Mathematics
Mathematics is a fascinating field but alas a field in which I am not an expert. Nevertheless I enjoy reading books like Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea. Charles Seife is the interesting author of another book I read, Decoding The Universe. In Zero he manages to pack an amazing amount of history of math, mathematicians and their effect on the world into a relatively short book. He does it with an engaging narrative and brings it down to a level just low enough where a mere lay person
Envisioning Information is very similar to another of Tuft's books I read, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Envisioning Information doesn't focus as much on the display of data per se but rather broadens the scope to include all types of information. As you would expect with a book on such a topic, this one is a visually pleasing experience. The included graphs, maps and pictures along with the anecdotal evidence for Tufte's conclusions made this an enjoyable read.
Game Theory fascinates me even though I am not nearly a good enough mathematician to claim to be any good at the subject. Even so when I saw this book, Decision Making Using Game Theory, by Anthony Kelly, I decided to dive in and enjoy! While it is a bit technical at times, for the most part Dr. Kelly keeps the topic on a very practical level with all of his examples pulled from the business world. Even though the examples are simplified, they are not contrived. This is a great book for anyo
Leonard Mlodinow takes us on a delightful journey through the fascinating history of probability and statistics. On the way he manages to sneak in a very practical explanation of the basics of the field. Mingling stories of Pascal, Fermat, Bayes and others with the Law of Large Numbers, Bayesian Probability and confidence levels, Mlodinow makes The Drunkard's Walk a coherant and entertaining read. He tops the book off with a very practical application of what chance and probability can mean t
While true to part of its sub-title (it is definitely short) this book leaves somewhat to be desired if you are looking for an "Introduction". Binmore is an expert in using Game Theory so in his book by that title, he definitely gets into the meat of actually applying game theory to real life. He talks about biological evolution, public airwave auctions and election politics. Unfortunately he dives into game theory far too fast and too deep for this to be a good introduction. A more appropri
Games and Decisions is supposed to be a "non-mathematical" foray introduction to Game Theory. I am not a mathematician and I would hate to read the "mathematical" treatment of the subject! This book is a difficult read for those of us who are not mathematically inclined, however it is still a good introduction to some of the concepts. My goal was to lay the groundwork for further more practical study of the Theory and how it applies to decision making.