Prisoner's Dilemma

New York: Doubleday, 1992. First ed., first printing (full number line). Large octavo with black half-cloth boards in black and red pictorial jacket; red endpapers; 3/4 xi, 290 pages; illustrations; index; 24 cm Near fine to near fine(+) in very good (+); a tad edgeworn, clean and tight; now in archival mylar. Hardcover. ISBN: 9780385415675, 9780385415804

"Watching players bluff in a poker game inspired John von Neumann--father of the modern computer and one of the sharpest minds of the century--to construct game theory, a mathematical study of conflict and deception. Game theory was embraced at the RAND Corporation, the think tank charged with formulating military strategy for the atomic age, and in 1950 two RAND scientists discovered the "prisoner's dilemma"--A disturbing game where two or more people may betray the common good for individual gain. [...] The prisoner's dilemma quickly became a popular allegory of the nuclear arms race. [...] Prisoner's Dilemma weaves together a biography of the brilliant and tragic von Neumann, a history of pivotal phases of the cold war, and an investigation of game theory's far-reaching influence.--Jacket copy.

Contents: 1. Dilemmas. 2. John Von Neumann. 3. Game Theory 4. The Bomb 5. The RAND Corporation 6. Prisoner's Dilemma 7. 1950 8. Game Theory and Its Discontents 9. Von Neumann's Last Years 10. Chicken and the Cuban Missile Crisis 11. More on Social Dilemmas 12. Survival of the Fittest 13. The Dollar Auction