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I am really a beginner guy in game theory.

Which kind of books could you suggest me as beginner/intermediate/advanced textbooks in game theory ? I have no problem in maths, so any books with full of maths are ok for me.

As I don't really know so much about this tool, I can not evaluate which book fits well to my situation.

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    $\begingroup$ What is it that you're looking for, beginner or advanced? And are you proficient in mathematics or not? There's a huge difference in the class of books here. $\endgroup$
    – FooBar
    Jun 14, 2015 at 13:09
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    $\begingroup$ "A Course in Game Theory" by Rubinstein and Osborne. It is considered a very good intro book and you can download it for free. (Legally.) arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il/books.html $\endgroup$
    – Giskard
    Jun 14, 2015 at 13:12
  • $\begingroup$ @FooBar I have no problems for understanding maths in economics. By the way, I prefer game theory books with mathematics. $\endgroup$ Jun 14, 2015 at 14:45
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    $\begingroup$ @optimalcontrol then add it into the question. $\endgroup$
    – FooBar
    Jun 14, 2015 at 15:51
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    $\begingroup$ Beginner (Tadelis): press.princeton.edu/titles/10001.html Intermediate (Fudenberg & Tirole): mitpress.mit.edu/index.php?q=books/game-theory $\endgroup$ Jun 14, 2015 at 23:55

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My suggestions:

  • the best ever written advanced book on game theory is 'Game Theory' by Fudenberg and Tirole: it deals with a lot of material used in research and many applications. When you work on a game theory paper and, for instance, u'r unsure about what kind of equilibrium applies to your case, the book will save your life. It's a bible

  • but if you want to get inside the game theory world, learn about what kind of problems game theory is able to deal wth, or even getting some interesting ideas to work on your own, after learning the necessary tools..in these cases I strongly suggests to use 'Game theory evolving' by Herbert Gintis. He was my professor at the PhD, and I appreciated his ability as educator (other than a researcher)

I hope you'll find it useful. Enjoy!

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    $\begingroup$ I strongly disagree with your first recommendation (and slightly with your second). Maschler, Solan, Zamir, and Myerson have much better textbooks. $\endgroup$ Jun 21, 2015 at 21:35
  • $\begingroup$ well I answered the question. That is, I suggested books for a beginner in GT but proficient in math. Of course GT by Maschler et al, as well as Analysis of Conflict are first rated books, but for example, they don't have any treatment of evolutionary game theory, if I am not wrong. More importantly, Fudenberg/Tirole's book is full of economic applications, whereas Gintis offers a set of problems which spans from sociology to theoretical biology $\endgroup$ Jun 24, 2015 at 20:37

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