Evolution of Cooperation: Amazon.ca: Robert Axelrod: Books

Product Description

This widely praised and much-discussed book explores how cooperation can emerge in a world of self-seeking egoistswhether superpowers, businesses, or individualswhen there is no central authority to police their actions..

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.

First Sentence
UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS will cooperation emerge in a world of egoists without central authority? This question has intrigued people for a long time. Read the first page

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.9 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, Life-Changing, and Hyper-Connectable, Feb 12 2004

By

R. Williams "code slubber" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Evolution Of Cooperation (Paperback)

A lot of interesting material is spun up from a simple premise: a two round tournament of programs for playing Prisoner's Dilemma. Game theory is one of the great cross-disciplinary topics. As the web is woven with nodes as distinct as Jean Jacques Rousseau and why the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor (a personal favorite for Socratic historical discussions), somehow it not only all makes sense, but you are left with the impression that the topic and the book combine to achieve the brass ring of writing: repeatedly fetching the proufound while remaining clear and simple. (Ironically, this book makes a good companion to readings on Complexity and Emergence. But that makes some sense since those topics have turned to automata and the realization that complexity is most often a function of simple constituents iterated.)

The read this and pass it on advice from the other reviewer here is good, and apropos, as this is about the infection of cooperative strategies in populations.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

5.0 out of 5 stars learning about co-operation, Feb 28 2004

By

"hegedus20" (S�o Paulo, S�o Paulo Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Evolution Of Cooperation (Paperback)

It is really a fantastic book where you can get a lot about the importance of the inter-relationships among people and companies.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

5.0 out of 5 stars A true classic, Jan 20 2004

By

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Evolution Of Cooperation (Paperback)

This book has information for military theorists, biologists exploring gene regulation, antitrust policy-makers, and Miss Manners. It is a wonderfully clear explanation of how almost any two entities, interacting over time, develop a mutualism more profitable than greed.

The experimental support for these claims comes from a series of contests. Dozens of authors provided computer programs to play in the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma - a simple model, but one that describes a surprising number of real-world phenomena. Most importantly, it's a testable model. It almost puts a common aspect of social interaction into a test tube. What came out of that test tube was startling in its clarity and simplicity.

The book is very readable. Axelrod segregates the mathematical and non-mathematical discussions with some care. Math-free readers see the whole set of experiments and conclusions, clearly explained, and need to skip only a few paragraphs during the main discussion. The last few chapters reward math-positive readers with additional precision and rigor. Even then, the math is accessible to someone with good high-school algebra skills.

Axelrod's discussion truly timeless, except for references to the Cold War as current events. I can accept that. Even though that un-war is mostly over, it's a critical part of modern history and it still informs current policy. Any insight into that madness helps, and Axelrod is very helpful.

This book stands above any one category. It's one of very few that I recommend to the bookshelves of every educated person.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 11 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Want to see more reviews on this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 54 reviews 4.6 out of 5 stars

Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Case study of the Prisoner's Dilemma
Axelrod discusses the Prisoner's Dilemma (classic case in game theory) in an iterated context. A wonderful read. Thorough, concise, and direct. Read more

Published on Jan 8 2004 by Mild-mannered scientist

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite possibly one of the 5 best books I've ever read.
This book is a must for anyone analyzing the dynamics of persons and groups. I've found most useful when analyzing crime prevention policy, and in particular, when searching for... Read more