Games People Play: Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond

Very good introduction to game theory. The lecturer is engaging and uses good practical examples to illustrate his points. The DVD comes with a lot of illustrations to support the lectures.

Just started to watch the classes, the segments hold your interest. I enjoy all the courses, I have several. Much better for your mind than reality tv.

This item was a perfect solution to my problem!

what price is this $8,888.00???????????? If you want to steal like that will come the time when you lose more than you get, you will see.

Game theory is somewhat esoteric, but it's very interesting, has important applications, and is become increasingly well known, so I commend TTC for offering a course on this topic. In fact, I had started looking into game theory for two potential applications (cancer modeling and infrastructure security) a while back, so I was really excited when this course came out.The course is an introductory survey course which aims to give a sense of game theory's applications, limitations, types of models, and history. I think the course succeeds in that regard, and I came away from the course with a desire to learn more. But the course does have some problems which lowered my rating to 4 stars, and almost lowered it to 3 stars.The main issue is that the course is somewhat superficial when it comes to the needed math, so we never learn how to build game-theoretic models for practical applications, nor are we exposed to the type of math that would be involved in doing that. This is despite the course having quite a bit of technical concepts and terminology.The other main problem is that Stevens goes through many examples, often in numerical detail, with little or no accompanying on-screen graphics. He's a very capable and personable lecturer, but this lack of graphics is simply lazy and unacceptable. If this course was presented in a university classroom, all the steps and numbers would be shown on the blackboard, whereas this course demands that we rely on Stevens' words alone, which is asking too much of the audience (especially if you watch TTC videos while on the treadmill, like me).The solution is perhaps to lengthen the course to 48 lectures, raise the mathematical sophistication of the course, and work through all examples in detail with appropriate accompanying graphics. Including practice problems (with solutions) in the course booklet would also be a big help.As the course stands now, I can still recommend it, especially for people already interested in game theory or who at least like analytical subjects. But people need to be aware of the limitations of the course, which require going well beyond this course if one really wants to learn this subject (eg, by reading books on game theory).

Fascinating topic -- but poorly presented by Prof. Stevens. An inspiring, great teacher will illuminate difficult concepts with images, metaphors, and analogies to other subjects of study. He will show larger perspectives on his material, and glimpses of where deeper study leads. Stevens' mediocre course falls far short of that goal.For instance, he mentions, in a totally superficial way, that advanced math is necessary to study most game situations in depth; but, without doing any calculus at all, he could have explained why and when the interactions of agents over time require differential equations. Another flaw: where systems of equations become insoluble, he totally ignores the need and widespread use of computer simulations for multi-agent games.But, by far, the most irritating aspect of watching this course is Stevens' nervous body language. His incessant agitated footwork and facial grimacing made watching the screen intolerable.

The book and DVDs arrived a few days early! Love it! It was a gift and the recipient has told me the course is very educational and will come in handy.

Excellent service and good value