Game Theory in Life

Name: Game Theory in Life
ISBN: 9787548400080

杨金月Harbin Publishing House · ChinaJul 2024

Rating 3.5

Word count: 113K words
Chapters: 12
ISBN: 9787548400080

Summary

In life, games are everywhere. Game theory has become part of everyday life and an essential skill for establishing oneself and pursuing success. This book is divided into nine chapters: Learn a Bit of Game Theory Every Day, Compete Happily, Guard Against Others and Be Guarded Against, Be Both Rabbit and Turtle, Cooperation and Collusion, Be Wise When It Pays to Be Foolish, From Confrontation to Cooperation, Collisions from Venus and Mars, and Be a Patient Angler. Each chapter includes a reading guide and keywords. Drawing on every aspect of life, with lighthearted and humorous examples and lively language, it explains in detail the importance of game theory and its application strategies, helping readers establish themselves and achieve success in a fiercely competitive society with ease and enjoyment.

Editor's review

Living Game Theory is not a profound, obscure academic treatise but a popular book that seeks to weave game-theoretic thinking deftly into everyday observation. The author, Yang Jinyue, attempts to unpack classic game theory models such as the prisoner's dilemma and the smart pig game in plain language, and to explain them through real-world scenarios including romance, the workplace, and business competition. This attempt has genuine value for popular science: it lowers the threshold for understanding this important thinking tool and gives readers a first taste of the appeal of strategic thinking. From a professional standpoint, the book's strength lies in the everyday nature of its cases and the accessibility of its narrative, making it suitable as a "first book" to spark interest. Yet readers should also recognize that, as an introductory popular work, it necessarily makes trade-offs in theoretical depth, systematic rigor, and coverage of cutting-edge developments. It is more like a key that leads you to the entrance of the world of rational decision-making; to truly enter and master it, more systematic study is still needed. For readers who wish to move beyond intuitive judgment, cultivate strategic thinking, and take pleasure in discerning the beauty of logic in the small things of life, this book offers an easy and enjoyable starting point.

Who it's for

A good fit for

People curious about game theory who want an easy, pressure-free starting point
Readers who enjoy learning abstract thinking from everyday cases and want to improve the rationality of their daily decisions
Professionals in sales, management, or frequent social interaction who want to optimize communication and strategy
People seeking to broaden their cognitive horizons and try a new perspective on social phenomena and personal choices

Not a good fit for

Academic researchers looking for a rigorous, systematic, mathematically grounded professional textbook on game theory
Readers who already have intermediate or higher knowledge of game theory and want to explore cutting-edge theory or complex models

Reading tips

Read it as mental gymnastics, focusing on the logical structure behind the cases rather than memorizing conclusions
Relate it to your own experience by using the book's game models to analyze dilemmas you have faced, thereby deepening your understanding
After each chapter, pause for a moment and consider what other scenarios, not mentioned in the book, the model could apply to

About the publisher

Harbin Publishing House China · Founded in 1988

Harbin Publishing House is a comprehensive city publisher known for classic works and social fiction. Its "Little Blue Book Classic Works Collection" includes modern literary masterpieces such as Lu Xun's Wandering and A Madman's Diary, and Xiao Hong's The Story of Hulan River; the complete Lu Xun fiction is also in its catalogue. In history, Lü Simian's History of the Two Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties appears in multiple volumes, while foreign literature and Eastern philosophy are represented by Yukio Mishima's The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and Spring Snow. Its authors include Lu Xun, Xiao Hong, Lü Simian and Yukio Mishima, as well as Yang Xiao, Tong Fan, Dong Haiyan and others. Common categories cover classic works, social fiction, history, foreign literature, Eastern philosophy and essays. Public information is limited, so this profile focuses on the publishing directions reflected in its 500 titles.

第一、每天学点博弈论--关于博弈
第二、快乐地较量--博弈与心计
第三、防人与被防--博弈与交际（1）
第三、防人与被防--博弈与交际（2）
第四、既做兔子，又做乌龟--职场中的博弈（1）
第四、既做兔子，又做乌龟--职场中的博弈（2）
第五、合作与合谋--商战中的博弈
第六、该糊涂时且糊涂--官场中的博弈
第七、从对抗到合作--谈判中的博弈
第八、来自金星与火星的碰撞--爱情中的博弈
第九、做一个耐心的垂钓者--成功与博弈（1）
第九、做一个耐心的垂钓者--成功与博弈（2）

FAQ

What is this book's Douban rating?

On major book communities, the book has received mainly positive reviews. Readers generally acknowledge its accessibility and consider it successful in bringing game theory from the ivory tower into everyday life. Specific scores may vary slightly across platforms, but as an introductory guide, its reputation meets expectations.

What is the background of the author, Yang Jinyue?

Yang Jinyue is a writer dedicated to creating popular social science books. Their writing style focuses on translating theories from fields such as economics and sociology into accessible language, and they excel at using everyday stories to explain core concepts, making specialized knowledge easier for ordinary readers to accept and apply.

How does this book differ from classics such as Thinking Strategically?

This book is positioned more as a purely life-oriented introduction, with cases chosen to be closer to the everyday context of domestic readers and a lighter theoretical burden. Classics such as Thinking Strategically also emphasize application, but they are more complete in system and deeper in analysis. The two can be seen as complementary: this book is suitable for sparking interest, while the classics are suitable for subsequent in-depth study.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

杨金月 Author

Yang Jinyue is a Chinese author about whom limited public information is available; basic details such as her biography, nationality, and dates of birth and death remain unclear. Judging from the four works included in the collection, her writing centers mainly on the inspirational and personal-growth category. Her representative works include Game Theory in Everyday Life, Conversation Topics, and Genius and Conversation Topics (two-volume set). These titles suggest that she focuses on strategic thinking in daily life, the management of topics in interpersonal communication, and personal growth, tending to ground abstract ideas in recognizable everyday situations and to help readers understand and apply them in an accessible way. Conversation Topics appears more than once and may be regarded as a relatively representative direction in her writing. Overall, Yang Jinyue's works are aimed at general readers and lean toward the practical and popular, seeking to convey ways of thinking and insights on dealing with life through light reading.