The Essential John Nash

Description

When John Nash won the Nobel prize in economics in 1994, many people were surprised to learn that he was alive and well. Since then, Sylvia Nasar's celebrated biography A Beautiful Mind, the basis of a new major motion picture, has revealed the man. The Essential John Nash reveals his work--in his own words. This book presents, for the first time, the full range of Nash's diverse contributions not only to game theory, for which he received the Nobel, but to pure mathematics--from Riemannian geometry and partial differential equations--in which he commands even greater acclaim among academics. Included are nine of Nash's most influential papers, most of them written over the decade beginning in 1949.

From 1959 until his astonishing remission three decades later, the man behind the concepts "Nash equilibrium" and "Nash bargaining"--concepts that today pervade not only economics but nuclear strategy and contract talks in major league sports--had lived in the shadow of a condition diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. In the introduction to this book, Nasar recounts how Nash had, by the age of thirty, gone from being a wunderkind at Princeton and a rising mathematical star at MIT to the depths of mental illness.

In his preface, Harold Kuhn offers personal insights on his longtime friend and colleague; and in introductions to several of Nash's papers, he provides scholarly context. In an afterword, Nash describes his current work, and he discusses an error in one of his papers. A photo essay chronicles Nash's career from his student days in Princeton to the present. Also included are Nash's Nobel citation and autobiography.

The Essential John Nash makes it plain why one of Nash's colleagues termed his style of intellectual inquiry as "like lightning striking." All those inspired by Nash's dazzling ideas will welcome this unprecedented opportunity to trace these ideas back to the exceptional mind they came from.

---

The Deciding Factor: The Power of Analytics to Make Every Decision a Winner

Description

Praise for The Deciding Factor

"Both companies and governments have made some poor decisions recently, and almost all would benefit from more fact-based and analytical approaches. This book provides clear methods and extensive examples for organizations that want to make better, faster, and more consistent decisions."—Thomas H. Davenport, author, Competing on Analytics, and President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management, Babson College

"The secrets of the decision-making processes employed by the most successful corporations of the world are revealed in The Deciding Factor. Both corporate decision makers as well as analysts will gain invaluable insights from this treasure trove of case studies and expert guidelines."
—Robert Heller, former president and CEO of VISA U.S.A., and former governor, Federal Reserve Board

"Information, used correctly and creatively, can be a source of tremendous customer value, competitive advantage, and company profitability. The Deciding Factor will help you understand if you have this opportunity, and how you might seize it."
—Nigel Morris, co-founder, Capital One Financial Services

"There has never been a more important time in business history to truly understand both the technical strengths and conceptual weaknesses of decision analytics. If you're prepared to be serious, The Deciding Factor offers the insider's insights that matter when managing innovation risk."
—Michael Schrage, author, Serious Play, and research associate, MIT Sloan School of Management

---

The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, Concise Edition, Volume 2 (7th Edition)

Description

This engaging text examines U.S. history as revealed through the experiences of all Americans, both ordinary and extraordinary. With a thought-provoking and rich presentation, the authors explore the complex lives of Americans of all national origins and cultural backgrounds, at all levels of society, and in all regions of the country. A vibrant four-color design and compact size make this book accessible, convenient, and easy-to read.

---

Whispers of Death: The Nightmare that Lasted a Lifetime

Description

---

The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, Concise Edition, Volume 1 (7th Edition)

Description

This engaging text examines U.S. history as revealed through the experiences of all Americans, both ordinary and extraordinary. With a thought-provoking and rich presentation, the authors explore the complex lives of Americans of all national origins and cultural backgrounds, at all levels of society, and in all regions of the country. A vibrant four-color design and compact size make this book accessible, convenient, and easy-to read.

---

A Beautiful Math: John Nash, Game Theory, and the Modern Quest for a Code of Nature

Description

Millions have seen the movie and thousands have read the book but few have fully appreciated the mathematics developed by John Nash's beautiful mind. Today Nash's beautiful math has become a universal language for research in the social sciences and has infiltrated the realms of evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and even quantum physics. John Nash won the 1994 Nobel Prize in economics for pioneering research published in the 1950's on a new branch of mathematics known as game theory. At the time of Nash's early work, game theory was briefly popular among some mathematicians and Cold War analysts. But it remained obscure until the 1970's when evolutionary biologists began applying it to their work. In the 1980's economists began to embrace game theory. Since then it has found an ever expanding repertoire of applications among a wide range of scientific disciplines.Today neuroscientists peer into game players brains, anthropologists play games with people from primitive cultures, biologists use games to explain the evolution of human language, and mathematicians exploit games to better understand social networks. A common thread connecting much of this research is its relevance to the ancient quest for a science of human social behaviour, or a Code of Nature, in the spirit of the fictional science of psychohistory described in the famous Foundation novels by the late Isaac Asimov. In "A Beautiful Math", acclaimed science writer Tom Siegfried describes how game theory links the life sciences, social sciences, and physical sciences in a way that may bring Asimov's dream closer to reality.

---