Poundstone's three dimensional outline of game theory mathematics sketches the life of its inventor, John von Neumann, and his role in cold war policy making. There are also interesting descriptions of Neumann's childhood in the anti semitic environment of pre-WWII Hungary and his early conversion to Catholicism. It is to Neumann that we owe much of the terminology (MAD, first strike) that framed the discourse of the Cold War. This book is both frightening and essential for scholars of the Cold War, and a testament to a wayward and arrogant, mathematical genius.
Poundstone's three dimensional outline of game theory mathematics sketches the life of its inventor, John von Neumann, and his role in cold war policy making. There are also interesting descriptions of Neumann's childhood in the anti semitic environment of pre-WWII Hungary and his early conversion to Catholicism. It is to Neumann that we owe much of the terminology (MAD, first strike) that framed the discourse of the Cold War. This book is both frightening and essential for scholars of the Cold War, and a testament to a wayward and arrogant, mathematical genius.
WILLIAM POUNDSTONE studied physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of The Recursive Universe, about information theory and physics, and Labyrinths of Reason, an exploration of paradox in science. He is also known as the author of such popular books as Big Secrets, The Ultimate, and Prisoner’s Dilemma. He has written for Esquire, Harper’s, SPY, and other periodicals. He lives in Los Angeles.
"Both a fascinating biography of von Neumann, the Hungarian exile whose mathematical theories were building blocks for the A-bomb and the digital computer, and a brilliant social history of game theory and its role in the Cold War and nuclear arms race." —San Francisco Chronicle
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