact, fundamental poker math…


Book cover of Game Theory

Guilherme Carmona Author Of Existence And Stability Of Nash Equilibrium

From my list on game theory.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up listening and participating in discussions about politics. These discussions often ended up on Economics – after all, “it’s the economy, stupid!”. Game theory, by being very broad and focused on strategic interactions, served as a very rewarding unifying apparatus for my understanding of Economics. It is also very beautiful and elegant, combining the austere beauty of pure mathematics with insights from elegant literature – I was pleased to cite Graham Green’s Our Man in Havana in a recent paper. It has accompanied me in a 20-year career since my PhD in Economics at the University of Minnesota to my current professorship in Economics at the University of Surrey.

Guilherme's book list on game theory

Guilherme Carmona Why did Guilherme love this book?

This book is a great advanced textbook on game theory by two leading researchers on the field.

It describes the core elements of game theory in a formal and clear way, it has everything you want to know about it. It is the reference for those who want to learn game theory at an advanced level. 

By Drew Fudenberg, Jean Tirole,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Game Theory as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This advanced text introduces the principles of noncooperative game theory in a direct and uncomplicated style that will acquaint students with the broad spectrum of the field while highlighting and explaining what they need to know at any given point.

This advanced text introduces the principles of noncooperative game theory—including strategic form games, Nash equilibria, subgame perfection, repeated games, and games of incomplete information—in a direct and uncomplicated style that will acquaint students with the broad spectrum of the field while highlighting and explaining what they need to know at any given point. The analytic material is accompanied by many…


Book cover of Lecture Notes in Microeconomic Theory: The Economic Agent

Felix Munoz-Garcia Author Of Advanced Microeconomic Theory: An Intuitive Approach with Examples

From my list on advanced microeconomic theory.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am Professor of Economics at Washington State University. My research focuses on applying Industrial Organization to polluting industries and other regulated markets. I analyze how firms strategically respond to environmental regulation, including their output and pricing decisions, their investments in clean technologies, and mergers decisions, both under complete and incomplete information contexts.

Felix's book list on advanced microeconomic theory

Felix Munoz-Garcia Why did Felix love this book?

A short presentation of consumer and producer theory (no game theory or contract theory), very rigorous, and with some interesting examples.

Challenging exam exercises at the end of the book. Last but not least, the eBook is available for free from Prof. Ariel Rubinstein’s website.

While most students may find it too succinct to be the only reference in PhD Microeconomics courses, it is probably one of the references several students use (seeking different explanations and examples) at top PhD programs.

By Ariel Rubinstein,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lecture Notes in Microeconomic Theory as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book presents Ariel Rubinstein's lecture notes for the first part of his well-known graduate course in microeconomics. Developed during the fifteen years that Rubinstein taught the course at Tel Aviv University, Princeton University, and New York University, these notes provide a critical assessment of models of rational economic agents, and are an invaluable supplement to any primary textbook in microeconomic theory. In this fully revised and expanded second edition, Rubinstein retains the striking originality and deep simplicity that characterize his famously engaging style of teaching. He presents these lecture notes with a precision that gets to the core of…


Book cover of Microeconomic Foundations I: Choice and Competitive Markets

Felix Munoz-Garcia Author Of Advanced Microeconomic Theory: An Intuitive Approach with Examples

From my list on advanced microeconomic theory.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am Professor of Economics at Washington State University. My research focuses on applying Industrial Organization to polluting industries and other regulated markets. I analyze how firms strategically respond to environmental regulation, including their output and pricing decisions, their investments in clean technologies, and mergers decisions, both under complete and incomplete information contexts.

Felix's book list on advanced microeconomic theory

Felix Munoz-Garcia Why did Felix love this book?

The first volume examines consumer and producer theory, choice under uncertainty, and general equilibrium; while the second analyzes game theory, contract theory, and mechanism design.

These are, perhaps, the most rigorous, detailed, and advanced books of the typical topics covered in PhD Microeconomics in top institutions nowadays. While excellent for instructors, or advanced PhD students, the two volumes may be rather difficult to cover in the first-year PhD Microeconomics sequence, given their length and technicalities.

Nonetheless, both volumes will be quite helpful for instructors teaching graduate Microeconomics everywhere!

