Game Theory in the Age of Chaos Omnibus by Mike Selinker

Game Theory in the Age of Chaos Omnibus Reviews

• 
  Joel Flank

  A collection of columns written by game designer extraordinaire, Mike Selinker, they examine the weekly or even daily political events during the Trump presidency, each one even more bonkers and crazy than the last, seemingly from the Upsidedown. (the titular "Age of Chaos"). While the columns definitely including Mike's personal views and politics (spoiler alert, he's not a fan, and supports reason, logic, and not being a horrible monster), they focus more on applying various aspects of game theory to try to explain what is otherwise seemingly irrational and stupid tactics (if applying the word tactics isn't giving them more credibility than random acts of egotism.)
  
  Selinker does a fantastic job recapping the events leading up to each column, and for each one, explaining a possible game theory based reason (or multiple possible reasons) for those actions. His co-author, mathmetician and game designer Richard Malena-Webber then explains the game theory concepts mentioned in more detail, including their history, making the book both a collection of political analysis, and a great primer on many aspects of game theory. Whether you're looking for sanity in an insane world, or a practical and accessible set of examples to learn about game theory, this book provided both, and is entertaining at the same time. Note that the electronic version of the book has an updated version with a few more columns written after the book went to print.
• 
  William Tracy

  This is an amazing retrospective on what happened in government during the 2016-2020 presidential cycle, put in terms of game dynamics and theory. Using things like The Prisoner's Dilemma, Coalitions, Tanking, and other game strategies puts many of the choices made by both parties and all three branches of government into a new light. Selinker has some pretty spot-on predictions as well, others that are not as correct, and still others that paint some terrifying might-have-beens. This is definitely not for those who do not want to remember certain things that happened in the last few years, and I definitely cringed at some predictions at the time, knowing what was to come later. But overall, if you like analysis of government and historical actions, this is a very interesting and informative book