Takes an engaging journey through some of the most intriguing and fascinating areas of current biology, focusing on the application of game theory and mathematical modelling to our understanding of evolution, sex, animal behaviour and aggression.

Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour

Sigmund, Karl

Science & Math

Penguin??Books

Life is often a matter of gambles, pay-offs and trade-offs, just like a game. This book takes the reader on a tour through the games and computer simulations that are helping science to understand the ecology, evolution and behaviour of real life - from cat and mouse to cellular automata, from the battle of the sexes to artificial life, from poker to the prisoner's dilemma. It explains why scientific observations and insights can be structured as the rules of a survival game, and what happens when they are assembled on a computer or in the mind and allowed to run. The book looks at genetics, population ecology, evolution and animal behaviour. Looks at genetics, population ecology, evolution and animal behaviour.

Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour

Oxford University Press

Life is often a matter of gambles, pay-offs, and trade-offs, just like a game. This book takes readers on a tour through the games and computer simulations that are actually helping to advance knowledge in such fields as ecology, evolution, and animal behavior. Although the book deals with questions of vital importance, like sex and survival, it does so in the lively, entertaining spirit of game-playing. It starts with artificial life and self-replicating automata, a topic ideally suited for a computer-games approach. The book goes on to study pursuit games between predators and prey, and chaotic motion and its role in ecology. Games of chance and statistical paradoxes illuminate the randomness in molecular evolution, while some bizarre double games played by chromosomes help explain the laws of population genetics. Other topics include courtship, ownership, partnership, and brinksmanship-illustrated through the game of poker and computer tournaments. No other book explains so well why scientific observations and insights can be structured as the rules of a survival game, and what happens when they are assembled on a computer or in the mind and allowed to run their course. General readers as well as professionals and students in ecological, evolutionary, and behavioral studies will find this a fascinating and informative work.

Biological Sciences

A dazzling group biography of the early twentieth-century thinkers who transformed the way the world thought about math and science Inspired by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and Bertrand Russell and David Hilbert's pursuit of the fundamental rules of mathematics, some of the most brilliant minds of the generation came together in post-World War I Vienna to present the latest theories in mathematics, science, and philosophy and to build a strong foundation for scientific investigation. Composed of such luminaries as Kurt Gödel and Rudolf Carnap, and stimulated by the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper, the Vienna Circle left an indelible mark on science. Exact Thinking in Demented Times tells the often outrageous, sometimes tragic, and never boring stories of the men who transformed scientific thought. A revealing work of history, this landmark book pays tribute to those who dared to reinvent knowledge from the ground up.

Exact Thinking in Demented Times: The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Basic Books

"A book accessible to all readers, whatever their level of numeracy … an excellent introduction to what theoretical biologists get up to in trying to understand evolutionary and ecological ideas." ― Nature Why are there only two sexes? Why do stags restrain their aggression in the middle of a fight? Can it ever pay to be nice in a world of selfish individualists? The answers, according to this informative and enjoyable volume, can often be found in games like hide and seek, poker, and the prisoner's dilemma. Author Karl Sigmund applies the ideas and methods of game theory and mathematical modeling to evolution, sex, animal behavior, and aggression in Games of Life, which was included in Ian Stewart's "Top 10 Popular Mathematics Books" in the Guardian (1/18/2012). Starting with artificial life and self-replicating machines, the book examines pursuit games between predators and prey and draws parallels between games of chance and the randomness of molecular evolution. Other topics include the bizarre double games played by chromosomes and applications of game theory to animal behavior. Key topics appear at the start of each chapter, and endnotes provide references for readers wishing to seek out further information. This playful approach to understanding evolution and its central issues of sex, survival, conflict, and cooperation offers a captivating modern perspective on matters of life and death.

Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior

Dover Publications

This textbook is an introduction to dynamical systems and its applications to evolutionary game theory, mathematical ecology, and population genetics. This first English edition is a translation from the authors' successful German edition which has already made an enormous impact on the teaching and study of mathematical biology. The book's main theme is to discuss the solution of differential equations that arise from examples in evolutionary biology. Topics covered include the Hardy-Weinberg law, the Lotka-Volterra equations for ecological models, genetic evolution, aspects of sociobiology, and mutation and recombination. There are numerous examples and exercises throughout and the reader is led up to some of the most recent developments in the field. Thus the book will make an ideal introduction to the subject for graduate students in mathematics and biology coming to the subject for the first time. Research workers in evolutionary theory will also find much of interest here in the application of powerful mathematical techniques to the subject.

The Theory of Evolution and Dynamical Systems: Mathematical Aspects of Selection (London Mathematical Society Student Texts, Series Number 7)

Hofbauer, Josef

Mathematics

Cambridge University Press

Every form of behavior is shaped by trial and error. Such stepwise adaptation can occur through individual learning or through natural selection, the basis of evolution. Since the work of Maynard Smith and others, it has been realized how game theory can model this process. Evolutionary game theory replaces the static solutions of classical game theory by a dynamical approach centered not on the concept of rational players but on the population dynamics of behavioral programs. In this book the authors investigate the nonlinear dynamics of the self-regulation of social and economic behavior, and of the closely related interactions among species in ecological communities. Replicator equations describe how successful strategies spread and thereby create new conditions that can alter the basis of their success, i.e., to enable us to understand the strategic and genetic foundations of the endless chronicle of invasions and extinctions that punctuate evolution. In short, evolutionary game theory describes when to escalate a conflict, how to elicit cooperation, why to expect a balance of the sexes, and how to understand natural selection in mathematical terms.

Evolutionary Games and Population Dynamics

Every form of behavior is shaped by trial and error. Such stepwise adaptation can occur through individual learning or through natural selection, the basis of evolution. Since the work of Maynard Smith and others, it has been realized how game theory can model this process. Evolutionary game theory replaces the static solutions of classical game theory by a dynamical approach centered not on the concept of rational players but on the population dynamics of behavioral programs. In this book the authors investigate the nonlinear dynamics of the self-regulation of social and economic behavior, and of the closely related interactions among species in ecological communities. Replicator equations describe how successful strategies spread and thereby create new conditions that can alter the basis of their success, i.e., to enable us to understand the strategic and genetic foundations of the endless chronicle of invasions and extinctions that punctuate evolution. In short, evolutionary game theory describes when to escalate a conflict, how to elicit cooperation, why to expect a balance of the sexes, and how to understand natural selection in mathematical terms.

How does cooperation emerge among selfish individuals? When do people share resources, punish those they consider unfair, and engage in joint enterprises? These questions fascinate philosophers, biologists, and economists alike, for the "invisible hand" that should turn selfish efforts into public benefit is not always at work. The Calculus of Selfishness looks at social dilemmas where cooperative motivations are subverted and self-interest becomes self-defeating. Karl Sigmund, a pioneer in evolutionary game theory, uses simple and well-known game theory models to examine the foundations of collective action and the effects of reciprocity and reputation.
 Focusing on some of the best-known social and economic experiments, including games such as the Prisoner's Dilemma, Trust, Ultimatum, Snowdrift, and Public Good, Sigmund explores the conditions leading to cooperative strategies. His approach is based on evolutionary game dynamics, applied to deterministic and probabilistic models of economic interactions.
 Exploring basic strategic interactions among individuals guided by self-interest and caught in social traps, The Calculus of Selfishness analyzes to what extent one key facet of human nature--selfishness--can lead to cooperation.

The Calculus of Selfishness (Princeton Series in Theoretical and Computational Biology)

Politics & Social Sciences

Anthropology

Princeton University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sigmund, Karl. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sigmund, Karl

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sigmund, Karl. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour

Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour

Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour

Exact Thinking in Demented Times: The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science

Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior

The Theory of Evolution and Dynamical Systems: Mathematical Aspects of Selection (London Mathematical Society Student Texts, Series Number 7)

The Theory of Evolution and Dynamical Systems: Mathematical Aspects of Selection (London Mathematical Society Student Texts, Series Number 7)

Evolutionary Games and Population Dynamics

Evolutionary Games and Population Dynamics

The Calculus of Selfishness (Princeton Series in Theoretical and Computational Biology)