By David M. Kreps,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Microeconomic Foundations I as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Microeconomic Foundations I develops the choice, price, and general equilibrium theory topics typically found in first-year theory sequences, but in deeper and more complete mathematical form than most standard texts provide. The objective is to take the reader from acquaintance with these foundational topics to something closer to mastery of the models and results connected to them.
* Provides a rigorous treatment of some of the basic tools of economic modeling and reasoning, along with an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of these tools * Complements standard texts * Covers choice, preference, and utility; structural properties of preferences and…


Book cover of Reinventing the Bazaar: A Natural History of Markets

Steven K. Vogel Author Of Marketcraft: How Governments Make Markets Work

From my list on how markets really work.

Why am I passionate about this?

I first got interested in how markets really work when I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on the “deregulation” movement in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. I quickly discovered that deregulation never happened in the literal sense. In most cases, governments had to increase regulation to enhance market competition. They needed more rules to get “freer” markets. This sounds paradoxical at first, but it really isn’t. It makes perfect sense once you realize that markets do not arise spontaneously but rather are crafted by the very visible hand of the government. So I took that insight and I have been running with it ever since.

Steven's book list on how markets really work

Steven K. Vogel Why did Steven love this book?

McMillan offers a highly readable and concise book on how economists understand market institutions.

I love to assign this book to my undergraduate students because McMillan makes sense of some fairly complex topics, such as auction design. And he covers a wide range of topics of current interest, such as corporate governance and intellectual property rights.

By John McMillan,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Reinventing the Bazaar as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the wild swings of the stock market to the online auctions of eBay to the unexpected twists of the world's post-Communist economies, markets have suddenly become quite visible. We now have occasion to ask, "What makes these institutions work? How important are they? How can we improve them?"

Taking us on a lively tour of a world we once took for granted, John McMillan offers examples ranging from a camel trading fair in India to the $20 million per day Aalsmeer flower market in the Netherlands to the global trade in AIDS drugs. Eschewing ideology, he shows us that…


Book cover of The Colossal Book of Mathematics: Classic Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problems

David S. Richeson Author Of Tales of Impossibility: The 2000-Year Quest to Solve the Mathematical Problems of Antiquity

From my list on for mathematics enthusiasts.

Why am I passionate about this?

Although I loved studying mathematics in school, I have since learned that mathematics is so much more than school mathematics. My enthusiasm for all areas of mathematics has led me to conduct original mathematical research, to study the history of mathematics, to analyze puzzles and games, to create mathematical art, crafts, and activities, and to write about mathematics for general audiences. I am fortunate that my job—I am a professor of mathematics and the John J. & Ann Curley Faculty Chair in the Liberal Arts at Dickinson College—allows me the freedom to follow my passions, wherever they take me, and to share that passion with my students and with others. 

David's book list on for mathematics enthusiasts

David S. Richeson Why did David love this book?

They say that Plato was not a mathematician but was a maker of mathematicians. The same could be said of Martin Gardner, a prolific author who wrote, among many other things, the “Mathematical Games” column for Scientific American for a quarter of a century. Although all his books are excellent, The Colossal Book of Mathematics is a great entry point to Gardner’s oeuvre. It consists of what Gardner viewed as his 50 best Scientific American columns along with addenda containing updated material on each topic. With topics like topology, geometry, recreational mathematics, the infinite, and probability, each article is an informative, playful, well-written gem. 

By Martin Gardner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Colossal Book of Mathematics as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Whether discussing hexaflexagons or number theory, Klein bottles or the essence of "nothing," Martin Gardner has single-handedly created the field of "recreational mathematics." The Colossal Book of Mathematics collects together Gardner's most popular pieces from his legendary "Mathematical Games" column, which ran in Scientific American for twenty-five years. Gardner's array of absorbing puzzles and mind-twisting paradoxes opens mathematics up to the world at large, inspiring people to see past numbers and formulas and experience the application of mathematical principles to the mysterious world around them. With articles on topics ranging from simple algebra to the twisting surfaces of Mobius strips,…


Book cover of Classics in Game Theory

Guilherme Carmona Author Of Existence And Stability Of Nash Equilibrium

From my list on game theory.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up listening and participating in discussions about politics. These discussions often ended up on Economics – after all, “it’s the economy, stupid!”. Game theory, by being very broad and focused on strategic interactions, served as a very rewarding unifying apparatus for my understanding of Economics. It is also very beautiful and elegant, combining the austere beauty of pure mathematics with insights from elegant literature – I was pleased to cite Graham Green’s Our Man in Havana in a recent paper. It has accompanied me in a 20-year career since my PhD in Economics at the University of Minnesota to my current professorship in Economics at the University of Surrey.

Guilherme's book list on game theory

Guilherme Carmona Why did Guilherme love this book?

