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Book SynopsisWhen John Nash won the Nobel prize in economics in 1994, many people were surprised to learn that he was alive. This book presents Nash's contributions not only to game theory, for which he received the Nobel, but to mathematics - from Riemannian geometry and partial differential equations - in which he commands greater acclaim among academics.
Trade Review"If you want to see a sugary Hollywood depiction of John Nash's life, go to the cinema. Afterwards, if you are curious about his insights, pick up a new book that explains his work and reprints his most famous papers. It is just as amazing as his personal story."--Chris Giles, Financial Times "One of the most beautifully designed economics books I have ever seen and at a low price... Why are we so intrigued by the story of John Nash? We are curious to understand a person who proves theorems we are unable to fathom. We imagine the voices from another world he has heard. We ask where he was for 30 years during which he walked among us but wasn't here. We are frightened and we are attracted by this combination of 'crazy' and 'genius', an invitation for visiting the edge of our own minds."--Ariel Rubinstein, The Times Higher Education Supplement "Any mathematician who read A Beautiful Mind ... had to be looking for the appendices--the ones explaining what Nash actually did to earn his formidable reputation within the mathematical community. Well, here they are, in a beautifully produced volume... Kuhn, Nasar, and the other contributors have performed a most welcome service by collaborating to bring together the pieces missing from A Beautiful Mind... The mathematical community is eternally in their debt."--SIAM News "The book is written in a pleasant and informal style, addressed to a large audience."--P.T. Moranu, Mathematica
Table of ContentsPREFACE by Harold W. Kuhn vii INTRODUCTION by Sylvia Nasar xi Chapter 1: Press Release--The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 1 Chapter 2: Autobiography 5 Photo Essay 13 Editor's introduction to Chapter 3 29 Chapter 3: The Game of Hex by John Milnor 31 Editor's Introduction to Chapter 4 35 Chapter 4: The bargaining problem 37 Editor's Introduction to Chapters 5, 6, and 7 47 Chapter 5: Equilibrium Points in n-Person games 49 Chapter 6: Non-Cooperative Games Facsimile of Ph.D. Thesis 51 Chapter 7: Non-Cooperative Games 85 Chapter 8: Two-Person Coooperative Games 99 Editor's Introduction to Chapter 9 115 Chapter 9: Parallel Control 117 Chapter 10: real Algebraic Manifolds 127 Chapter 11: The Imbedding problem for Riemannian Manifolds 151 Chapter 12: Continuity of Solutions of Parabolic and Elliptic Equations 211 AFTERWORD 241 SOURCES 243