This is a great book that contains the main papers that shaped game theory.

It starts with John Nash’s 1950 paper which made game theory applicable to an essentially unlimited set of situations: all that involve several people or institutions taking decisions that matter for all those involved.

The book also includes work that enriches the framework of game theory by adding incomplete information, dynamic and stochastic elements, and cooperative considerations.

Many developments in game theory were motivated by concrete applications in Economics and other social sciences and the book shows this too, namely by considering bargaining, competitive economies, and market games.

This book really portrays the evolution of game theory from its beginnings to its heyday. 

By Harold William Kuhn (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Classics in Game Theory as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This text assembles in one sourcebook the basic contributions to the field of game theory that followed on from the publication of "Theory of Games and Economic Behavior" by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern in 1944. In the "heroic era" of research that began in the late-1940s, the foundations of the current theory were laid; is is these fundamental contributions that are collected in this volume. In the last 15 years, game theory has become the dominant model in economic theory and has made significant contributions to political science, biology and international security studies. The central role of game…


Book cover of Economic Fables

Eyal Zamir and Barak Medina Author Of Law, Economics, and Morality

From my list on ethics and economics.

Why are we passionate about this?

We are law professors at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Eyal Zamir is interested in the intersections of law, economics, ethics, and psychology. In addition to theoretical studies of these issues, he engages in experimental legal studies, as well. Barak Medina studies constitutional law, human rights, and economic analysis of law. He is interested in constitutional interpretation and the interaction between common-sense morality, public opinion and adjudication.

Eyal's book list on ethics and economics

Eyal Zamir and Barak Medina Why did Eyal love this book?

One of the world’s leading microeconomic scholars presents in this fascinating book brilliant insights about economic theory and its role in public policy.

Rubinstein challenges several central tenets of game theory, and sheds light on the role economics can and should play in society at large. The book presents economic theory through a series of fables.

The stories provide the basic insights of economics, but also enables us to critically evaluate the effect of implicit assumptions on the predictive power of economic theory and its moral implications.

By Ariel Rubinstein,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Economic Fables as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"I had the good fortune to grow up in a wonderful area of Jerusalem, surrounded by a diverse range of people: Rabbi Meizel, the communist Sala Marcel, my widowed Aunt Hannah, and the intellectual Yaacovson. As far as I'm concerned, the opinion of such people is just as authoritative for making social and economic decisions as the opinion of an expert using a model." Part memoir, part crash-course in economic theory, this deeply engaging book by one of the world's foremost economists looks at economic ideas through a personal lens. Together with an introduction to some of the central concepts…


Book cover of Logistics of Warfare in the Age of the Crusades

John D. Hosler Author Of The Siege of Acre, 1189-1191: Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, and the Battle That Decided the Third Crusade

From my list on crusading warfare.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m just a guy who once obsessed over Forgotten Realms novels as a kid and, now, teaches history to military officers at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In between, I got married, earned a PhD at the University of Delaware, and spent 12 years teaching in Baltimore. I’m very interested in cross-cultural warfare—as the crusades are a window into not only western and eastern warfare but also facets of cultural, literary, political, religious, and social history, studying them is endlessly fascinating and infinitely rewarding. My next book, Jerusalem Falls: Seven Centuries of War and Peace, continues my interest in the subject.

John's book list on crusading warfare

John D. Hosler Why did John love this book?

If, as Napoleon once quipped, an army indeed marches on its stomach, then surely military historians should work from a firm understanding of logistics and sustainment. Conceived during a 2002 workshop on the subject held in Sydney, Australia, this volume includes fourteen substantive chapters authored by some of the foremost historians in the field, as well as one specialist in game theory! The covered subjects are impressive in scope: provisioning, finance, rates of march, supply and resupply, cartography, roads, and communications (for both Christian armies and their Muslim foes), with due attention given not only to land warfare but also naval affairs. Fourteen maps, seven figures, and sixteen data tables complete what is currently the best available book on medieval logistics.

By John H. Pryor (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Logistics of Warfare in the Age of the Crusades as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

How were the Crusades made possible? There have been studies of ancient, medieval and early modern warfare, as well as work on the finances and planning of Crusades, but this volume is the first specifically to address the logistics of Crusading. Building on previous work, it brings together experts from the fields of medieval Western, Byzantine and Middle Eastern studies to examine how the marches and voyages were actually made. Questions of manpower, types and means of transportation by land and sea, supplies, financial resources, roads and natural land routes, sea lanes and natural sailing routes - all these topics…